Latest / The conspiracy / Josef Fritzl: The Horrifying Secret Behind 24 Years of Captivity

Transcript

Josef Fritzl: The Horrifying Secret Behind 24 Years of Captivity · The conspiracy

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It was a quiet town in Austria, neat streets and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: quiet homes. The kind of place where nothing truly bad
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: is supposed to happen. And yet beneath one of those houses,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: evil had made a home. A secret buried so deep,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: it took 24 years and a dying girl to bring
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: it to surface. And in 2008, the world learned about
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: the name Joseph Fritzl. A name now synonymous with horror.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: A man whose crimes not only shocked Austria, but the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: entire world. A father, a husband, a man who, for
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: more than two decades, imprisoned his own daughter in a
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: hidden cellar beneath their home. And what happened down there
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: defies belief. Crime, conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and Murder. All
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: things that I love to consume, and I know you
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: do too, you sick, twisted, intellectual, beautiful-minded FREAK! Today I
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: have my associate, Rupert. King Rupert. Oh, wow. What a
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: good detective buddy. Detective Rupert! On the case! He's on
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: the case. He's sitting in the background. I don't know
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: if you guys want this for future videos. He likes
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: to hang out with me when I film, so I
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: think I'm gonna have him in the background a little
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: more often. I even got him a pedestal for this, so...
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: I hope you know how important you are to me. Anyway,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: today we are getting into a very infamous case and
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: also a very serious case that involves a lot of triggers.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: So if you want to skip this one, feel free.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: But without further ado, let's unbuckle our seatbelts, go Mach
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: 5 down the highway, slam on the brakes, and bust
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: through this windshield into this infamous case together. So Joseph
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: f * * * ing Fritzl, sorry, sorry, he doesn't
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: have a middle name. I don't know what his middle
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: name is, but I'm just going to assume it's f
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: * * *, was born on April 9th, 1935 in
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a small town of Amstetten, Austria. And it was the
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: only child of Joseph Sr. and Maria Fritzl. And his
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: father was an alcoholic who had actually abandoned the family
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: when Joseph was only four years old. And later he
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: would die in World War II. And this left Joseph
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: to be raised by his mother, Maria, who was very
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: strict to the point of b * * * h.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: And according to Joseph's later accounts, his mother frequently beat him.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: On top of insulted him, calling him a Satan, a criminal,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: no good. I'm not saying that's okay to kids, but
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: she kind of read the book and she read it right.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Because this guy is... the king of piece of shitses.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: But he would grow up in the era of Nazi
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: rule in Austria, a time of very harsh discipline and
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: authoritarian values, and something he would later point to as
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: an influence on his own outlook of life. But as
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: a boy, Joseph did crave affection, but received very little.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: He said he never got a kiss or a cuddle
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: from his mommy, which is sad as a kid, but again,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: I can't help but think how terrible this person is,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: so I really don't care. So instead, he would learn
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: about power and fear very early on in life, living
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: under the thumb of a domineering parent. So this bleak,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: bleak childhood just kind of set the stage for the
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: dark path he would eventually take. And whether this is
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: nature or nurture, I'm not sure. I'm sure it had
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: to do a little with it, but I truly feel
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: like people like this are born this way, you know?
