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April 29, 2008, 11:25 am
Flag as Inappropriate gbyrd  

I saw this story on the morning news and thought I would share it. This is truely unbelievable.

AMSTETTEN, Austria (Reuters) - Austrian police sought answers on Tuesday on how a father managed to imprison a daughter in a windowless cellar for 24 years and have seven children by her without authorities and neighbours knowing.

Josef Fritzl, a 73-year-old electrical engineer, had confessed to holding his daughter captive in what Austrian media have branded "The House Of Horrors", police said on Monday.

The daughter and three of the children lived in the 60 square metre (645 sq ft) cellar in Fritzl's nondescript two-storey home that officials said was no more than 1.7 metres (5 ft 6 in) high and contained a padded cell.

A leading question was how what went on in the house, situated in a busy street with shops in the small industrial town of Amstetten, passed unnoticed for so long, particularly as Fritzl built extensions to the cellar.

Commentator Petra Stuiber wrote in Austria's Der Standard newspaper that what she termed a rich self-satisfied society needed to examine why it was allowed to occur.

"How is it possible that nobody heard or saw anything? How can it be that nobody asked questions?" said Stuiber.

"This is an appalling crime. I know of no comparable case in Austria," said Franz Prucher, head of security in Lower Austria.

Photographs of the house showed a narrow passageway leading into other rooms that included a cooking area, with children's drawings on the walls, a sleeping area and a small bathroom with a shower.

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKL2727651520080428?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Wow, this is really sad and horrific. It is amazing that he was able to get away with this for so long and no one noticed or suspected.

That is unbelievable. I can't believe the wife never caught on.

That makes my stomach turn and my skin crawl when I think about the man raping his own daughter and having 6 children that have never seen the light of day.

I read this story when it first broke. Really creepy. I can understand the neighbors and other people outside the family not knowing what was going on. I cannot comprehend his wife not suspecting something was amiss. That part just baffles me.

Here is the news video for anyone who missed it:

Terrible and very saddening. I think that, though we may try not to consider the possibility, that she definitely knew.

Unbelievable.

That is well more that just sad, I really dont think there is a word for what this idiot has done. His wife? Shes insane to believe the crap that came out of his mouth.

I was just reading about this this morning. Utterly amazing. I find it so hard to believe that his wife didn't know. I mean, really!? He claims all these kids are left on his doorstep from his daughter? That she ran away? Why were there no police investigations?

It is hard to believe in this day and age something like this could happen, but it still does and that is shame.