Josef Fritzl charged with murder
From the AP via TIME:
An Austrian man accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her seven children has been charged with murder, prosecutors said Thursday, contending one of the offspring who died in infancy might have survived if treated.
Josef Fritzl, 73, also was charged with rape, incest, false imprisonment and slavery, said the state attorney’s office in St. Poelten, west of Vienna.
“Despite recognizing the baby’s life-threatening situation, he deliberately decided not to intervene” and get the ailing infant to a doctor, prosecutors said in their 27-page indictment.
Investigators say Fritzl has confessed to imprisoning and repeatedly raping his daughter Elisabeth — now age 42 — in a warren of windowless cellar rooms he built beneath his home starting in 1984, shortly after she turned 18.
Police say Fritzl told them he tossed the body of the infant who died into a furnace in 1996. They say DNA tests have confirmed he is the biological father of the six surviving children.
The retired electrician is expected to go on trial early in 2009.
If convicted of the murder charge, Fritzl would face life imprisonment, which in Austria typically means 15 years’ confinement. Austria, like other European countries, has no death penalty.
Prosecutors also said it will be the first time that an Austrian is tried on a slavery charge.
Authorities say Fritzl brought three of the surviving six children upstairs to live otherwise normal lives, and claimed to neighbors that his daughter — who he said had run away to join a religious cult — had left them on the family’s doorstep.
Investigators say three other children remained imprisoned along with their mother until last April, when one of the youths — a teenage girl — became ill and was taken to a hospital.
Fritzl imprisoned his daughter and the children beneath his apartment building in Amstetten, 120 miles (75 kilometers) west of Vienna. Police say they have no evidence to suggest that his wife was complicit.
His daughter, the children and Fritzl’s wife have been getting counseling at an undisclosed location.
Listed from newest coverage to oldest coverage:
Elisabeth details life in cellar
Josef Fritzl returns to dungeon for 1st time since arrest
Rosemarie Fritzl’s deteriorating condition
Josef to be charged in September
Slavery charge could bring harsher punishment
Is there a Josef Fritzl on your street?
Family says Rosemarie will divorce Josef after trial
Did Elisabeth accuse Josef of murder?
Elisabeth and children move to new home
Elisabeth faces almost endless questioning
The children return to freedom, Josef preps for court
Elisabeth gives testimony to authorities
Josef “going crazy” in confinement
Josef only faces ten years for crimes
Doctor’s permit Elisabeth to testify this month
Formal charges still months away for Josef
Josef seeks highest bidder for memoirs
Elisabeth may file lawsuit for privacy
Breaking News: Josef Fritzl now writing tell-all book- July 6, 2008
Is Elisabeth “refusing” to testify against Fritzl?
Doctors say Elisabeth not prepared to testify
2008 Football Fever hits Fritzl clan
Italy’s Elisabeth Fritzl: Maria Manaco
Arthur McElhill and Josef Fritzl have much in common
Elisabeth’s mom returns to Fritzl house for first time
Fritzl house becomes tourist attraction
Austria to Italy; Family locks woman up for 18 years, raises her child
2 Fritzl families struggle to adjust
Details on Kerstin Fritzl recovery
BREAKING: KERSTIN FRITZL WAKES, SEES MOTHER, SIBLINGS
Josef can address Elisabeth directly in upcoming court appearance
Doctors say waking Kerstin will take time
Josef to see Elisabeth and her children in court
Fritzl will be held for 2 more months
Frtizl could die before criminal trial
Some link Fritzl case to Nazi Germany
Austrians now must ask themselves what is wrong with Austria
Kampusch outlines similarities between her captor, Fritzl
hard to believe, but Josef Fritzl acted alone, police rule
Secrets of the Cellar 60 Minutes Austria
Josef Fritzl is not fit to be called “father”
Future of Elisabeth and Children: Conflicting Reports
Video Documentary on Elisabeth Fritzl’s case
New report claims Fritzl’s will stay in Austria
Fritzl’s reject paid interview offers
Miracle: Kerstin Fritzl is awake
Fritzl family to get new identities
Possible move from Austria to Britain
Elisabeth will NOT give TV interview
Fritzl made 4k per month off of Elisabeth’s children
Government paid Josef Fritzl to care for children taken from cellar
Fritzl cries in cell each night
New identities possible for Fritzl family
Fritzl children begin formal tutoring
Fritzl’s road to recovery is slow, but steady
Elisabeth may file suit against predator father
Elisabeth turored children in the cellar
Felix takes first McDonald’s trip
Elisabeth will give tv interview
Paparazzi hunt for first pictures of Fritzl survivors
Is reuniting Fritzl family a bad idea? Some say yes.
Fritzl snuck Kerstin out while wife was away
Austria hints at not punishing Fritzl “harshly”
Fritzl claims Elisabeth needed to be kept from drugs
Fritzl’s jail reality, sex crimes past
5 year old Felix makes progress out of cellar
Fritzl suspected of raping, killing ‘Elisabeth look alike’
Building the cellar under everyone’s nose
Josef Fritzl, criminal, or criminally insane?
Austrian police missed cellar 3 times before
Doctors say Kerstin will likely die
Kerstin was probably sex slave
Josef: “I could have killed them all”
Fritzl could face murder for dead twin
Fritzl says his addiction got out of control
Frtizl claims her cared for family
Frtizl threatened to gas family
Lawyer claims Fritzl is mentally ill
A 5 minute video which gives a pretty good breakdown of the case and the family members
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/bbeNL7_jzUU&hl=en]
I think what happened to the family is very sad. Elisabeth wanting to keep the family together and private is honorable. Seems to me that she made the best of what she had. I think that she should write a book. I for one would like t know how it turns out. I wish you luck and a long happy life