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: And then... maybe nurtured into the peak of what they
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: could become in the worst way. But anyway, in his
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: teenage years, Joseph Fritzl was described as intelligent, but also
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: odd and solitary because he was coming of age in
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: war-torn society. And although he wasn't necessarily a soldier, he
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: did witness the aftermath of the conflict and social order.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: And at home, his mother's abuse would continue. And Joseph
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: will later reflect that he often ended up, quote unquote,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: lying in a pool of blood after his mother's beatings,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: which again, that's horrific and no child should ever endure that.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: But despite the cruelty, he initially claimed to revere his mother,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: calling her the best woman in the world. only later
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: to admit how terrified and hurt he had been by her.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: But these early experiences taught Joseph the power of domination
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: and control, lessons he would twist in horrifying ways in
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: his adult life, as we will come to know. So
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: after finishing compulsory schooling, Fritzl pursued higher technical education. And outwardly,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: he appeared to be turning into a normal, productive human
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: being in society. But there were already hints of disturbing
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: behavior beneath the surface. So Joseph was bright enough to
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: attend a technical college, where he earned his qualification in
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: electrical engineering. So by his early 20s, he had a
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: solid career path, and he would actually land a job
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: at a steel company, and that was Verstalpina in Linz,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: and later would work at a construction materials firm in
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the hometown of Amstenden. So with his engineering knowledge, he
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: became very skilled at mechanics and electrics, skills that he
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: would one day use to build a secret facility for
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: his crimes. So in 1956, at the age of 21,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Joseph married a young woman named Rosemarie. And Rosemarie was
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: just 17 years old at the time, just different times.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: But to get this woman, he had managed to present
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: himself as a normal man ready to settle down. And
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: it was around this time that Joseph's mother actually moved
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: in with the newlyweds. How romantic. And in a disturbing
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: reversal of his childhood, he began reportedly asserting control over
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: his mother. And it said that eventually he actually locked
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: his own mother in the attic of their home and
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: bricked up her window. And he would tell his neighbors
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: that she died. When in fact, he just kept her
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: imprisoned until her actual death in 1980. So the up shit,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: was starting, needless to say. He was getting his revenge.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: But the fact that Joseph Fritzl secretly held his mother
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: captive for possibly up to 20 years was an eerie
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: foreshadowing of the horrors just to come. So by the
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: mid 1950s, Joseph Fritzl was outwardly a trained engineer, husband,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: and soon to be father. But inside him, a dangerous
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: obsession with power and confinement was already taking root. So
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Joseph would marry Rosemarie in 1956, and she was very
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: quiet and very trusting of Joseph. And we'd like to
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: think that she had no idea what was happening with
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: her new husband, but we don't know that yet. So
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: they would settle in Ebstetten at Jeepstastra 40, the very
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: house that would later become infamous worldwide. So Rosemarie was
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: a homemaker devoted to her family. And by many accounts,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: she was gentle and dutiful. So literally nothing like this
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: guy's mother. But Joseph, on the other hand, ruled the
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: household with an iron fist. Like his mother, Apple Tree.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: And he would tolerate no dissent from his wife or
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: his children. And Rosemary's sister, Christine, later described Joseph as
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: a tyrant at home. And even at family gatherings, Christine recalled,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: quote unquote, if I myself was scared of him at
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: a family party, then you can imagine how it must
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: have been for Rosemarie, who lived under his roof, obviously.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: So this guy was just waiting for the opportunity to
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: just dominate over somebody else after he was being dominated
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: his entire childhood from his mother. But Rosemarie would do
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: her best to keep the family together and appease her
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: domineering husband, just completely unaware of the truly horrific plans
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: he was concocting. So over the years, Rosemarie and Joseph
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Fritzl had seven children, three sons and four daughters. And
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: one of those daughters was Elizabeth, who was born on
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: April 6th, 1966. And the Fritzl household from the outside
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: seemed fairly ordinary, but obviously strict. And neighbors would later
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: remember Joseph as authoritarian, but otherwise unremarkable. A man who
