A Case of Austrian Incest

(Newser) - A former tenant who lived just above the basement where Josef Fritzl imprisoned his daughter recalled wondering why his electricity bills were so high and why food disappeared from his kitchen, AFP reports. Police are tracking down the 100 or so lodgers who lived at the Fritzl house in the last 24 years, hoping to shed more light on what occurred there, the Guardian notes. "We want to talk to all of them," an officer said. More »

(Newser) - Josef Fritzl threatened to gas his captive daughter and their children if they tried to escape, the Guardian reports, claiming he had rigged a toxic-gas system in the basement. Meanwhile, the possibility of an accomplice arose for the first time today, when a 12-year lodger at the house said he had seen another man, identified as a “plumber,” go into the basement, reports the BBC. More »

(Newser) - Stefan and Felix Fritzl were awestruck by the moon, nudging each other, pointing, giggling with joy, the Guardian reports of the boys' first days outside the windowless Austrian cellar they grew up in. The pair, aged 18 and 5, had only seen the sky on television. Now, they’re adjusting to the “real world,” marveling at everyday objects and developing a tolerance for sunlight. More »

(Newser) - Barbaric grandfather Josef Fritzl spent hours like a "normal" dad watching car racing on TV with the three dungeon children he fathered with his sex-slave daughter, reports the Times of London. But he also severely beat the children and his daughter, Elisabeth, who was raped repeatedly in a padded room in the cellar where she was imprisoned for 24 years, investigators believe. More »

(Newser) - The 73-year-old Austrian man who has confessed to fathering seven children by his imprisoned daughter is being investigated in connection with a 20-year-old murder case. Police say that a teenager assaulted and killed in 1986—near property owned by Fritzl's wife—bore an "incredible" resemblance to his daughter, reports the UK Times . More »

(Newser) - Hundreds of people gathered last night for a candlelit vigil in the Austrian town where a man locked his daughter in a basement dungeon for 24 years and fathered her seven children. Emotional residents stood in the rain to demonstrate solidarity with the captive family, the BBC reports. "We want to show that Amstetten is not a town for criminals," said the mayor. More »

(Newser) - Doctors have begun to tally the physical toll of a lifetime of imprisonment on the three Austrian children locked in a cellar by their grandfather/father Josef Fritzl. The children all have defective immune systems, are anemic and suffer from a vitamin D deficiency from their time in a 650-square-foot cellar. None had ever seen daylight, a doctor or a dentist before their release, reports the Times of London. The oldest, 19, has already lost most of her teeth. More »

(Newser) - Austria's Josef Fritzl hid his underground dungeon—in which he imprisoned his daughter and three of their children—so well that police couldn't find it without his hands-on help. The BBC pieces together a look at the 650-square-foot area in his cellar that Fritzl used to hide his secret family. He got into the dungeon via a 3-foot concrete door hidden beneath shelves in his cellar workshop—and only he could open the electronic lock. More »

(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) - DNA testing has confirmed the bizarre tale of Josef Fritzl, who confessed to imprisoning his now-42-year-old daughter Elisabeth in his basement for 24 years and fathering seven children by her. The test confirms the parentage of all six surviving kids —one twin died shortly after childbirth, CNN reports. The children apparently believed that Fritzl was only their grandfather. More »

(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. More »

(Newser) - A 73-year-old Austrian man has confessed to imprisoning his daughter in a basement dungeon for 24 years and fathering seven children by her, Reuters reports. The daughter, now 42, told police yesterday her father, Josef Fritzl, drugged and handcuffed her in 1984, locking her in a windowless labyrinth. The father, an engineer who owns a clothing business, denies rape charges. More »

(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. More »