A 73-year-old Austrian man has just confessed to imprisoning his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathering her seven children, according to authorities. The head of the local criminal affairs bureau said that the man accused, "Josef F" had confessed during questioning. There's a press conference happening soon.
The woman abused is now 42, and has six surviving children fathered by her own father. Police said the woman, named Elisabeth, had told them that her father had begun sexually abusing her from the age of 11. She disappeared in August 1984 when her father Josef lured her into the cellar, drugging and handcuffing her before locking her up.
A letter in Elisabeth's handwriting arrived a month later asking them not to search for her so it was assumed she had run away. During the 24-year imprisonment, Elisabeth gave birth to seven children by her father, including twins in 1996. One of the twins died several days later because it had not received proper care. Josef's wife Rosemarie had no idea Elisabeth was being held in the basement of her house.
Elisabeth's case came to light after her eldest daughter required hospitalization, and doctors demanded to speak with her mother. Josef then released her, told his wife Elisabeth had decided to return home, and was almost immediately arrested.
1928 Collection
How on EARTH could the wife have had NO IDEA her daughter was being held captive in the basement??
NOT POSSIBLE. She was in on it.
1That was the EXACT Same thing I was thinking cab. I mean, really? You don't hear babies crying? Or a woman talking?
2Sick.
3Either way, I feel like I need to take a shower now
4In the picture (the BBC story link has the levels labeled) the house looks more like a flat? Like they lived on the top level and then another level with the basement below that? I don't know, that does seem crazy.
5how could you not hear the toilets flush, or water running? I wouldn't believe Rosemarie for a second!
6How could a mother stand by and let something like that happen? For 24 years? If that's the case, I just can't even wrap my mind around it.
7you mean the imprisoned ladies mother, or the mother that was imprisoned?
8I'm with you, cabaker, how could you not notice? Unless, of course, she simply didn't want to. Either way, it's a sick situation all around.
9Yea I think the woman must be seriously disturbed or delusional and just didn't want to know about it or is simply lying. Either way I wonder if Austria has the death penalty, probably not but now might be a good time to institute it!
10Is it just me, or does he look a lot like Dustin Hoffman?
11Ewww. What a monster.
12Disgusting. He makes me sick.
13I agree, how the h e double toothpicks does the mother not know this is happening??? Babies crying etc! And the 7 children were all down in the basement too? I'm a little confused about where they were all this time. It all just doesn't make sense. The mother HAD to of known. She was turning a blind eye. Sad thing is, women pretend this isn't happening all the time and allowing their children to be abused, fathers too. Makes me sick that these people exist.
He looks like someone I'd like to beat the crap out of, that's who he looks like.
14Where were the seven children? Were they raised in the basement? How can a father do that to his daughter? I am so disturbed by this story. How could you take away a life like that? I would rather die then have something like that happen to me.
And I am sorry, but the hell did people not know something like that was going on? And how on earth do you quit looking for your 11 year old, even if she did write a letter not to come looking for her? SHE IS 11!!!! You find your daughter and you never give up the search!
Also they refer to the woman as Josef's wife, not Elisabeth's mother. Are they two different people?
15Ah, that 11 year old wrote a letter guys, call off the search!
16I am betting there is a history of abuse to the mother as well. I don't understand how you can just let your 11yr old disapear, and not keep looking for her. The wife needs help too.
17I agree Cine! I would never stop looking for my daughter! Also, even if she did run away, why wouldn't the authorities ever think, gee whty did she run away, and gee why aren't they (the parents) more wanting to look for her. The whole thing just stinks repulsively.
18All the kids weren't raised in the basement; it says somewhere that all but two were put up for adoption.
What's happening in Austria anyway? The Natascha Kampusch story a few years ago and now this.
19Myabe the mother was abused, maybe she has SEVERE f**ing brain damage. I don't care, she sucks.
20The mother had to know. I can only imagine what this guy did to his wife given what this guy did to his daughter. The whole thing is disturbing and I feel so sorry for the daughter, her children, and maybe the wife.
21the mother probably knew her daughter was down there, and that's why she didn't say anything. If you are right Dave and the mother (Rosemarie) also has endured abuse, she may have just dealt with it to avoid conflict. but that's just wierd too. the whole thing is horrible.
22But, did anyone the mother, maybe wonder, hmm, who are those babies? Where did they come from? Did they just show up on the adoption door step?
23This whole thing seems fishy to me. I mean how were these children given up for adoption by the same man and no one asks any questions?