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: liked order, but kept his family in line. Inside the home, however,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: there were clear signs of abuse. And an acquaintance later
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: recalled that Elizabeth was, quote unquote, very withdrawn and shy.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: And that her father would give her, quote, a... for
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: every small thing he disapproved of. And Joseph's own older
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: son experienced this as well. And years later, one of
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth's brother testified that their father would beat them as children.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: So fear would just hang over this family. And Joseph's
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: wife and kids learned never to question him. His word
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: was law. So under this climate, Joseph was able to
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: do terrible things right under his family's feet. Joseph Fritzl's
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: pattern of sexual violence did not start with Elizabeth, but
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: it appeared to have begun much earlier. In 1967, at
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: age 32, he actually broke into the home of a
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: 24-year-old nurse and raped her at knife point. And he
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: would also threaten to kill the young woman if she screamed.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: And Fritzl would actually be caught and convicted of this crime,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: serving only 12 months of an 18-month sentence in prison.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: But astonishingly, this violent sexual offense was kept relatively quiet
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: under Austrian law. And it was actually wiped completely from
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: his record after 15 years, which is f * *
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: * ing crazy. Is that not crazy, Rupert? He's sleeping.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: I just woke him up. That was rude. Joseph was
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: also accused of an attempted rape of another woman and
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: was just known for indecent exposure around that time as well.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Guy was the creepy guy with the jacket that opened
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: and was just wearing nothing underneath. But these early crimes
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: just show a dangerous predator behind a mask of a
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: family man. And Rosemarie... did know her husband had been
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: in jail in the late 1960s, but it's unclear if
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: she actually knew why. So she would stay with him,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: possibly just believing the excuses or rationalizations that he gave her.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: But by 1970s, Joseph had returned to family life and outward, respectively.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: But nothing had changed about his violent desires. In fact,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: they were now turning towards the worst possible target, and
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: that was his own daughter, Elizabeth. So Fritzl began S.A.ing
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth when she was only 11 years old in 1977,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: and he would single her out from his other children
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: for especially harsh treatment. And as she reached adolescence, the
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: abuse just escalated into r * * p. So Elizabeth
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: just grew up in fear of her father, enduring things
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: no child should ever suffer, let alone from their own father.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: So she became quiet and fearful and just tried to
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: avoid him as much as she could. Now at the
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: age of 16, Elizabeth attempted to run away from home
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: twice to escape her father's abuse. And in one instance
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: in January of 1983, she actually fled to Vienna and
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: hid with a friend. only to be found by police
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: and returned back home. But each time being sent back
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: into her father's care must have felt like a death
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: sentence to Elizabeth because at this point she had no
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: way of truly getting away from this monster. At least,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: not yet. And unfortunately, what Elizabeth didn't know was what
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: her father's twisted mind had already devised as a permanent
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: solution to keep her under his control forever. So during
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: the late 1970s and the early 1980s, while Elizabeth was
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: entering her teens, Joseph Fritzl was secretly building a prison
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: beneath his home. An engineer by training, he took on
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: a home improvement project, expanding the cellar beneath the family's
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: apartment house. And at the time, Cold War fears made
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: it common for Austrians to build nuclear bunkers and fallout shelters,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: so nobody batted an eye. And Fritzl took... full advantage
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: of this. So as early as 1978, he obtained official permits,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: permits to construct a deeper cellar, allegedly as a domestic
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: nuclear shelter on his property. So neighbors saw him renting
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: excavators and digging out tons of soil from under the house,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow. And to outsiders, he was simply a
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: diligent homeowner just improving his property. But in reality, Joseph
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: was meticulously planning a personal dungeon for his daughter. So
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: by 1983, Fritzl's secret bunker was almost ready and it
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: compromised a network of narrow rooms hidden behind the existing basement.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: And he would install multiple reinforced doors, as many as
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: eight in a series, one after another, to reach the
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: final hidden chamber. And the last door was made of
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: concrete and metal, weighing hundreds of pounds and secured with
