05/06/2008
A prosecutor planned to meet Wednesday for the first time with the Austrian man accused of imprisoning his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathering her seven children, an official said Tuesday.
The meeting between prosecutor Christiane Burkheiser and the suspect, Josef Fritzl, will take place in the prison in the Lower Austrian city of St. Poelten, where the 73-year-old is being held, said prosecution spokesman Gerhard Sedlacek. Sedlacek said it was unclear if Fritzl would agree to answer questions.
Authorities say he initially confessed to locking up and raping his daughter but has since remained silent. Fritzl has not yet been charged and remains in pretrial detention. His lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, has said he is preparing an insanity defense.
Chief investigator Franz Polzer said experts were continuing to sift through Fritzl's property for evidence, adding there may be more "hollow spaces" that needed to be examined. It was unlikely investigators would find anything "dramatic" in such areas, he said.
Authorities began to unravel the story on April 19, when a 19-year-old girl whom Fritzl fathered with his daughter Elisabeth was admitted to a hospital with a lung infection. Doctors, unable to find medical records for the girl, appealed on television for her mother to come forward. Fritzl then accompanied Elisabeth to the hospital on April 26 and opened up to police.
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