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Josef Fritzl search continues

Josef F Rex Features

Austrian police are to use sniffer dogs and specialist radar equipment to see whether more bodies are buried in the ground surrounding the dungeon where Josef Fritzl kept his daughter hidden for 24 years.

The Austrian authorities have revealed that there are more rooms in the underground dungeon that have yet to be examined, which Fritzl is believed to have sealed off years ago.

Fritzl has a history of sex crimes including a conviction for rape and attempted rape as well as being investigated for an unrelated murder, and now police fear the extra rooms may contain evidence of further crimes.

Police are set to break down walls in the cellar to get to the hidden rooms this week and plan to investigate the electrics and plumbing to ascertain whether Fritzl - an electrical engineer - could have built the dungeon, or whether he had help.

They will also scan the ground surrounding the cellar to check if more rooms exist or if there are any objects buried in the garden. The dogs and radars being used can both detect human body parts underground.

It remains a mystery as to how Fritzl managed to smuggle two beds underground unnoticed as well as a large washing machine and supplies for Elisabeth and the children.

Wednesday 14 May 2008


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To those ascribing some kind of national/cultural blame e.g. 'this happened in Austria because of its history of denial of the Nazis' actions', two words: Fred West.
Terrible things happen everywhere. They cannot be explained in this simplistic way by stating that an entire country and culture is somehow to blame. I wonder how many people looked the other way while trouble was brewing in the lead-up to the recent Oxford Street stabbing? And why did a key witness to the killing of Jimmy Mizen take so long to come forward? Burying heads in the sand is not just a result of Nazi rule and it certainly doesn't happen only in 'other countries'.
Comment by Jacqui Lewis on May 15 12:34

I cannot believe that people blame this on Austrian society & the Nazis. This man is a monster. Fact. A terrible thing has happened./ Fact.

His wife was either naive, complicitely involved in his secret life, or lived behind her denial.

What's to say that things like this aren't happening in our society? Who's to say that this situation is any worse than a young boy being stabbed on his 16th Birthday, a man being stabbed for kicking thieves out of a store or any number of atrocities that happen in the UK?
Comment by x on May 15 09:26

i am suffered to believe that some money making spiv who's education will have been paid for by some loyal and committed parent will defend such a vile example of a father, parent and tormentor.
it appear's his mother created a monster..
i dread to think what the price to secure such a vile beast will cost society today.
fritzl was fully aware of his actions if not his daughters family would not have survived such long term imprisonment, i dont believe his family will be at ease till he's dead.
sometime's there is a lot to be said for a death sentence and not a life sentence, i think this is the one prime case to support that cause. behaviour breeds behaviour they say, could this man be rehab'd... i dont think so..
did his wife know?, denial is a huge brick wall to hide behind, i believe it was her best friend. personally my best friend would be the police a concrete cell and 4 iron bars, words fail me.
that poor child!!



Comment by jj1967 on May 15 00:12

All of Austrian society and esp this generation are children of abuse if you think about it. We now know of 3 "dungeons" or captivities of children in the last year or so. The whole society is messed up from the Nazi era. They just turn their heads and look the other way--There is no way someone in the middle of any town in most other countries could get away with this for X number of YEARS. Austria needs to be shamed and banned from the EU and the UN until all residents receive some kind of education or training on BEING NEIGHBORS and not "keeping myself to myself" when there is obviously f-ed up stuff happening right under your nose - like burning bodies in concentration camps or kids that go missing and shady men taking food down to cellars.
Comment by mmm on May 14 22:59

I think the only appropriate punishment could be imprisonment. I think killing him would be letting him off easy. He should be forced to endure the savage abuse and lack of freedom that his daughter had to endure.
Comment by Nick on May 14 19:45

Denial is so damaging - this case exposes the worst of the worst. Or is it? There could be more, or even worse (is that possible?), right next door to where you live. Look at Aushweitz (spelling?) during the Nazi era. Nobody wanted to see it, nobody wanted to believe it - because it was too impossible, we would have to change our beliefs about mankind (yes, there is evil), and we would have to take action as moral beings, risking resistance from those who favor denial and apathy. This includes not only us, but our society and the authorities who "protect" the status quo. I know because I come from a very abusive family. There were friends/relatives who did speak up, but the authorities only have resources for the most severe cases. You have no idea how many children and spouses and elderly are greatly suffering right now as you read this, and need our courage to speak up, to act, and to create resources for change.
Comment by Diane in CA, USA on May 14 17:58

Having an abusive childhood is no excuse for his horrendous actions. He was functional enough to hold down a job and to plan and design his daughter's prison, therefore he was working with a certain level of premeditation. Nothing should let him off the hook for his total and utter responsibility.
It makes us feel better to think only a damaged person could commit such crimes, but that isn't true. Nor is it true that all damaged children become damaged adults.
I cannot think what sentence could possibly balance out this crime.
Comment by Aimee on May 14 15:23

I'm sure his wife knew he was doing something in the cellar, but she didn't know what. He got vicious when questioned. He was a control freak. Also his wife moved out for 9 years because he abused her and during that time he did most of the cellar work. There are lots of problems here - intimidated wife, neighbors and tenants told to keep their noses out, crime records concealed from adoption agencies, a general desire not to mess with someone else's life for fear of reprisal/bad feelings, an Austrian tendency to "look the other way" and also the incredible nature of the crime that nobody had even imagined was taking place. There are lots of things that could be fixed up to help prevent future "cellar families". Also there needs to be an acknowledgment that the "cellar monster" would not have been driven to his crimes if his mother had not repeatedly beaten him. Daily, severe beatings can crush a person's ability to empathize with another human being, and you see this trait very clearly in Josef. His level of caring about other people is close to zero. And he learned to intimidate others with physical violence from an early age. He was driven by revengeful feelings toward his own mother in committing his crimes.
Comment by paula on May 14 11:39

I think the wife should not be condemned for her husbands actions & should be considered innocent until proven guilty. He was obviously very meticulous in his devious crimes. who in their right mind would ever suspect a family member would be capable of such appalling deceit?
This poor family, including the wife (unless proven complicit) should be given the utmost support in rebuilding their shattered lives.

Comment by radiantrose on May 14 10:57

i like most i cannot get over thse crimes im so upset i cant even talk about it how can you rape your daughter get her pregnant and leave the poor girl to deliver it all on her own no help 7 times theres only one sentence death but you will get some bleeding heart librel trying to defend him im only glad this did not happen in the uk he would of got 30 years but reduced on good behav to 15 then a third 0ff so he would be out in 10 years
Comment by marc weston on May 14 10:45

well i think his wife must have known he was up to something sinister. she played her part by ignorance
Comment by tara on May 14 10:35

This story just gets worse and worse, it says a lot about the poorly regulated police service in Austria that so many crimes involving the kidnapping and imprisonment of children have been allowed to occur in recent history. The dealings of a government must be transparent in order to prevent the onset of corruption and cover-ups that ultimately hurt individuals & families of the public.
Comment by susie on May 14 09:49


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