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: an electric code lock. And Fritzl built shelves and walls
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: to conceal entrances as well. One door was hidden behind
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: a shelf stocked with paint cans even. And he would
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: wire the cellar with electricity, lights, and ventilation. He just
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: thought of everything, soundproofing the walls, creating a secret bathroom area,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: and ensuring the space could be closed off from the
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: outside world completely. And no one in the family suspected
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: a thing, allegedly. Not his wife, nor his children, nor tenants,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: who rented rooms upstairs. To them, Joseph's basement renovations seemed legit.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: And after digging out so much soil, Joseph built a
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: new swimming pool in the backyard as a decoy for
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: all the construction mess. So the family would later splash
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: in the pool on warm days, unaware that directly beneath them,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: under the garden, lay a hidden chamber that would become
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth's tomb-like home. So by August 1984, the stage was set.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Joseph Fritzl's project was now complete. And now all he
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: needed was a way to lure his daughter inside of it.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: And sadly, he already knew exactly how to do that.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: So August 28th, 1984 was just another ordinary summer day
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: when 18 year old Elizabeth Fritzl's life changed forever. Joseph
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: would call her down to the workshop cellar, asking for
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: help with a heavy door. And it seemed like an
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: innocent father-daughter chore, something that she had done many other times.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: And Elizabeth, likely eager to keep him happy to avoid
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: a beating, followed her father into the bowels of the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: cellar to help her father fit this last door into place.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: So she would hold the door upright as instructed while
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: he fixed it into frame. But this door would be
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: the final piece in sealing off the new hidden cellar
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: from the outside world completely. So as she was standing
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: there and as he was just finished sealing it off,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: he finished and Joseph made his move. So as Elizabeth
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: turned to climb back up the stairs, her father would
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: press a cloth soaked in ether over her face and
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth would have no time to scream. And the chemicals
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: fumes would overwhelm her and she would lose consciousness and
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: her world went dark in an instant. And that's when
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Joseph Ritzel would drag his daughter's limp body into this
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: secret chamber and close the door behind him. And with
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: that single monstrous act, Joseph has transformed the cellar into
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: a lifelong prison for his daughter. So when Elizabeth failed
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: to come upstairs or show up for work, her mother, Rosemary,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: was growing very worried because she had actually been about
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: to start a new job as a waitress in a
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: nearby city of Linz. And Rosemary, at this point, genuinely
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: did not know what happened to her daughter. And she
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: would later file a missing persons report, frantic to find Elizabeth.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: But Joseph would calmly offer an explanation. An explanation he
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: had thought of a million times over. And that is
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: that Elizabeth just ran away from home to join a cult.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: And this lie would be disturbingly plausible at first. Because
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: everyone knew Elizabeth had attempted to run away before. And
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: now Joseph insisted she had done so again, and this
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: time for good. And he said that Elizabeth wanted no
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: contact with the family while she was gone. And to
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: back up his story, he even produced a letter that
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: he handed over to the police about a month after
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth's disappearance. And astonishingly, this letter was handwritten by Elizabeth herself.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: because obviously Joseph had forced his captive daughter to write
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: this letter in the cellar. And this letter was postmarked
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: from a distant town, stating that Elizabeth was tired of
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: family life and didn't want to be found. And in it,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: she even warned her parents not to search for her,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: otherwise she would leave the country entirely. So the message
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: just sounded definitive, and the police and family accepted it
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: as proof that Elizabeth had left by her own volition.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: So Joseph's cover story was now in full effect. And
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: to the outside world, it seemed that a troubled teen
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: has just run off to live with some mysterious cult members,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: which at that time wasn't as uncommon as you'd think
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: if you have watched my channel at all. But in reality,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth was locked away just a few feet below the
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: ground of her own home. And Rosemary, heartbroken but trusting,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: believed her husband's explanation. She had no reason to imagine
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: the unbelievable truth that was actually happening. And Rosemary's sister, Christine,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: even said later that they talked often about what might