24I read this yesterday. The Reuters story said that three of the children she gave birth to lived with her sicko father & his wife and were registered with authorities. The other three lived in the basement with her. I guess it has come out now that when the one twin died, he put the body in an incinerator.
25Can someone clear this up, she was 11 when she disappeared, was held for 24 years, how is she 42?
26From the BBC link:
"In a statement issued on Sunday, police said Elisabeth had told them that her father had begun sexually abusing her from the age of 11.
She disappeared aged 18 on 28 August 1984 when, according to her testimony, Josef lured her into the cellar, drugging and handcuffing her before locking her up."
27The link to the MSNBC story. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24337573
28From everything presented here he began sexually abusing her at 11... she disappeared in 1984 (so that would have been when she was like 18).
29Thank you!!! I was just skimming and it made no sense to me!
Thanks ladies!
30Believe it or not, sh*t like this happens more than you would expect, all over the world, including the US.
And a lot of the time there is either a wife or elderly mother that lives there too and has no idea.
It is freaking crazy!
31Lets all go over there, to Austria, and beat the crap out of this guy!
32Who's with me?
with all the child bearing the mother had to have heard some sounds, how were the babies given up for adoption, how was this never rreported to the cops that the daughter was missing, neighbours didn't notice that the wiffe had 3 children she had never carried?? The wife knew and she should be charged she is equally as sick as her husband.
33And the mother too, because she knew.
34I'm guessing if this freak did this to his own daughter, the wife must have gone through her own stuff too. She was probably abused to the point of incapacity in some senses, otherwise there is no explanation for this. What happened the the daughter had kids, or how the kids kept showing up....no way she didn't know.
35"The Reuters story said that three of the children she gave birth to lived with her sicko father & his wife and were registered with authorities."
And the wife thought the babies fell out of the sky? Or were they brought by a stork?
36j2 a lot of the times the mother knows but since she is no longer the one getting the brunt of the man's abuse she ignores it, or blocks it from her mind, my aunt did that when her daughetr was getting molested by her husband.
37Harts I am with you!
38Sy, I am going with the stork theory. How is this woman not under arrest?
39Yeah, j2e... It is very common. I don't think however that the spouse is not knowing of it (or at least most of the time). I think, the spouse does know and is ignoring it. I think that situation more so happens with step parents. Did anyone hear of the mother in Denver I think it was last summer or fall? She knew her boyfriend was abusing her 2 year old! She knew he killed her and then told the police a lie. Sick, Sick people have no business having children.
40Where the hell did the wife think the kids were coming from? Honestly, I can't wrap my head around this. I want to say that I don't care what abuse the wife was enduring, that is just wrong wrong wrong to not protect her daughter/step-daughter. But, then how do I say that and not at the same time condemn the daughter for allowing six of her children to live this life...? Three of them had never ever seen sunlight!?
A television appeal by medical staff for the patient's mother was seen by Elisabeth on a TV set in the cellar and she urged her father to let her go to hospital.
The hell!?!?!? After twenty four years, she urged him to let her go to the hospital and he said "alrighty then"!?
I am so effing disturbed. TWENTY FOUR YEARS!?
41the father used to make her write letters and apparently she wrote that she wanted the mom to keep her kids, and not to look for her ad that she was fine.
42the father used to make her write letters and apparently she wrote that she wanted the mom to keep her kids, and not to look for her ad that she was fine.
43Sy - It doesn't say in the MSNBC article, but the Reuters article I read yesterday said that one of the children was left on the parent's doorstep with a note from the daughter saying that she couldn't care for the child. I'll try to find that article and post the link.
44Jenn, I don't think she was given a choice to have children. And she might have wanted to keep as many as she could with her, so that she knew he was not abusing them the same way he abused her.
But who knows. There are so many pieces of this puzzle that just don't go together.
45I have to go. I'm running in danger of going completely haywire.
Actually, I have to play with my little boy and clean the house. '
46Ugg this is distrubing beyond words *shivers*.
47Well, right I mean she obviously wasn't given a choice about whether or not to have children. And I'm not at all trying to blame the victim here.
Looking at the pictures, it looks like this twisted jerk and his wife lived on the top floor, somebody else lived on the bottom floor and the daughter lived in the cellar below that. If the guy was getting his daughter to write letters explaining the children and if there was an entire floor with people living on it between the wife and the daughter, I suppose it is possible she really didn't know.
48how could the girl get sick if she wasn't exposed to any people? she's probably pregnant by grandpa and having some complication. horrible. these people's lives are ruined. how would you recover from this, any of them?
49I don't know. I still think the mother chose not to know.
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