Austrian woman says father held her captive for 24 years, fathered 7 children

"A truly astounding story; something out of a bad horror novel. What could possibly justify such evil? And what could possible deter such conduct?
Wer weiß, was das Böse lauert in den Herzen der Männer?"

April 27, 2008 - 17:34

Veronika Oleksyn, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

VIENNA, Austria - A woman has told Austrian police she was held captive in a cellar for almost 24 years by her father and that she gave birth to at least six, likely seven, children after being repeatedly raped by him, police said.

Lower Austria police said in a statement Sunday that the 42-year-old woman, identified as Elisabeth F., had been missing since Aug. 29, 1984. She was found by police in the town of Amstetten on Saturday evening following a tip.

Franz Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian Bureau of Criminal Affairs, told reporters that the 73-year-old father, identified in the statement as Josef F., had been taken into custody.

In a chronology of events outlined in the statement, police said a letter written by Elisabeth F. had apparently surfaced a month after her disappearance asking her parents not to search for her.

Police said that, during questioning, Elisabeth F. told them her father began sexually abusing her when she was 11. Police said she alleged that he sedated, handcuffed and locked her in a room in the cellar Aug. 28, 1984, in the town of Amstetten.

During the 24 years that followed, she said she was continually abused by her father and gave birth to six children, the statement said. In 1996, she said she gave birth to twins but one died several days later because it was not appropriately cared for. Josef F. had then apparently removed the corpse from the cellar and burned it, the police statement said. It was not immediately clear if the twin who allegedly died was included in the police tally of the number of children.

Sunday evening, police said investigators found the area where the woman had been held captive along with three of her children.

In an interview with Associated Press Television News, Polzer said the area had "several" rooms, an uneven floor and a "very narrow" hallway.

Police found it after Josef F. gave them a code to unlock a hidden door, Polzer said, adding that the door was "very small" and that one had to bend one's head to get through.

"Everything is very, very narrow and the victim herself, the mother of these six or seven children, told us that this was being continually enlarged over the years," Polzer said.

The area also contained sanitary facilities and "small hot plates" for cooking, Polzer said.

On its website, ORF television reported that the rooms were at most 1.7 metres high.

Police picked up Elisabeth and her father Saturday close to the Amstetten hospital after they received the tip.

According to the police statement, Josef F. had freed Elisabeth F. and two of her three children - from the cellar, and had told his wife that she had come back to them.

The third child in the cellar, Kerstin F., was found unconscious April 19 in the apartment building where the grandparents live, along with a note from Elisabeth asking that she be taken care of. Kerstin was then hospitalized and is in very serious condition in the hospital near which the father and daughter were found by police.

The alleged crimes began to unfold when authorities launched a public appeal for the mother to come forward so they could get access to vital medical history that could help them diagnose the daughter's condition.

Police said Elisabeth F. appeared "greatly disturbed" psychologically during questioning. She agreed to talk only after authorities assured her that she would no longer have to have contact with her father and that her children would be cared for.

Police said three of the children were registered with authorities and lived with the grandparents.

According to the police statement, Josef F. and his wife, Rosemarie, had told authorities they had found those children outside their home in 1993, 1994 and 1997 - each time with a note from the mother. In the first letter, Elisabeth F. had apparently said she already had a daughter and son. In another letter, she said she gave birth to a new son in December 2002, according to the statement.

The remaining three children were apparently held captive in the cellar with their mother, Polzer told reporters in broadcast remarks.

"Elisabeth F. taught them how to speak," Polzer was quoted as saying by the Austrian Press Agency.

The agency quoted police as saying Josef F. has been arrested but had not confessed.

The agency also quoted Gerhard Sedlacek, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in St. Poelten, as saying that the surviving children - three boys and three girls - are aged between five and 20.

DNA tests are expected to determine whether Josef F. is the father of the children.

According to the police statement, Elisabeth F. said that she and her children got food and clothing from the father only - and that her mother had not been involved.

Sunday's developments are reminiscent of the case of Natascha Kampusch, which shocked Austrians less than two years ago.

Kampusch was 10 years old when she was kidnapped in Vienna on her way to school in March 1998. She was held for the next 8� years by Wolfgang Priklopil, who largely confined her to a tiny underground dungeon in his home in a quiet Vienna suburb. Priklopil threw himself in front of a train just hours after Kampusch's dramatic escape Aug. 23, 2006.

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