Austrian Town Holds Vigil for Dungeon Family

Incest daughter Kerstin, 19, still in coma, but likely to live

(NEWSER) - 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»

Austria reunion goes smoothly; prosecutors weigh murder charge

(NEWSER) - Members of the family in the Austrian incest case have met for the first time and interacted with "astonishing" ease, an official at the clinic where they're being treated told the AP. Although the children who were imprisoned with their mother had never met their other siblings or grandmother, their reunion on Sunday went smoothly, the clinic director said. More»

(NEWSER) - Austrian incest dad Josef Fritzl defended his imprisonment of daughter Elisabeth as necessary to stop her abuse of household chemicals, the Daily Mail reports. “She had been sniffing cleaning fluids and I decided I should talk with her in my cellar,” Fritzl said of the day in 1984 that marked the beginning of her captivity. “She reacted to my accusations with a couldn’t-care-less attitude.” More»

Mother, children were imprisoned in basement

(NEWSER) - Elisabeth Fritzl and her children have returned for the first time to the basement where they were imprisoned, the Daily Mail reports, helping police gather evidence for the trial against their father. Police wanted the family to show them precisely where and how they were held captive. The family has been cooperating with police, even crafting a thank-you poster for them. More»

Interview conducted in secret location, videotaped for court

(NEWSER) - Elizabeth Fritzl won’t have to appear in court to give her account of her dungeon nightmare. Fritzl, who was imprisoned by her father for 24 years and forced to bear him seven children, was questioned in a secret location today, police announced, and will be interviewed again Monday. Authorities will play the taped interview in court, the AP reports, sparing Elizabeth from being in the room with her father, who she has said she never wants to see again. More»