Man keeps daughter captive in cellar for 24 years

[+Julhelm]

AMSTETTEN, Austria (CNN) -- Austrian police believe a 73-year-old man held his daughter captive in his cellar for the past two decades and fathered at least six children with her, according to police and state-run news reports Sunday.

 

The woman, identified as 42-year-old Elisabeth F., has been missing since 1984 when she was 18 years old, police said at a news conference.

 

The situation came to light earlier this month after her daughter -- a 19-year-old woman, identified as Kristen F. -- was hospitalized after falling unconscious, according to police.

 

She was admitted to a hospital in Amstetten, outside Vienna, by her grandfather with a note from her biological mother requesting help.

 

But police said a DNA test later revealed her grandfather, Josef F., was also her father, according to ORF, Austria's state-run news agency.

 

That sparked a police investigation which revealed that Josef F. may have fathered at least six children with his daughter, forcing her and three of the surviving children to live in the cellar of his house, according to ORF's Peter Schmitzberger.

 

The children are now between the ages of 5 and 19 years old.

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Police are awaiting DNA tests to verify their relationship to Josef F., who faces arrest for "severe crimes against family members," according to police. So far, he has not given a statement to police.

 

"One can't imagine how it could happen, how nobody could realize anything of what was going on in the cellar of this house," Schmitzberger told CNN. "It's quite unimaginable."

 

Acting on "a confidential tip," Amstetten police apprehended Josef F. and Elisabeth F. on Saturday near the hospital for questioning, according to a police statement. Once police assured the daughter that she would never have contact with her father again, "she was able to tell the whole story," Schmitzberger said.

 

Josef F. lived upstairs with his wife, Rosemarie F., who police said had no idea about her husband's other family living in the cellar.

 

Josef F. and Rosemarie F. had adopted three of the children that he had with his daughter, according to police. He told his wife that his missing daughter had dropped the unwanted children off at the house because she could not take care of them, police said.

 

The other three children -- Kerstin, 19; Stefan, 18; and Felix, 5 -- remained locked in the basement with their mother, according to police. None had seen the light of day during their entire time in captivity, police said.

 

After she was detained on Saturday, Elisabeth F. gave police a "psychologically and physically disturbed impression," police said in a statement. She told them her story after she was assured her children would be protected from further harm.

 

She said her father began sexually abusing her at age 11. On August 8, 1984 -- weeks before she was reported missing -- her father enticed her into the basement where he drugged her, put her in handcuffs, and locked her in a room, she told police. For the next 24 years, she was constantly raped by her father resulting in the six surviving children, she said, according to the police statement.

 

She told police she gave birth to twins in 1996, but one of the babies died a few days later as a result of neglect, and Josef F. removed the infant's body and burned it.

 

She told police that only her father supplied her and her children with food and clothing, and that she did not think his wife knew anything about their situation.

 

When Kerstin fell ill earlier this month, Josef F. apparently told his wife and the hospital that his "missing" daughter had dropped off the sick girl on his doorstep.

 

In an effort to find out what might be ailing 19-year-old Kerstin, the hospital asked the media to put out a bulletin requesting any information about the girl or her missing mother, attorney general Gerhard Sedlacek told NTV.

 

Sometime later, Josef F. brought Elisabeth F. out of the cellar, telling his wife that she had returned home with her two children after a 24-year absence, police said.

 

He took Elisabeth F. to the hospital to talk with doctors about Kerstin's condition, and at that point, authorities became aware of her situation, Sedlacek said.

 

CNN

[Silverbolt]

Weird....

here happens something similar, but a old man catched he's daughter for 12 years...

[calvin]

If ever there is an argument in favor of summary execution, it's made by cases like this. Hell hath no fires hot enough.

 

-Calvin

[jodandawg]

put him back in the basement and seal it for eternity!!!

[Jug]

put him back in the basement and seal it for eternity!!!

 

Actually I was thinking in terms of life without parole with big gay Bubba for his roommate. Death would be way too quick.

[+76.IAP-Blackbird]

I would execute him cm per cm ... starting with the fingers or feet!!!!! really slow!

[MRJC_219]

Sickening. This bastard deserves the worst fate imaginable. A chainsaw lobotomy, impalement, crucifixion, drawing and quartering... nothing can be called cruel and unusual with this kind of pervert.

[Longestpants]

I suggest:

 

keeping him captive with, as Jug suggested, an enormous "overfriendly" cellmate for the rest of his life. Near the end, instead of being allowed to die of natural causes, he will be execution via gun shots to the stomach and hanging by the neck until asphyxiated.

 

Just kidding.

 

He deserves far worse. Remember what the gods did to Prometheus? That would be passable.

Edited April 29, 2008 by Longestpants

[serverandenforcer]

I just found out that if he is found guilty (and without a doubt he will be), he'll face a sentence of up to 15 years in prision. Isn't that kind of lenient considering what he did?

Edited April 29, 2008 by serverandenforcer

[eraser_tr]

As if there was a chance he wouldn't be found guilty?

 

Well, he's 73 they reported. 15 years would in all likelyhood be more than enough for him to die in prison. Assuming he lasts more than a week to begin with.

 

From Austria, born 1935. hitler youth probably had a lasting sadistic impression on him.

[Stick]

A 15 year sentence is very bad in law, regardless of the fact that he is 73. If such a sentence is passed then it becomes precedent, and some other psycho with a good lawyer will get a very lenient sentence.

There are multiple crimes here;rape, grievious hurt, criminal force and assault. miscarriage and concealment of birth, causing death by negligence, kidnapping, and unnatural sexual offences. The punishments of each crime are compoundable.

Some human rights group ought to take this up in the greater interests of justice.

Then again this is another reason why I have abandoned all faith in the grand but farcial schemes of law.