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: have happened to Elizabeth, saying, quote, to her mother, where
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: can Elizabeth be? And she and her relatives tried to
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: think what groups or places their daughter might have gone.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: And Christine recalls how they searched railway stations and areas
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: where homeless kids and young adults gathered trying to find Elizabeth.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: She would say, quote, we really did detective work as
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: to where the cult could be. They were just so
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: desperate to ensure Elizabeth was at least safe. But every
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: lead went nowhere because no one in the family suspected Joseph,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: her own father. And secondly, Joseph maintained this aura of
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: a concerned father and a normal family man throughout this
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: whole situation. And friends and relatives would later say, quote,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: never had any reason to suspect him. And Elizabeth's brother-in-law,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: who married one of the older sisters, actually remembered frequently
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: visiting the Fritzl house and completely accepting the story that
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth had just run away. He would say, And at home,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Joseph just continued to reinforce the deception with intimidation and
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: kept people from challenging him like he always did. Because
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Rosemarie was as much under his control as their children were.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: And so the Fritzl family would just carry on with
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: their daily lives, grieving the loss of Elizabeth, but believing,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: as Joseph told them, that she was alive and simply
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: didn't want to be with them anymore. Which is so
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: f * * * ing heartbreaking. So when Elizabeth awakened
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: after being knocked out that first day, she found herself
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: chained to a bed in utter darkness. And the reality
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: was much more horrifying than any cult fantasy. because her
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: own father was her jailer. And in those early days
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: and weeks of captivity, Joseph kept Elizabeth's arms tied with
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: an iron chain that was bolted to a metal post
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: behind her bed. So at first, she could hardly even move.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: And the chain allowed her less than a meter of slack.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: And for about two days, she was restrained like this,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: utterly alone, barely able to move in the pitch black dark.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: But after those couple days, Joseph would loosen her bonds slightly,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: fastening the chain around her waist so she could at
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: least shuffle at a short distance. But she was still far,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: far from free. And eventually, six to nine months later,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: he would actually remove that chain entirely. Not out of mercy,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: but because it was getting in the way of all
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the s * * *. So the emotional and physical
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: trouble for Elizabeth was immense. Because she was just a
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: teenager who had just lost everything. Everything. Her innocence and
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: all of her formidable years. On top of her freedom,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: her dignity, even daylight in fresh air. And Elizabeth would
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: spend her first five years entirely alone in this cellar
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: with no company except for her monstrous father. And it
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: was said that he hardly ever spoke to her kindly
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: or normally during that entire time. He would just come
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: down mainly to bring food and and leave. So Elizabeth
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: had no one to comfort her during this time. So
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: desperate and hopeless, she later admitted that she had contemplated
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: S * * * erslide in those lonely years. But
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: the only thing that kept her going was the thought
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: that somehow she could maybe survive until an opportunity to
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: escape would arise. But little did she know her imprisonment
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: would last over two decades. And conditions in the cellar
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: were hellish from the start. It was cold, it was damp,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: the water was dripping down the walls whenever it rained,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: mold grew in the stagnant air, and Elizabeth had to
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: use old towels to sop up the moisture that collected,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: just to keep the place somewhat dry. And rats infested
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: this cellar. And she could hear them scurrying in the
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: darkness when she was trying to sleep. And sometimes she
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: actually had to catch and rats with her bare hands
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: when they got too bold. And the smell and feel
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: in the cellar was appalling. And in the summer, the
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: underground air turned stifling and, quote, into an intolerable sweaty sauna,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: as Elizabeth later wrote, in a calendar functioning essentially as
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: a hidden diary for her. And with no sunlight or
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: concept of time, apart from a clock and a television
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: that she got later, much later down the road, her
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: sense of day and night completely faded. So years passed
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: and the world above the cellar moved on while Elizabeth
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: remained frozen in a nightmare that seemed endless. So in
