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Josef Fritzl Pleads Guilty After Seeing His Daughter's Testimony

CitizenSugar — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:37:12 -0700

Josef Fritzl changed his mind and decided to plead guilty to all charges today after watching his daughter's video testimony in court. The powerful interview was played yesterday, and the verdict and sentencing will happen tomorrow.

While pleading guilty to the death of his newborn son, Fritzl said:

I was hoping the little one would survive, but I should have done something. I don't know why I didn't help. I just lost sight . . . sorry.

The court doctor has recommended that Fritzl be sent to a secure psychiatric facility, even though he's not insane in the legal sense of the word. Fritzl faces life in jail for the murder conviction.

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Josef Fritzl Can't Hide From His Crimes

CitizenSugar — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:00:13 -0700

Josef Fritzl kept his daughter from seeing the light of day for 24 years, and now he's trying to prevent us from seeing his face in court. Fritzl's lawyer says his client uses the blue ring binder to cover his face because he is simply embarrassed.

Fritzl, who imprisoned his daughter and three of the seven children he fathered with her, has plead guilty to incest and partially to rape. He's plead not guilty to enslavement and not guilty to the murder of one of his newborn sons. The trial began this week.

I guess we should expect such bizarre behavior from this disturbed man.

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Austrian Dad Charged With Murder, Rape, Slavery

CitizenSugar — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 06:05:20 -0800

Josef Fritzl, the man who imprisoned and abused his daughter for 24 years and later blamed Hitler, has been charged with murdering one of the children he fathered with his daughter.

Fritzl, 73, was found to be responsible for the death of a newborn in 1996 after he neglected to seek medical help when he knew the baby might die. Fritzl previously told police that the baby, one of twins, was born dead and he had burned the body. To learn some of the heartbreaking details uncovered from the case files (warning: they are truly awful), read more.

The case files offered some chilling details about Fritzl's violent behavior and history. He kept his daughter in the cellar of his apartment building for 24 years - raping her on a regular basis and fathering seven children with her. Apparently, he chained his then 18-year-old daughter for the first nine months of her captivity in 1984, drugged, beat, and raped her. Fritzl eventually filled the rat-infested cell with furniture, but regularly shut off power as punishment. He admitted to abusing his daughter soon after he was arrested, but didn't admit to killing the baby. Fritzl's trial isn't expected to begin before January 2009.

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Front Page: Key al-Qaeda Leader Killed, Bush, Paulson Promise Improvements, Austrian Incest Dad Fit For Trial

CitizenSugar — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:00:18 -0700

Key al-Qaeda Leader Killed:
The US military has announced that the second-in-command of al-Qaeda in Iraq has been killed. The militant leader Abu Qaswarah had ties to senior al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was killed in a raid on Oct. 5 in Mosul, a city described as the military as one of the group's last strongholds.
Bush, Paulson Promise Improvements:
President Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson said today that confidence and cash will rehabilitate the economy, but that improvements will take time and patience. Bush said he's confident the economy will "come back" in the long run. Speaking on the $250 billion bank investment announced yesterday, Paulson said, "There's no doubt that the way to get the maximum bang for the taxpayers here was to invest in banks."
Austrian Incest Dad Fit For Trial:
Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man accused of holding his daughter in the cellar for 24 years and fathering seven children with her, has been declared mentally fit to stand trial. The court said the psychiatric evaluation of the 73-year-old found him lucid enough, but that he suffers from a "profound personality disorder."

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Front Page: Pakistan and UN to Investigate Bhutto, Austrian Cellar Captive Questioned, Missing Soldiers' Bodies Found

CitizenSugar — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:57:38 -0700

Pakistan and UN to Investigate Bhutto:
Pakistan and the UN have agreed for the need to set up a UN panel to investigate the killing of Benazir Bhutto. A UN statement said a broad understanding between Pakistan and the UN had been reached, but further discussion was be required to move forward with the investigation. Pakistani's Foreign Minister said, "in principle we have decided to move on, but the modalities have to be discussed." Bhutto was twice prime minister of Pakistan, and was campaigning for the parliamentary elections when she killed in a suicide attack on a rally last December, setting off deadly riots around the country. Though five people have been arrested in connection with her killing, none have been convicted.

