#Fritzl elisabeth fritzl now 2012 trial

They draw on previously unreleased testimonies from the trial as well as exclusive interviews and documents including confidential official files on the case to give the only complete and authoritative account of the forces that drove Fritzl to create another world, far from the light, in which his fantasies of control could be played out. Stefanie Marsh and Bojan Pancevski were the first English-speaking reporters to break the case and were there as the police uncovered the dungeon. It includes new information on the bizarre formative experiences that shaped his pathology and argues that his crimes, though unthinkable, were in many ways inevitable. This bold and forensically-researched study sheds new light on the mind and the psychological development of the man who became one of the most unique and frightening criminals in history. Kerstin, Stefan and Felix were never to see daylight, trapped with their mother in the five-room cellar. Lisa, Monika and Alexander were taken 'upstairs' to live with their grandmother. Over the next 18 years in the cellar she bore her father seven children - six of whom survived. Three months into her incarceration Elisabeth miscarried what would have been her first child. Fritzl initially kept his daughter chained to a bed and forced her to re-enact scenes from pornographic films he projected in the cellar. He held her captive there for 24 years and raped her frequently. In 1984 he had drugged his 18-year-old daughter, Elisabeth, and dragged her into a purpose-made prison under the house that he had spent five years preparing. Yet for over two decades he had been living a double life of unimaginable and unparalleled horror.

Until April 19 2008, Josef Fritzl seemed like an upstanding member of the community in the Austrian town of Amstetten: an ideal father and successful businessman who had worked his way up from humble beginnings to become a role model of respectability. While in Krems-Stein prison, one of the largest jails in Austria, Fritzl is said to have been unpopular with other inmates and has spent most of his time in solitary confinement.Įlisabeth, now 55, lives under a new name in an unknown part of Austria with her children and has not had any contact with her father since he was jailed.The only inside account of the Fritzl case – Josef Fritzl's horrific incarceration of his daughter in a windowless dungeon for 24 years and the seven children he fathered with her – from the journalists who helped to break the story. When Elisabeth disappeared he told friends and family that she had run away and joined a sect. He applied for planning permission to construct his underground cellar complex, that would be used as a dungeon, in the late 1970s. It is believed that Fritzl, one of Europe’s most notorious offenders, planned his crimes for years. Even if he was deemed psychologically sound and therefore able to apply for early release, his appeal would then have to be granted by judges. He is said to show signs of dementia and poor mental health. However, it is considered to be unlikely that Fritzl will pass the psychological assessments required to be moved. The psychological expert’s opinion is expected by the end of next month, according to Ferdinand Schuster, vice president of the Krems Regional Court. If he is deemed to be “of sound mind” he would be moved to a regular prison, and as a result he would be eligible to apply for early release, as he would have served 15 years - nine years less behind bars than his daughter spent in the Amstetten cellar. The Higher Court has said Fritzl must now undergo a psychological assessment to determine his psychiatric and neurological condition, and thus whether he should be moved or remain in place. The public prosecutor's office appealed and blocked the decision and, as a result, the Vienna Higher Regional Court has been forced to step in and take over the case. However, earlier this year, the Regional Court of Krems, a city in Lower Austria where he is imprisoned, made the controversial decision that he should be moved to a regular prison, which would mean he could apply to be released. Up until now, Fritzl has been kept in a special unit for the criminally insane. Despite the life sentence, Fritzl could soon be eligible to apply for early release in 2024 if a psychological assessment deems that he is no longer a danger.

Fritzl elisabeth fritzl now 2012