Case overview
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. 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). [1]
In March 2009, Fritzl pleaded guilty to all counts and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The investigation into Elisabeth's disappearance was also reopened. He stood trial for the murder of the infant Michael, who died shortly after birth, and faced between ten years' and life imprisonment. [2]