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: late 1985, about a year into her captivity, 18-year-old Elizabeth
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: became pregnant for the first time, carrying her father's child.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: And this pregnancy tragically ended in a miscarriage at 10
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: weeks in 1986, likely due to stress and malnutrition that
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: she suffered. But Joseph's abuse would continue and Elizabeth would
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: soon become pregnant again. And on August 30th, 1988, she
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: would give birth to a baby girl that she named Kirsten.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: And the birth would take place in this cramped cellar
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: with no doctors, no nurses, and no pain relief. Only
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: a 1960s maternity guidebook that Joseph had provided and a
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: few basic supplies that he gave her. She did it
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: all on her own. And Joseph didn't even come to
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: check on them for 10 days until after the birth.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: And somehow Elizabeth managed to care for and give birth
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: to her newborn in these first few critical days completely alone.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: But despite these horrific circumstances, Kirsten, her new baby, kind
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: of brought a new sense of purpose to Elizabeth's life.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Because after years in isolation, Elizabeth finally had someone to
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: love and protect besides herself. And approximately one and a
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: half years later, on February 1990, Elizabeth gave birth to
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: her second child, which was a boy named Stefan. And
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: both Kirsten and Stefan remained underground with their mother, never
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: seeing sunlight and knowing only walls of the cellar as
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: their entire world, which is so... So incredibly sad. But
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: with it being such a small space, it started to
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: get really cramped to raise two infants in. And Joseph
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: provided only the bare minimum of food and supplies to
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: keep them all alive. And Elizabeth would do her very
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: best to nurse and care for her babies. But the
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: conditions were unimaginable. No fresh air, no outside help. and
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: a constant fear of Joseph's next visit. So by 1992,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth was pregnant once more. And on August 29th, 1992,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: she delivered another baby girl whose name was Lisa. But
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: this time Joseph would have a different plan. So the
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: following May, when baby Lisa was around nine months old
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: and becoming Joseph decided to remove this child from the cellar.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: And the alleged reason was that the cellar was getting
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: too crowded and lacked proper space for growing children. And
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: in reality, Joseph likely saw an opportunity to bolster his
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: cover story. So in May of 1993, he took the
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: infant Lisa out of the dungeon and carried her upstairs
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: to the house. And he would place Lisa in a
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: cardboard box and leave them outside their doorstep of the
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Fritzl home, as if she had just been abandoned there.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: And he would include a note from Elizabeth, which he
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: had forced Elizabeth to write ahead of time. So the
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: note was written in Elizabeth's handwriting and explained that the
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: baby was Elizabeth's child, but that she couldn't care for
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the infant and begged her parents to look after Lisa.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: And it would read, Dear Parents, I am leaving you
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: my little daughter, Lisa. Take good care of my little girl.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: I breastfed her for around six and a half months
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: and now she drinks her milk from the bottle. She
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: is a good girl and she eats everything else from
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: the spoon. This whole story is so heartbreaking, oh my God.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: So it was a heart wrenching plea and it was convincing.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: And Joseph would discover the baby on the doorstep and
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: then present it to Rosemarie as a miraculous find. And
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: they were both shocked and Rosemarie was likely overjoyed to
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: have a piece of her missing daughter in the form
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: of a grandchild. So they'd informed the local authorities and unsurprisingly,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: social services had no reason to doubt the story. Because
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: here was a little baby with a note from the
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: mother who had joined a cult. asking for the grandparents
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to take care of her. So officials would note that
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the Fritzls seemed loving and devoted and were suitable caregivers
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: for the baby Lisa. In fact, Joseph and Rosemarie would
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: actually go through formal channels to keep Lisa and they
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: would eventually adopt her legally. But no one realized that
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: the man applying to adopt the child was in fact
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: her biological father and grandfather all at the same time.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Just f * * *. And because of Joseph's prior
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: criminal record from the 1967 grape that had been removed
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: from his record, social workers found nothing alarming when checking
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: his background. So to them, Joseph Fritzl was a respectable
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: older gentleman taking his runaway daughter's baby. And the ghastly