Austrian Cellar Captive Questioned:
Prosecutors have questioned Elisabeth Fritzl, the woman held captive in an Austrian cellar for 24 years by her father. Part of the questioning was to determine how one of the seven babies she was forced to bear by her father had died. Josef Fritzl has confessed to incinerating the body of the dead baby, and a trial on all formal charges may start later this year.
Missing Soldiers' Bodies Found:
The bodies of two US soldiers missing in Iraq for more than a year have been found, according to their families. The father of Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez, of MA, said the remains of his son and another soldier, Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, of Michigan, had been identified. The soldiers were kidnapped during an ambush in May 2007 in an unstable area area south of Baghdad known as the ''triangle of death.'' Fouty's stepfather said, ''Byron went to Iraq to help people who couldn't help themselves. I know their sacrifice was not for nothing. It was not in vain.''

Front Page: Austria Cellar Daughter Awake, China Drains Quake Lake, TV Crew Abducted

CitizenSugar — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:00:24 -0700

Austria Cellar Daughter Awake: Kerstin Fritzl, the 19-year-old woman, and the oldest daughter kept in the cellar in Austria, has regained consciousness. Her illness in April tipped Austria's authorities to the incest scandal. Kerstin is the oldest of seven children fathered by Josef Fritzl, her grandfather, during the 24 years he kept his daughter Elisabeth in his cellar, captive while raping her repeatedly. Doctors say Kerstin still requires intensive medical care. Let out of the cellar because of her illness, Kerstin has been unconscious and in intensive care since then.

China Drains Quake Lake: China declared victory today over the brimming lake formed by landslides from the massive earthquake, threatening to flood downstream communities. Sichuan province's top official claimed a "decisive victory" over the potential crisis. A manmade channel caused the water to pour out and into the mostly evacuated town of Qinglian, a resident who remained in the area said. More than 250,000 people downstream had moved to high ground due to fear that the lake could breach its banks entirely. About 1.3 million people total live downstream.
Phillipine's TV Crew Captured: A TV news team from the Philippines’s largest network along with one of the country’s most famous journalists is believed to have been abducted by members of the militant group Abu Sayyaf. The journalist, a cameraman, and driver were on their way to meet with Abu Sayyaf when they were intercepted on Sunday by armed men in a province where Abu Sayyaf, which is fighting for a separate Muslim state in the southern Philippines, are known to operate. Abu Sayyaf is notorious for its kidnap-for-ransom activities and has terrorized Filipinos and foreigners alike. The militants have been blamed for several major terrorist attacks across the Philippines in recent years. The abductors have not yet made contact.

Austrian Incest Family Speaks Out For First Time

CitizenSugar — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:00:16 -0700

The family of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man accused of imprisoning and raping his daughter in a cellar for 24 years, released their first public message, a hand-written poster hung in a local shop window thanking people for their support.

The sign reads:

We, the whole family, would like to use this occasion to thank you all for your sympathy with our fate. Your compassion really helps us to cope with this difficult time and shows us that there are also good and honest people. We hope that a time will come for us when we can lead a normal life again.

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The message from the 18-year-old boy, who'd never been outside in his entire life says that he's relishing experiencing sun, fresh air, and nature for the first time. Local residents reading the sign have been reportedly moved to tears. The family is currently in the care of Austrian authorities who are protecting their privacy.

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Austrian Incest Dad Blames Hitler

CitizenSugar — Fri, 09 May 2008 03:00:13 -0700

This is one route I did not expect the Austrian incest story to take. Josef Fritzl, the father who imprisoned his daughter for 24 years, is claiming being raised in Nazi times instilled him with the "decency and uprightness" that led him to keep his daughter in the cellar for almost a quarter of a century. He was instilling discipline in his unruly daughter and had “rescued” Elisabeth (then 18) to keep her from “going out to seedy bars” and “drinking and smoking.”

Fritzl explains his actions through a series of jailhouse notes passed to his lawyer like this:

I have always had high regard for decency and uprightness. I was growing up in Nazi times, when hard discipline was a very important thing. I belong to an old school of thinking that just does not exist today. I grew up in the Nazi times and that meant there needed to be control and the respect of authority. I suppose I took on some of these old values with me into later life, all subconsciously, of course.

Apparently Elisabeth started acting out when she hit puberty. To see how Fritzl thought his imprisonment was actually saving her, read more.

