The Girl in the Cellar: The Shocking Story of Elisabeth Fritzl's 24-Year Captivity

In 1984, Elisabeth Fritzl, who was 18 years old at the time, disappeared. Her mother, Rosemarie, was worried about her daughter's whereabouts and immediately filed a missing-persons report. Despite searching for weeks, there was no news of Elisabeth, and her parents feared the worst. However, they eventually received a letter from Elisabeth claiming that she had run away because she was tired of her family life.

When a policeman came to the house, Elisabeth's father, Josef claimed that he had no knowledge of where she could be, speculating that she might have joined a religious cult, an idea that Elisabeth had previously discussed. In reality, however, Josef Fritzl knew exactly where his daughter was: she was being held captive 20 feet below where the police officer was standing.

August 28, 1984, marked the day when Josef Fritzl called his daughter Elisabeth into the basement of the family's residence, under the pretense of needing her assistance in carrying a door for the newly renovated cellar. However, as soon as Elisabeth held the door, Josef swiftly fixed it into place and then opened it, before knocking her out with an ether-soaked towel.

Life In Captivity

Elisabeth Fritzl's life remained confined to the dirt-walled cellar for the next 24 years, with no glimpse of the outside world. Her father continued to deceive her mother and the police, concocting stories about Elisabeth joining a cult and running away. The investigation into her disappearance eventually went cold, and the world forgot about the missing Fritzl girl.

To Elisabeth Fritzl, Josef was a monster. He visited her in the basement at least three times a week, and sometimes every day. For the first two years, he kept her captive without causing her any physical harm. However, he began to rape her after the two-year mark, continuing the nightly visits that started when Elisabeth was only 11 years old.

Elisabeth became pregnant two years into her captivity but miscarried at 10 weeks. Two years later, she became pregnant again and carried the baby to term. In August 1988, she gave birth to a baby girl named Kerstin, followed by a baby boy named Stefan two years later.

During Elisabeth's captivity, Kerstin and Stefan lived with her in the cellar and were given weekly rations of food and water by Josef. Elisabeth did her best to teach them with her limited education and create a sense of normalcy in their lives, despite their horrific circumstances.

During Elisabeth's 24 years of captivity, she gave birth to seven children. Josef allowed three of them to remain with her in the cellar, while one died after birth. The other three children were taken upstairs to live with Josef and Rosemarie.

To conceal his actions from Rosemarie, Josef resorted to elaborate schemes, including leaving the children on bushes or the doorstep, accompanied by a note from Elisabeth indicating that she was unable to care for the baby. Officials never questioned the appearance of the children, assuming that Rosemarie and Josef were their biological grandparents, and allowed them to keep the children as their own.

The exact length of Josef Fritzl's plan to keep Elisabeth captive in the basement is unclear. He managed to keep her imprisoned for 24 years, and it is unknown how much longer he intended to continue. However, in 2008, one of the children in the cellar fell ill.

Elisabeth's Escape From Captivity

When Elisabeth's daughter Kerstin fell critically ill, she begged Josef to allow her to receive medical attention. After reluctantly agreeing, Josef called an ambulance, using a note from Kerstin's mother to explain her condition.

Following a week of questioning Kerstin and appealing to the public for information, the police grew suspicious of Josef and reopened the investigation into Elisabeth Fritzl's disappearance. Upon scrutinizing the letters that Elisabeth had supposedly left for the Fritzls, they discovered inconsistencies.

On April 26, 2008, Josef released Elisabeth from the cellar, marking the first time in 24 years that she had been outside. She went directly to the hospital to see her daughter, but her arrival raised suspicions among the hospital staff, who alerted the police.

Elisabeth Fritzl was taken into police custody later that night to be questioned about her daughter's illness and Josef's story. After the police promised that she would never have to see her father again, Elisabeth revealed the full story of her 24-year captivity.

She explained that her father had kept her imprisoned in a basement, where she gave birth to seven children. Elisabeth revealed that Josef was the father of all seven and that he would come down to the basement at night, forcing her to watch pornographic films before raping her. She also disclosed that the abuse had been going on since she was only 11 years old.

Josef Fritzl was tried and found guilty of multiple charges, resulting in a life sentence in a facility for the mentally ill in March 2009.