Posted on 05/03/2008 1:37:04 PM PDT by austrian
Austria cellar probe 'oppressive'
Mr Fritzl refuses to explain his actions
Forensic work in the dungeon where an Austrian man allegedly held his daughter for 24 years is "oppressive", police chief Franz Polzer has said.
Officers wearing special masks can only work one hour at a time because of the lack of oxygen in the windowless cellar, he told AP news agency.
Police say Josef Fritzl, 73, imprisoned and raped his daughter Elisabeth in the cellar in Amstetten in Lower Austria.
They say she bore his seven children - three of whom never saw daylight.
Mr Fritzl, who is in custody, has confessed to the crime in a written statement, police say.
Mr Fritzl is refusing to answer any more questions, as police try to piece together conditions in the cellar - as well as the suspect's life.
Gas threat
Investigators say they have found two heavily reinforced concrete doors that could only be opened by remote control.
Mr Polzer told AP: "They are open now, but we are trying to get another way out of this room because the working conditions in this prison are so exceptional."
Officers are expected to comb the scene for several weeks
He added that officers could "work there only one hour and during this hour they try, one team after the other, to gather everything available in this living space".
Mr Fritzl also reportedly told his victims they would be gassed if anything happened to him.
Technicians are trying to establish if this was more than a threat.
Work in the cellar is expected to take weeks.
In a separate interview with Austria's APA news agency, he said the work was "overwhelming and oppressive for investigators".
Mr Fritzl's alleged crimes came to light when Elisabeth's eldest daughter Kerstin, 19, became seriously ill.
She was allowed out of the cellar and admitted to hospital in Amstetten.
Police then issued an appeal to Elisabeth Fritzl to contact them about her daughter, and later picked up Mr Fritzl and Elisabeth near the hospital.
Elisabeth and the children are now in care with the Austrian authorities, who are protecting their privacy at a psychiatric clinic.
Kerstin is fighting for her life in hospital.
This is the weirdest story to me - I thought at first the girl was 11 - but he waited until she was 18? to put her in the cellar? What an awful story....
Weeks? How big is this dungeon?
This is the weirdest story to me - I thought at first the girl was 11 - but he waited until she was 18? to put her in the cellar? What an awful story....
Do you have a link to a news article that says this? Everything I have read is that he forced her to write a letter saying that she had run off with a cult so her mother would think she had run away, and then he imprisoned her. I have never read anything that said she had run away on her own.
sorry i cannot provide a link for that i watched it in the news on austrian TV
There were no air shafts? How did they breathe down there?
It was a pretty large cellar, and the man received permission from the town to build it as a shelter during the nuclear threats of the 80’s.
Well, at least we TRY to save children....despite the Freepers who defend the FDLS against the “authorities”.
I bet those children wish they had CPS.
That is why we so aggressively at least investigate any possible child abuse.
“Mr. Fritzl is refusing to answer any more questions”
Oh, is he, now? Perhaps, Mr. Fritzl needs to be introduced to ‘waterboarding.’
Sounds like there’s another thread I’m not following that you’re still upset about?
I did see that—she was the only one who fought against him....how strange her siblings just ignored what happened, no one in that family could possibly believe she’d just go and not be in touch.
Imagine living in that environment for 24 years!!! Apparently, Elisabeth's 2 boys talk in grunts and groans and cannot even stand up straight.
Every time I read more information on this whole tragedy.....I shake my head in disbelief....
I send up prayers every day for Elisabeth and her children....
I am just comparing the FDLS ( where neighbors were “clueless” so they say) and many Freeprs got so upset focusing on the “government” taking the children out ( going overboard !)and here we have a situation where there was not a tough enough protection for abused children...oh, yeah and the “neighbors” were once again “clueless.”
Evil can exist when good men do nothing ( not sure who said that...?)
this is the most horrible story i ever have heard in my life. i can not even imagine what hell this poor woman and her kids have went through in this 24 YEARS!! this is heart breaking.
Euroweenies will convict Mr. Fritzl of a minor charge. He will be out of prison in less than 10 years.
austrian law.
kidnapping 10 - 20 years.
rape 5 - 15 years.
so i guess since he is 73 he will die in prison.
ah - apples and orange comparison.
Those never work well.
But I think we can agree that it is good this woman is finally out of the cellar, I hope she gets the help she needs to lead a full 2nd half of her life.
Edmund Burke.
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