Fritzl says:

When she got into puberty she stopped obeying any rules. She was going out to seedy bars and would spend whole nights there drinking and smoking. I only tried to rescue her from that life. She even ran away from home twice and associated herself with some bad people that were not right for her. I would bring her back home each time, but she would run away again each time. I was forced to act and do something about it. I had to create a place where I could keep Elisabeth separated from that world, and I was ready to use force.

That "force" resulted in six surviving children, three of whom lived in the basement for their entire lives. Time magazine has a piece on how they're adjusting to life above ground.

Fritzl has also just confessed to having an "addiction" to incest that he couldn't control. He says, "I knew Elisabeth didn't want me to do what I did to her. I knew that I was hurting her. It was like an addiction... In reality, I wanted children with her." Yet he still claims the media coverage has been "unfair" saying, that he deserves credit but he's "no monster."

Whether he's a monster or not may be up to a judge. Elisabeth may sue her father and former captor for damages.

Is Fritzl a monster? Do you buy that his actions were influenced by his Nazi-era upbringing? Is the media being unfair?

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More Developments in the Austrian Incest Horror Story

CitizenSugar — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:00:35 -0700

Here's a quick roundup of new developments out of Austria in the Josef Fritzl incest story. The more details that come out, the crazier it becomes:

Dungeon Plans: Police say the Austrian man accused of holding his daughter captive for 24 years planned to build his secret cell as early as 1978, when she was just 12 years old. - AP
Held Behind Eight Doors: Elisabeth Fritzl was imprisoned behind eight locked doors during the 24 years that her father held her in the cellar of his house in Austria, police have revealed. - Telegraph
Captives Helped Build Dungeon: The "House of Horrors" captives were forced to help expand the prison that housed them as their numbers grew, Austrian police have revealed. - CNN
Wife Had No Idea: Meanwhile his wife fought to keep the troubled family together but never knew their child was in a soundproofed cellar beneath the apartment, her sister said. In an exclusive television interview with the Associated Press, a woman who identified herself as Josef Fritzl's sister-in-law provided intimate details of the oppression inside the Fritzl home, describing him as a "tyrant." - AP

Insanity Plea For Josef: A German newspaper has reported that Fritzl plans to claim insanity when the case comes to court. - Guardian

The picture allegedly shows Lisa, one of the three children from the cellar adopted by Fritzl and raised as his grandchildren in the house upstairs. Do you think Fritzl's really insane? Does it seem like the more information that comes out about the story, the more questions it raises? Are you following the story, or turned off by the whole thing?

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Details Tumble Out in the Austrian Incest Story

CitizenSugar — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:00:42 -0700

More details are coming out of the cellar in the horrifying imprisonment/incest story - despite the Austrian government's efforts to minimize one of the most bizarre cases in recent memory. After Josef Fritzl was arrested for imprisoning his daughter in a windowless room for over 24 years and forcing her to conceive seven children, Austria's chancellor, Alfred Gusenbauer, said “it’s not Austria that is the perpetrator. . . we won’t allow the whole country to be held hostage by one man.” Austria is actually planning to hire image consultants to restore the nation’s image.

The horror of Josef Fritzl might not end at the cellar door. The Amstetten police are now looking into the murder of a 17-year-old girl whose body was found 22 years ago. The police are looking into the possibility of a connection between her murder and Josef Fritzl, as his wife owned an inn on the other side of the lake where the girl's body was found. To see the most bizarre twist in the story, read more.

In what could only be a terrible family reunion, the three “above-ground” grandchildren of the gruesome procreation were reunited with the three “basement” grandchildren for the first time since the capture and arrest of their father. Fritzl had kept three of the surviving six children underground where they were never allowed to see daylight, while raising the other three as his own grandchildren in the apartment.

The director of the clinic where the reunion took place said, “it was astonishing how easy it was.” She then reported that even Elisabeth (the daughter who was held captive and forced to conceive) and her mother (Fritzl’s wife) “interacted very naturally." DNA tests have proven that Fritzl is the father of all of the children.

Does this case tarnish Austria's image, or is it an isolated story? Are you surprised that the government is focusing on this aspect? Does it seem odd given that the family was allowed to interact together? Are you following this story, or are you put off by its tabloid nature?

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