Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

July 25, 2008 7:19:01 AM CDT

Learn about Newser Points »

« Back to the grid | Next story »

Austrian Incest Father Nabbed Earlier in Sex Crime

Posted Apr 29, 08 4:45 AM CDT in World,  Crime & Courts 

(Newser) – An Austrian man accused of imprisoning his daughter as a sex slave in a dungeon for 24 years and fathering her seven children is a convicted sex offender, the London Times reports. No details were immediately available, but neighbors reported avoiding the home of Josef Fritzl, 73, because of rumors he had raped a woman.

Fritzl, described as "tyrannical," has confessed to keeping his daughter and three of their children captive but is unrepentant, said police, who described the crime as one of the "all-time worst." The victims remained hospitalized for intensive treatment. Authorities said Fritzl's sons, 18 and 5 years old, appear surprisingly well adjusted. The eldest, a 19-year-old daughter, is seriously ill and in an induced coma.

Sources Times (UK), CNN

0 comments | Print E-mail | Digg Seed this on Newsvine Add this link to Del.icio.us StumbleUpon

Related Newser Stories

  • Fritzl Blames Nazis, Says He Was Trying to Save Daughter

    May 8, 08 11:53 AM CDT
    Fritzl Blames Nazis, Says He Was Trying to Save Daughter In jail-cell notes released by his lawyer, Josef Fritzl goes to bizarre lengths to defend the rape and imprisonment of his daughter, citing his Nazi upbringing for instilling “a high regard for decency and uprightness,” and a need to save the 18-year-old Elisabeth from drinking and dissipation. “She was going out to seedy bars and would spend whole nights there drinking and smoking," he wrote. "I only tried to rescue her from that life." More »

  • Letters Show Fritzl Daughter Meant to Leave Home

    May 8, 08 11:08 AM CDT
    Letters Show Fritzl Daughter Meant to Leave Home Elisabeth Fritzl intended to leave home just before her father imprisoned her, letters published in the Oesterreich newspaper show. “After the exams … I'm moving in with my sister and her boyfriend,” the 18-year-old wrote to a friend in 1984. “Cross your fingers for me. When you get this letter, it will all be over,” she wrote just weeks before she disappeared. More »

  • Fritzl Triggers Change in Austria Sex Law

    May 8, 08 7:41 AM CDT
    Fritzl Triggers Change in Austria Sex Law The Josef Fritzl case has spurred Austrian legislators to initiate changes in sex crime laws to prevent child abuse, the BBC reports. As Fritzl kept his daughter imprisoned as a sex slave, he was granted custody for three of the children he fathered with her— despite a rape conviction. His conviction was wiped off the books after 15 years. Austria now wants to keep sex crime records for at least 30 years. More »

  • 'I Am No Monster': Fritzl

    May 7, 08 11:37 AM CDT
    'I Am No Monster': Fritzl Josef Fritzl complained today about receiving bad press since admitting to keeping an incestuous second family locked in his Austrian cellar, the Telegraph reports. "I am no monster," Fritzl said through his lawyer, calling his treatment “unfair” and calling the media's narrative “entirely one-dimensional” because it neglected the fact that he kept his dungeon family alive for over 20 years. More »

  • Police Think Dungeon Dad Raped Granddaughter

    May 6, 08 10:42 AM CDT
    Police Think Dungeon Dad Raped Granddaughter Josef Fritzl might not have stopped at raping his daughter, Austrian police now say, fearing now that Fritzl raped granddaughter Kerstin, the oldest incest child born in his cellar dungeon, the Daily Mail reports. But police aren't able to question the 19-year-old because she is still in an induced coma, though she is now stable and expected to live. More »

A photo released by Austrian police shows a view into a hidden room in a house in Amstetten, Austria, in which a woman is believed to have been held captive for 24 years.   (AP Photo/Police Niederoesterreich)
People are seen near the backyard of a house in Amstetten, Austria, where 73-year-old Josef Fritzl has confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years in a windowless basement cell.   (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)
Josef Fritzl shown in Austrian police photo.   (AP Photo/Police Niederoesterreich)
A photo taken by and released by the Austrian police with permission of Austria's prosecution office on Monday, April 28, 2008 shows suspect Josef F. at an unspecified location.   (AP Photo/Police Niederoesterreich)
Austrian dad Josef Fritzl and daughter Elizabeth before she went missing 24 years ago.   (YouTobeUK)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
Our editors also recommend:

Threads (1 of 2)

Tags

kidnapping  • rape  • sexual abuse  • Austria  • incest  • sexual assault  • captivity


Loading...

Loading...

Today's Most Popular


Other Crime & Courts Stories

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Newser gives you more news in less time. We search for the best and most important stories all over the web, read them for you, and deliver concise and sharp summaries—along with links to the full text. Newser provides a way to stay on top of an ever-expanding horizon of news and opinion—politics, sports, business, trends, technology, personalities, crimes, and controversies. Newser keeps you not just better informed, but, with our signature graphic interface and smart condensed format, more enjoyably informed.

Learn more »