Imprisonment Began as Detox for Daughter: Fritzl

(NEWSER) - Josef Fritzl has been charged with murder in the death of one of the seven children he had with his daughter Elisabeth, the Telegraph reports. Austrian prosecutors say he failed to provide medical care to the child, who fell ill shortly after birth. He later burned the child's body in a furnace. Fritzl, 73, also faces charges of rape, enslavement, incest, coercion and deprivation of liberty. More»

Creditors agree to unusual deal for Elisabeth, 6 children

(NEWSER) - Creditors in Austria will donate the proceeds from an interview with Josef Fritzl to the daughter he raped and imprisoned for 24 years, the Austrian Times reports. Elisabeth Fritzl and her six children were about to be left with nothing after creditors divvied up her father’s bankrupt estate, which included seven properties and once was worth over $2.5 million. More»

Police don't suspect her, but wonder if she's suppressing info

(NEWSER) - Austrian police want another round of questioning with Josef Fritzl's 68-year-old wife, the Times of London reports. But the chief investigator in the case doesn't count Rosemarie Fritzl a suspect, and asked, “What woman would stay silent if she knew that her husband had seven children with his daughter and was holding her prisoner in the cellar?” More»

Didn't plan incest; gave in to taste for 'forbidden'

(NEWSER) - 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»

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»