Elizabeth Fritzl

Has anyone ever heard of this case before?  I remember in happened in 2008, two years after Natasha Kampusch who had been kept captive in a basement for 8 years in 2006 by a solitary, cellular, engineer.

Elizabeth Fritzl had been held captive for 25 years in an underground cellar right on her family's property in a dungeon that her father built when he kept her chained the first several months and repeatedly raperd her. She had seven of her father's children, one that died soon after birth when her father, Joseph Fritzl, refused the baby medical attention and incinerated it after.  The three other children were raised upstairs with her parents after he forced her to write a letter saying she was leaving them on the doorstep after disappearing for years living with a cult.  No one questoned if that was true, not her mother or siblings

Elizabeth was discovered after her oldest daughter needed medical attention when after 19 years of growing up in a cellar with her younger brother, Stephan, she started to fall ill and get close to death.

Her father agreed after she begged him to take Kirsten to the hospital Doctors put out a broadcast asking the mother to come forward.

Her father, feeling the walls closing in agreed to bring her to the hospital, and when Elizabeth was threatened with arrest and neglect that is when she told doctors she would say the truth as long as she never had to see her father's evil face again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritzl_case

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/whatever-became-of-elisabeth-fritzl-1924645.html

Holy Cow! That's such an atrocious story.

dreamlover wrote:

Holy Cow! That's such an atrocious story.

I know. I remember when it came out in 2008, and I was so mortified that Elizabeth Fritzl had been locked away for 25 years and was the same age as I was.  My life had so many changes in that time, and all I could think was, "How could she have endured it?"  

I was so horrified I thought it had to be a hoax, but it's not.  It's real.

Not only that, how could her own mother not know that her husband had their daughter practically buried alive right on the property?

katherine wrote:

dreamlover wrote:

Holy Cow! That's such an atrocious story.

I know. I remember when it came out in 2008, and I was so mortified that Elizabeth Fritzl had been locked away for 25 years and was the same age as I was.  My life had so many changes in that time, and all I could think was, "How could she have endured it?"  

I was so horrified I thought it had to be a hoax, but it's not.  It's real.

Not only that, how could her own mother not know that her husband had their daughter practically buried alive right on the property?

I know. I thought the exact same thing as you about her mother. How could she have been so oblivious to what was going on? It's so ridiculous.

Not only that Elizabeth had two brothers and 4 sisters.  How could they not ask where there sister was for years and believe she dropped off two babies from some cult.  Didn't they bother to look for her?  The Austrian motto way of life was, "Mind your own business".

The remaining three children lived with Elizabeth. the two oldest and youngest who was six years of age. Elizabeth cared for and educated them.  Their only window to the world was a little TV that Joseph Fritzl allowed them to have.  Their was no way for them to escape because he had six or eight doors leading to the dungeon that were made of concrete with a keypad that had a code to open the one ton doors.   If he had had a heart attack or died, they would have starved to death with no one knowing for God knows how long they had been in there.

I didn't post this for shock value, but how oblivious people can be to what's around them. How many more are locked away, like Jaycee Dugard, Amanda Berry, Gina deJesus, and Michelle Knight?

I think we would be horrified if we knew the answer to that question. And I remember seeing this story while scrolling you tube one night. I remember thinking the same thing about the mother, but as in Gertrude's case, the mother was probably very controlled and afraid of the father. It seems that people like this know exactly how to get their families to do their bidding, and it is usually through fear. And if its fear, then their families have already experienced the abuse of what this person can do to them and when they stop they are probably relieved and dont bother to wonder why the abuse stopped. Its human behavior. That is why I know that Gertrude knew exactly what she was doing and if she were younger when she got caught, and was let out after 20 years, she would have done it again. But by the time she was let out she was old, worn out and terrified for anybody to find out who she was. That is why she changed back to her maiden name and moved to Iowa. Gertrude was a sociopath, and abused her kids so much that they became abusers themselves. She was all they knew. I felt very sad for the younger children. I am sure they saw her do many things besides abusing them and Sylvia, they probably saw her have sex with men too. Gertrude was your classic sociopath. And I believe so was Paula. I wonder how she treated her children. Something leads me to believe that she was abusive to them as well, but secretively abusive. Probably more verbally and psychologically abusive, but I am certain she was also physically abusive to her kids as well, but not quite as much. She didnt want to caught again after all!