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NEWS ABOUT: Josef Fritzl

Dungeon Girl Wakes From Coma

Reunited with freed mom after life in cellar

(Newser) - A teenager held captive her entire life in an underground dungeon with her mother and siblings has awoken from a seven-week coma, reports the Daily Telegraph. Kerstin Fritzl, 19, was reunited with her mother and other family members in a secure medical ward after flickering back to consciousness. There were... More »

Fritzl Family Will Get New Identities

Hounding reporters 'make them feel imprisoned again,' says attorney

(Newser) - Austrian authorities are preparing new identities for dungeon dad Josef Fritzl’s entire family, including the daughter he imprisoned in a celler, the six children Fritzl fathered with her, her six adult siblings and her mother. The family members have been hounded by lucrative offers for media interviews, the Times ... More »

Docs Bringing Fritzl Daughter Out of Coma

Hospitalization of Kerstin led to discovery of incest dungeon

(Newser) - Doctors are attempting to bring Kerstin Fritzl—the girl Josef Fritzl fathered with his own daughter in an Austrian dungeon—out of an induced coma, the Guardian reports. Kerstin, 19, was admitted to hospital April 19 with multiple organ failure, and was sent into a coma to give her time... More »

Fritzl Daughter to Give Interview

Elisabeth, 42, said to choose Austrian TV for sitdown next Monday

(Newser) - Elisabeth Fritzl, imprisoned by her father for 24 years, will discuss life in the Austrian dungeon in a televised interview, the Daily Mail reports; the appearance on Austria's ORF TV will be broadcast next Monday. It was unclear what, if any, payment was agreed upon for the interview; paparazzi have... More »

Fritzl's Crimes Rooted in Literary History

Dark Austrian captivity stories formed his 'cultural matrix'

(Newser) - Josef Fritzl's crimes stunned the world, but such demented patriarchs have long haunted Austrian literature. The dark 1852 story "Turmalin" depicts a deranged husband locking up his daughter; the 1917 novel The Grave of the Living tells of a troubled family and an imprisoned child. "This is the... More »

Fritzl Family Paints Plea for Normalcy

'I am happy about my freedom and about my family,' writes 18-year-old Stefan

(Newser) - Josef Fritzl’s family has broken its silence, the Daily Telegraph reports, with a hand-painted sign hung in a window of their Austrian home. The family thanks the public for its support: “We hope that there will be a time when we can return to normal life,” it... More »

'Ghoulish Tourism' Develops in Amstetten

Incest dungeon site attracts out-of-towners

(Newser) - Tourists are flocking to Amstetten, Austria, and snapping pictures at the site where Josef Fritzl kept his daughter imprisoned as a sex slave for 23 years, the Telegraph reports. "It is bad enough that journalists and TV crews have beleaguered our town, but now there is this ghoulish tourism,... More »

Cops Plan to Quiz Fritzl's Wife Again

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... More »

Court Orders Fritzl Held 1 More Month

Will now likely face manslaughter charges in baby's death

(Newser) - An Austrian court today ordered Josef Fritzl to remain in custody for another month while the investigation continues, reports Reuters. In addition, reports the Times of London, prosecutors say Fritzl will probably now face manslaughter charges after admitting in an interview that one of the children he fathered with his... More »

Fritzl Blames Nazis, Says He Was Trying to Save Daughter

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. “... More »

Letters Show Fritzl Daughter Meant to Leave Home

Elisabeth wrote to friend just before her imprisonment

(Newser) - 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... More »

Fritzl Triggers Change in Austria Sex Law

His rape conviction was wiped off books as he adopted grandkids

(Newser) - 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... More »

'I Am No Monster': Fritzl

'I could have killed all of them, and no one would have known,' incest dungeon-master says

(Newser) - 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... More »

Minister Rips Cops' 'Gullibility' in Incest Case

Local authorities too quick to believe Fritzl's daughter joined cult

(Newser) - Austria's justice minister says local officials were too quick to believe Josef Fritzl's cover story for his daughter Elisabeth's imprisonment, Reuters reports. Fritzl claimed Elisabeth had run away and joined a cult, instead holding her captive and raping her in his basement. "Looking at everything that we know up... More »

Domineering, 'Perverse' Fritzl Feared at Local Brothel

'Mentally ill' dungeon dad terrified prostitutes

(Newser) - Josef Fritzl was a regular at a brothel near his Austrian town and the prostitutes there feared him and shunned him whenever they could, the Scotsman reports. His domineering, "perverse" demands terrified the women, said a bartender. Among customers "95% are normal and 3% are a bit weird.... More »

Daughter May Sue Fritzl for Compensation

Lawyer investigates incest perpetrator's financial situation

(Newser) - Austrian incest victim Elisabeth Fritzl may sue her father for compensation, Reuters reports. "There is the possibility of claiming compensation for imprisonment and the damage that has been incurred by it," said a lawyer for Fritzl, whose father/captor reportedly is deeply in debt. "Now it is all... More »

Police Think Dungeon Dad Raped Granddaughter

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,... More »

Fritzl Spent Years Planning Dungeon

Father devoted 6 years to building prison to house daughter

(Newser) - Joseph Fritzl’s plot to imprison his daughter began when the girl was just 12, Austrian police believe, six years before he finally locked her away. Fritzl built an extension to his house between 1978 and 1983, AFP reports. “The intention must have been there to build a secret... More »

Sister-in-Law: Fritzl's Wife Never Suspected

She swallowed tale that teen joined cult

(Newser) - The wife of the Austrian grandfather who kept their daughter imprisoned in a basement under their apartment for 24 years never suspected she was there, her sister tells the AP. Rosemarie Fritzl believed her husband's tale that the daughter he kept as a sex slave ran away from home to... More »

Fritzl Will Plead Insanity

Lawyer says man who raped daughter for 24 years' is mentally ill, not responsible for actions

(Newser) - The man charged with imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and repeatedly raping her may not spend long behind bars, reports the Times of London, as Josef Fritzel's lawyer plans to plead insanity to avoid a prison term. “Josef Fritzl is mentally ill and therefore not responsible for his... More »

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