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: truth remained completely hidden. So in 1994, a fourth child
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: would be born in the cellar, and it would be
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: a little girl named Monica, and she would be born
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: on February 26th, 1994. And Monica, like Lisa, would be
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: taken upstairs as an infant. So when Monica was about
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: 10 months old in December of 1994, Joseph removed her
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: from the cellar and would leave her in a stroller
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: outside of the Fritzl house. And again, he would stage
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: it as an abandoned child of Elizabeth. And shortly after
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Monica was found, the Fritzels received a phone call that
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: supposedly came from Elizabeth, telling them to take care of
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: her baby. And at this point, Rosemary was just taken
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: aback because the caller had sounded like Elizabeth, but she
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: somehow knew the family's unlisted phone number. And this was
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: something Elizabeth just couldn't have known unless someone gave it
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: to her. So it appears that Joseph recorded Elizabeth's voice
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: and otherwise faked this phone call to further convince his
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: wife that Elizabeth was truly in a cult, and just
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: out there periodically leaving her children on their front doorstep.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: So Rosemarie would report this bizarre number to the police,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: just puzzled about how Elizabeth would have known their number.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: But still, no one would put the pieces together. And
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: in their minds, it just reinforced that Elizabeth was in
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: contact somehow, yet never was coming home. And Monica, like Lisa,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: would be taken in by the Fritzl family. And Joseph
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: and Rosemarie would become foster parents to Monica with the
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: blessing of authorities. And then even more children would arrive.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: On April 28th, 1996, Elizabeth went into labor with twin
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: boys in the cellar. And the birth of twins in
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: such conditions was an extraordinary strain. One of the twins,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: little Michael, was very weak and had a lot of
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: difficulty breathing from the start. So Elizabeth desperately tried to
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: save her infant son, but with no medical equipment or doctors,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: there was little that she could do. And according to
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth's later testimony, Joseph coldly told her, quote unquote, what
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: will be will be, as a newborn struggled for air.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: This guy can't be any more monstrous than he and
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: then he tops himself somehow so tragically baby michael would
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: elizabeth's arms at just three days old and joseph would
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: take the tiny corpse from his daughter in an act
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: of demonstrating his complete lack of remorse and then he
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: would burn baby's body in an incinerator and he then
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: would secretly scatter michael's ashes in the garden behind the
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: house And this heinous deed would later lead to a
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: charge of murder by negligence. Because had Michael received medical care,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: he may have lived. Meanwhile, the second twin, Alexander, miraculously survived.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: And at around 15 months old, at around 1997, Alexander
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: was removed from the cellar and taken upstairs like his
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: sisters before him. And the Fritzels found Alexander and claimed
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth had left the boy for them as well. And
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: by this point, social services and just locals were a
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: bit bewildered to say the least. Because how many children
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: was Elizabeth gonna have and drop off? But given that
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: it had happened one by one over years, And Joseph
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: always had letters or explanations ready. The authorities continued to
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: believe him. And to them, Joseph was a peculiar case.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: A man whose daughter had joined a sect and dumping
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: babies on her estranged parents' doorstep. Yet he and his
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: wife were stepping up to care for these poor abandoned grandchildren.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: And in total, three of Elizabeth's children, Lisa, Monica, and Alexander,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: were raised above ground by Joseph and Rosemarie. while Elizabeth
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: herself remained trapped below with her other children. But the
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: family in the cellar had one more member coming. And
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: on December 16th, 2002, Elizabeth bore her seventh and final
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: child in captivity, and would be a boy named Felix.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: And this time, 67-year-old Joseph, he's 67 now, by the way,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: piece of shit. But anyway, 67 year old Joseph Fritzl
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: decided to keep the baby Felix underground with Elizabeth because
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: perhaps he thought his wife could not handle another infant
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: because Rosemary at this point was in her sixties now.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: Or perhaps he was just running out of bullshit excuses
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: as to why so many babies were showing up at
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: their doorstep. Whatever the reason though, Felix stayed in the cellar.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: joining his mother, now teenage sister Kirsten, and brother, Stefan.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: And by 2003, the family below ground consisted of Elizabeth
