In 2008, a shocking story emerged from Austria of a girl who had been held captive in her father’s basement for 24 years. Elisabeth Fritzl was raped and abused by her father, Josef Fritzl, during her captivity and bore him seven children. Three of the children were kept with their mother in the basement, while the other four were raised by Josef and his wife on the ground floor of the family home.
In April 2009, Josef Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.
Elisabeth Fritzl’s story is one of unimaginable horror. For 24 years, she was imprisoned by her own father in a dank basement with only occasional visits to the outside world.
During her captivity, she was repeatedly raped and abused by her father and gave birth to seven children. Three of these children were kept with their mother in the basement while the other four were raised upstairs by Josef and his wife on the ground floor of the family home. In 2009, Josef Fritzl was finally brought to justice and sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes against Elisabeth and their children.
On May 19, 2008, 42-year-old Elisabeth Fritzl walked out of the dungeon her father had kept her in for 24 years. Her story made headlines around the world and sparked a conversation about sexual abuse that continues to this day.
Elisabeth was born in Austria in 1966 to Josef and Rosemarie Fritzl.
She was their eldest child and spent her early years living what appeared to be a normal, happy life. But when she was 11 years old, her father began sexually abusing her. The abuse continued for years, until Elisabeth was 18 and Josef finally raped her.
After the rape, Josef drugged Elisabeth and took her down to the basement of their home where he had been secretly building a dungeon. He locked her in a cell where she would spend the next 24 years of her life.
During that time, Josef repeatedly raped Elisabeth and fathered seven children with her.
Three of those children were born in the dungeon and never saw the light of day until they were freed along with their mother in 2008.
The other four children were raised by Josef and his wife Rosemarie upstairs, unaware of the horrors taking place in the basement just below them.
When Elisabeth’s youngest child turned 5, she managed to convince Josef to let her out of the dungeon so she could see daylight and fresh air again.
For two hours each day, she was allowed out of her cell – but only if she wore a mask so no one would recognize her.Josef told people that his “daughter” had run away from home years ago and didn’t want anything to do with him or his family anymore.
Credit: www.thetealmango.com
How Old is Elisabeth Fritzl Now?
Elisabeth Fritzl is now 48 years old. She was born on April 6, 1966 in Austria. Her father, Josef Fritzl, kept her imprisoned in a cellar for 24 years from 1984 until 2008.
During that time, he repeatedly raped and sexually abused her. As a result, she bore seven children by him.
After she was finally freed from the cellar, Elisabeth underwent extensive counseling and therapy to help her deal with the trauma of her ordeal.
She has since rebuilt her life and now lives with some of her children in a secret location in Austria.
How was Elisabeth Fritzl Found?
In 2008, Elisabeth Fritzl was found by police in Austria after she escaped from her father’s basement, where she had been held captive for 24 years. Her father, Josef Fritzl, had raped and imprisoned her in the basement, where he fathered seven children with her.
Elisabeth managed to escape when her father left the door to the basement unlocked while he went on vacation.
She ran to a neighbor’s house and begged for help. The neighbor contacted the police, who came to rescue Elisabeth and her children.
Josef Fritzl was arrested and sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.
Elisabeth and her children were taken into protective custody and have since rebuilt their lives.
Did Elisabeth Fritzl Really Have a Sister?
Yes, Elisabeth Fritzl really did have a sister. Her sister’s name was Rosemarie and she was born just 18 months after Elisabeth. The sisters were very close as children and remained close even after they were both married with children of their own.
In 2008, when Elisabeth finally escaped from her father’s horrific basement prison, she asked authorities to help locate her sister so that she could finally be reunited with her.
Inside the horrific secret chamber where Josef Fritzl kept his daughter | 60 Minutes Australia
Girl in the Basement True Story How Did She Escape
On March 12, 2018, 14-year-old Jayme Closs was abducted from her home in Barron, Wisconsin after her parents were brutally murdered. She was missing for 88 days before she escaped from her captor, 21-year-old Jake Thomas Patterson. Here is the story of how she survived and ultimately escaped.
Jayme was taken to a remote cabin in Gordon, Wisconsin, about 70 miles north of Barron. For the first two months, Patterson kept Jayme hidden under his bed whenever people came over or he left the house. She was only allowed out to eat and go to the bathroom.
The rest of the time, she was forced to stay silent under the bed while Patterson watched TV or played video games just a few feet away.
Patterson told Jayme that if she made any noise or tried to escape, he would kill her. He also threatened to kill her family if she told anyone about what was happening.
As a result, Jayme was too scared to try anything until Patterson left the house for several hours one day in early January 2019. That’s when she finally summoned up the courage to crawl out from under the bed and escape through the front door.
A woman who was walking her dog saw Jayme and called 911.
Jayme gave police a description of Patterson’s car and he was quickly apprehended.
Conclusion
On May 19, 2008, Austrian police discovered a horrific case of abuse and imprisonment. Seventy-two-year-old Josef Fritzl had been holding his daughter Elisabeth captive in a purpose-built basement beneath his house for 24 years. During that time, he raped her multiple times, resulting in the births of seven children.
Three of those children were raised by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie above ground, while the other four were kept hidden in the dungeon with their mother.
Elisabeth was 18 when she was first imprisoned by her father. For the next 24 years she was subjected to unspeakable horrors, including rape, sexual assault, and mental and physical abuse.
In addition to being held in a small cell with no natural light or fresh air, she was also forced to eat from a pet bowl and use a bucket as a toilet. Fritzl would visit her several times a week to rape her, often videotaping the assaults.
The four children who were born in captivity were also abused by their father.
They never saw the outside world and only knew their mother as someone who was always crying and screaming.
In April 2008, one of the basement children became ill with an unidentified disease that caused him severe pain; Fritzl took him to the hospital where doctors quickly determined that he needed surgery. However, when they asked Fritzl about his son’s medical history, he gave them false information and refused to allow them to speak with Elisabeth or any of the other children.
As a result, surgeons operated on the boy without knowing that he had never been vaccinated against common childhood diseases such as polio or measles.
After the boy’s surgery, police began investigating Josef Fritzl’s background and uncovered evidence that led them to believe he had been holding Elisabeth captive for many years. They raided his home on May 28th and found Elisabeth and three of her children living in squalor in the dungeon; all four were immediately taken into protective custody.
DNA tests later confirmed that Josef Fritzl was indeed the father of all seven of Elisabeth’schildren .