Gabberguy
04-27-2008, 11:09 AM
Austrian police are investigating claims a man held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and may have fathered seven children by her.
Detectives say the woman, identified as Elizabeth F, had been missing since August 29, 1984.
Now aged 42, she was found after a tip-off to police. Her 73-year-old father, Josef F, is being held in custody.
The case came to light after one of the children, a teenage girl, was taken to hospital in the town of Amstetten.
The youngster, Kerstin F, was said by police to be "gravely ill".
The mother and five other children are now being looked after by the local authorities.
It has emerged the seventh child was a twin who died shortly after birth.
Journalist Joe Remick, in Austria, told Sky News: "The only thing we know about the mother is that she is being evaluated by psychologists.
"Obviously, she will have been severely traumatised by her experience."
Another journalist covering the story, Bojan Pancevski, said he had been told the children all attended school where they were well-behaved.
Elisabeth F. told police her father began sexually abusing her when she was 11 and he locked her up in a room in the cellar on August 28, 1984.
During the 24 years that followed, she said she had six children by him.
In 1996, she gave birth to twins but one died several days later. Josef F removed the body and burned it.
Police said Elisabeth F. only agreed to talk after the authorities promised she would not have to have see her father again and the children would be taken care of.
The six surviving youngsters - three boys and three girls - are said to be aged between five and 20.
DNA tests are being carried out to determine whether Josef F. is the father.
The case follows that of Natascha Kampusch, the girl who was held in the basement of a house on the outskirts of Vienna for more than eight years.
She was snatched on her way to school by technician Wolfgang Priklopil, who threw himself in front of a train after she escaped.
In another case that rocked Austria, three young girls were locked up for seven years by their mentally ill mother near the city of Linz.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1314185,00.html
Detectives say the woman, identified as Elizabeth F, had been missing since August 29, 1984.
Now aged 42, she was found after a tip-off to police. Her 73-year-old father, Josef F, is being held in custody.
The case came to light after one of the children, a teenage girl, was taken to hospital in the town of Amstetten.
The youngster, Kerstin F, was said by police to be "gravely ill".
The mother and five other children are now being looked after by the local authorities.
It has emerged the seventh child was a twin who died shortly after birth.
Journalist Joe Remick, in Austria, told Sky News: "The only thing we know about the mother is that she is being evaluated by psychologists.
"Obviously, she will have been severely traumatised by her experience."
Another journalist covering the story, Bojan Pancevski, said he had been told the children all attended school where they were well-behaved.
Elisabeth F. told police her father began sexually abusing her when she was 11 and he locked her up in a room in the cellar on August 28, 1984.
During the 24 years that followed, she said she had six children by him.
In 1996, she gave birth to twins but one died several days later. Josef F removed the body and burned it.
Police said Elisabeth F. only agreed to talk after the authorities promised she would not have to have see her father again and the children would be taken care of.
The six surviving youngsters - three boys and three girls - are said to be aged between five and 20.
DNA tests are being carried out to determine whether Josef F. is the father.
The case follows that of Natascha Kampusch, the girl who was held in the basement of a house on the outskirts of Vienna for more than eight years.
She was snatched on her way to school by technician Wolfgang Priklopil, who threw himself in front of a train after she escaped.
In another case that rocked Austria, three young girls were locked up for seven years by their mentally ill mother near the city of Linz.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1314185,00.html