Father keeps daughter captive in cellar for 24 years

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The house where allegedly the father kept his daughter captive. Photo: EFE

An Austrian woman has told police that she was held prisoner in a cellar for almost 24 years by her father, who repeatedly raped her and fathered at least six children with her.

Lower Austria police said in a statement that the 42-year-old woman, identified as Elisabeth F, who had been missing since August 29, 1984, was found by police in the town of Amstetten on Saturday evening following a tip-off.

Franz Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian Bureau of Criminal Affairs, told reporters that the 73-year-old father, identified in a separate police statement as Josef F, had been taken into custody. "It is one of the most remarkable criminal cases in Austria," Polzer said.

In a chronology of events outlined in a statement, police said Elisabeth F had apparently under duress sent a letter every month after her disappearance, asking her parents not to search for her, while all the while being held by her father.

During questioning, Elisabeth F told police her father began sexually abusing her when she was 11, and then, on August 28, 1984, had sedated and handcuffed her, and locked her in a room in the cellar in the Lower Austrian town of Amstetten.

During the 24 years that followed, she said she was continually abused by her father and gave birth to six children, the statement said. "They all apparently share the same father", Polzer said.

In 1996, she gave birth to twins but one died several days later because it was not appropriately cared for. Josef F had then apparently removed the corpse from the cellar and burned it, the statement said. It was not immediately clear if the twin who allegedly died was included in the police tally of the number of children.

According to the statement, Josef F and his wife, Rosemarie, had told authorities they had found the children left outside their home in 1993, 1994 and 1997, each time with a note from the mother. In the first letter, Elisabeth F had apparently said she already had a daughter and son. In another letter, she said she had given birth to another son in December 2002, according to the statement. The other three children were apparently held captive in the cellar with their mother, Polzer told reporters in broadcast remarks. He added, however, that authorities had yet to find the "prison" where they were kept.

Police picked up Elisabeth and her father on Saturday close to the Amstetten hospital after they received a tip-off. According to the police statement, Josef F had freed Elisabeth and two of her three children from the cellar, and had told his wife that she had come back to them.

The third child in the cellar, identified as 19-year-old Kerstin F, was found unconscious on April 19 in the apartment building where the grandparents live, along with a note from Elisabeth asking that she be taken care of. She was then taken to hospital, where she is currently in a very serious condition. A neighbor of the family called the case "incomprehensible". "To me it is incomprehensible. For 24 years. He had to bring in food, other things. It is unbelievable”, said Freinschlag Alois.

Police said Elisabeth F appeared "greatly disturbed" psychologically during questioning. She agreed to talk only after authorities assured her that she would no longer have to have contact with her father and that her children would be taken care of.

APA cited police as saying Josef F has been arrested but had not confessed. DNA tests are expected to determine whether Josef F is the father of the children.