In the News: Austrian Confesses to Imprisonment and Incest

A 73-year-old Austrian man confessed to fathering seven children with his daughter Elisabeth, whom he imprisoned in a windowless basement cell in his home since 1984. Now 42, Elisabeth was reportedly sexually abused while she lived in captivity with her three children, while Josef Fritzl, her father, and mother, who claimed to be unaware of the situation, raised her three other children. Fritzl currently faces up to 15 years in prison on charges of rape. However, officials have launched an investigation into the death of Elisabeth’s seventh child, who died in infancy. The child’s burnt remains were discovered in a furnace. If charged with “murder through failure to act,” Fritzl could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. Family members were recently reunited at a clinic where psychiatrics will oversee their recovery.

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