Fritzl case

The Fritzl case emerged in 2008 when a woman named Elisabeth Fritzl (born 6 April 1966) informed investigators in the city of Amstetten, Lower Austria, that she had been held captive for 24 years by her father, Josef Fritzl (born 9 April 1935). Fritzl had assaulted, sexually abused, and raped his daughter countless times during her imprisonment inside a concealed area in the cellar of the family home. The incestuous rapes resulted in the birth of seven children. Three children remained in captivity with their mother, one died shortly after birth and was cremated by Fritzl, and the other three were brought up in the family home upstairs by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie, after Fritzl convinced her and the authorities that they were foundlings each time. Fritzl was arrested by Austrian police on counts of rape, false imprisonment, murder by negligence, and incest, one week after Elisabeth's eldest daughter, Kerstin, fell ill in the cellar and was taken to the hospital by Fritzl himself. In March 2009, Fritzl pleaded guilty to all counts and was sentenced to life imprisonment.