AMSTETTEN, Austria (Reuters) - A 73-year-old Austrian electrical engineer has confessed to holding his daughter captive in a secret, windowless cellar for 24 years and fathering seven children by her, police said on Monday.Josef Fritzl is seen in this Austrian police handout picture released April 28, 2008. Fritzl, a 73-year-old Austrian electrical engineer, has confessed to holding his daughter captive in a secret, windowless cellar for 24 years and fathering seven children by her, police said on Monday. (REUTERS/HO/Police)The case, centred on a nondescript two-storey building in the small industrial town of Amstetten, bears chilling similarities to that of Austrian Natascha Kampusch who spent eight years locked up in a basement before escaping in 2006.Some parts of the cell in which the family were kept were no more than 5 ft 6 in high and officials said the basement even contained a padded cell."This is an appalling crime. I know of no comparable case in Austria," Franz Prucher, head of security for Lower Austria told a news conference.Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, says her father, Josef Fritzl, lured her into the basement of the block in 1984 and drugged and handcuffed her before imprisoning her.Three of her children, aged 19, 18 and 5, had been locked up in the basement with her since birth and had never seen sunlight, police said, raising worries about their physical and mental state. The younger two were boys, the eldest a girl.
DNA 'backs Austrian incest claim'DNA evidence supports an Austrian man's confession that he fathered six children by his daughter while keeping her prisoner for 24 years, police say.The face of a devil?Lower Austria police chief Franz Polzer said Josef Fritzl, 73, had completely deceived his wife, his family and the authorities in the town of Amstetten.Hospital officials meanwhile said Mr Fritzl's daughter and her children had experienced an "astonishing" reunion.They met at the clinic where they are receiving psychiatric treatment.Earlier, Mr Fritzl was detained for a further 14 days by a regional court in the provincial capital of St Poelton. On the advice of his lawyer, he did not speak to the examining magistrate.ReunionSpeaking at a news conference in Amstetten afterwards, the director of the psychiatric clinic at a local hospital said Fritzl's daughter Elizabeth, now 42, had been reunited with five of her six children and her mother there on Sunday morning. "It was astonishing how easily it happened - how the mother and grandmother came together," Berthold Kepplinger said.Three of the children were kept in the cellar with their mother and had never seen daylight. The other three were adopted or fostered by Mr Fritzl, after he forced Elisabeth to write a letter saying she could not look after the baby. ecame seriously ill earlier this month and had to be taken to hospital, where she is currently in a coma. She was imprisoned by Mr Fritzl along with her 18- and 5-year-old brothers.Police have said their grandmother, Rosemarie, who had seven of her own children with Mr Fritzl, appears to have been unaware of the alleged crimes.Mr Kepplinger said the family members had interacted very naturally, although he said two of the children who had spent their lives underground had a way of communicating that was "anything but normal"."The children are quite well, they are under investigation, there is a professional team consisting of psychiatrists, neurologists, psychotherapists, speech therapists, physiotherapists, a whole team is working on this," he said."One important thing is not to over treat them."'Decisive evidence'Speaking at the same news conference, police officials said their investigations and genetic evidence gathered since Sunday had confirmed statements made by Elisabeth and the confession Mr Fritzl had made during questioning."The DNA tests provided decisive evidence that the six children that Elisabeth gave birth to have the same father," Franz Polzer said. Mr Polzer said that letters which Mr Fritzl had forced Elisabeth to write had played an important part in deceiving his family and the authorities since her disappearance in 1984, when he allegedly lured her into the cellar of their house and locked her up.The first letter said Elisabeth had run away, joined a religious sect and asked police not to look for her. Others explained why she had left three of the children on the doorstep of the family home over the years.Mr Polzer said the last two letters Elisabeth was forced to write had provided considerable evidence to confirm her allegations. The second to last was found in the clothes of Kerstin, when she was admitted to hospital on 19 April."The letter was written by Elisabeth, who pretends to be very sorry about what had happened to Kirsten and that she is so ill," he said."Josef had another letter with him," he added. "In this letter, we find confirmation that his daughter was still missing, had run away, and was living in an unknown area."Mr Polzer said Mr Fritzl had shown the last letter to police as evidence that he did not know about his daughter's whereabouts, saying he had received it by post."In this letter, the daughter says that she sees an opportunity to make sure that within the next six months or so, she could come back to the family, bringing an 18-year-old and 5-year-old son with her," Mr Polzer said."The biological tests show clearly that this letter, a normal letter with a stamp, was without doubt created by one Josef Fritzl," he added."You can be sure that this man left nothing undone in order to deceive the family, his wife, the relatives, the children and everybody around him."He had no scruples to use every possible means to deceive the public and cover up his crime," he added.Mr Polzer would neither confirm nor deny Austrian media reports that Mr Fritzl had prior criminal convictions or run-ins with the law.'No sympathy'Mr Polzer said police investigations at the house were continuing. The cellar where Elisabeth and three of her children were held captive is being searched inch by inch.Prosecutors have said Mr Fritzl faces up to 15 years in prison if he is eventually convicted on charges of raping and beating his daughter, and sequestration.They are also considering charges of "murder through failure to act" in connection with the death of one of the seven children he fathered. Police said on Monday that Mr Fritzl had admitted burning the infant's body shortly after it died.Asked whether Mr Fritzl would plead guilty to any of the charges, his lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, told the BBC:"He had made... a confession, but I will speak to him about whether this is right or not."Mr Mayer said his client had not shown any remorse for what he is accused of doing."I can tell you that no sympathy is there at all. The print mediums and all the televisions in Austria write that he is a monster, and no sympathy, nothing.""He looks very sad. It is like he is emotionally broken," he said, adding that his client was receiving psychiatric care in prison.
