Josef Fritzl Case
Josef Fritzl imprisoned his daughter Elisabeth in a cellar for 24 years, fathering seven children with her. The case was discovered in 2008 when one of the children needed hospital care.
In August 1984, Josef Fritzl lured his 18-year-old daughter Elisabeth into the basement of their family home in Amstetten, Austria, where he drugged her and locked her in a purpose-built cellar. He would keep her imprisoned for 24 years.
During her captivity, Fritzl repeatedly raped Elisabeth, fathering seven children. Three of the children were raised upstairs by Fritzl and his wife, who believed Elisabeth had abandoned them. Three remained in the cellar. One died shortly after birth.
The case was discovered in April 2008 when 19-year-old Kerstin, one of the cellar children, fell critically ill and was taken to hospital. Elisabeth persuaded Fritzl to let her accompany Kerstin, and she told authorities the truth.
Fritzl was convicted of murder (the baby who died), enslavement, rape, incest, and imprisonment in 2009. He was sentenced to life in a psychiatric institution.
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