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August 30, 2008 3:43:29 AM CDT

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Austrian Man Held Daughter Captive 24 Years

Posted Apr 27, 08 2:32 CDT in Crime & Courts 

(Newser) – A 42-year-old Austrian woman missing since 1984 has been found—in her father’s cellar, where she says he kept her prisoner for 24 years. Elisabeth F. told police her father, Josef F., began sexually abusing her at age 11, and locked her in the cellar when she turned 18,  fathering her 7 children over the next two and a half decades. One child died days after birth because of improper care; Elisabeth says her father burned the corpse.

Josef has been arrested, police report. The surviving six children are ages 5 through 20, and one is currently hospitalized in serious condition. “They are being cared for individually,” say a police spokesman, “those between 12 and 16 years of age who grew up with their grandparents, and two boys who, when they came out yesterday with their mother, saw the daylight for the first time in their lives."

Sources Associated Press, BBC

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Franz Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian Bureau of Criminal Affairs speaks at a news conference in Amstetten, Lower Austria, on Sunday, April 27, 2008.   (AP Photo/Helmut Stamberg)
The outside view of the house is seen, Sunday, Amstetten, Austria, where a 73-year-old man, identified as Josef F. kept his daughter identified as Elisabeth F. in the cellar for 24 years.   (AP Photo/Helmut Stamberg)
The estate where Natascha Kampusch spent eight years in an underground cell. Lower Austria police said that another Austrian woman, was found by police in the town of Amstetten on Saturday.   (AP Photo/Helmut Stamberg)
Outside view of the appartment where a 73-year-old man, identified as Josef F. allegedly kept his daughter Elisabeth F. in the cellar for 24 years. The woman told the police that she was continuously...   (AP Photo/Helmut Stamberg)
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kidnapping  • rape  • Austria  • incest  • child rape  • captivity


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