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: and her three children. While above ground lived the other
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: three children, Lisa, Monica, and Alexander. So the total tally
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: of Joseph's... ex-Jewish offspring was seven children, and miraculously, six
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: were alive. But the upstairs children had relatively normal lives,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: especially compared to the kids in the cellar. Rosemarie would
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: care for them lovingly, thinking that they were her grandchildren,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: and they would grow up calling Rosemarie mammy affectionately. And
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: in legal terms, the Fritzels were foster or adoptive parents,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: But to the children, it just felt like Joseph and
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Rosemary were their parents. And as we know, one of
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: them actually was. And they did well in school. They
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: played instruments and were even seen out of town with
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Joseph on weekends. And they would enjoy the sunshine and
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: freedom of normal childhood. And they too had no idea
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: that their mother was not some cult member that ran off,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: but was a girl stuck down below their feet. And meanwhile,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: the downstairs children had a polar opposite life. Kirsten, Stefan,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: and Felix had never seen daylight even once in their life.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: They just lived in a windowless hell of concrete rooms.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: And their only source of information about the outside world
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: was from their mother and television that Joseph eventually provided.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: And these children only knew four people their entire lives.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Their mother, Elizabeth, each other, and occasionally their father slash grandfather, Joseph.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: And they were described as pale, stooped, and developmentally delayed
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: from the lack of space and nutrition. And they had
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: limited vocabulary and were said to communicate with each other
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: in strange growling or sing-song manner at times, which was
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: a speech pattern developed in isolation. Just imagine being born
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: in a world no larger than a cellar. That was
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: their entire reality. And life in the cellar was a
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: study in survival under grotesque conditions. And every day was
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: a struggle for Elizabeth and the children to maintain a
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: sense of normalcy underground. And over the years, Joseph expanded
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: the living space slightly, especially after 1993, when Elizabeth pleaded
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: for more room as the children grew. So he would
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: force Elizabeth and the kids to help dig out soil
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: with their bare hands to enlarge the chambers by roughly
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: 600 square feet. And the finished hidden apartments consisted of
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: a few small rooms. sleeping quarters, a really tiny bathroom,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: and a main living area that doubled as a kitchen.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: And the ceilings were so low that adults and tall
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: children had to slouch over because the ceilings were only
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: about five feet, six inches in high places. And the
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: walls would be lined with soundproof material to muffle any
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: cries for help. And they would only have the very
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: basic of basic resources. an old toilet, a sink, and
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: a really small shower. And he would later bring down
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: a washing machine for laundry and a refrigerator for some food.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: And there was an old hot plate as well to
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: warm meals when they got them. And the light was
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: entirely artificial. It was just this harsh fluorescent strip light.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: And he would sometimes shut off the power to punish them,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: plunging the family into total darkness for days. days on end.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: And the air was extremely stuffy because they've never experienced
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: fresh air before. In fact, the cellar's air was so
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: poor that when police finally examined it, they found they
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: could only tolerate being inside for short periods due to
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: the lack of oxygen. And remember, Elizabeth has lived down
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: here for 24 years, along with her children. And despite
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: the filth, Elizabeth tried to make the space homey for
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: her children. She knew that for the kids born in captivity,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: this cellar was the only home they had ever had.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: So on the mildew white bathroom tiles, Elizabeth drew and
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: painted little pictures to brighten the place. There was a
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: yellow snail with a green shell and a purple octopus,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: a child's drawing of a flower and a fish and
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: stickers of stars and suns. All things that they had
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: never seen before in real life and only on television.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: And Elizabeth would do her very best to educate and
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: entertain the children every single day. So she would teach
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: them to read and write using limited materials that she had.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: She would watch adventure films with them and even invent
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: tales of pirates and princesses to spark their imaginations. And
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: she managed to instruct her kids the best that she could.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: Even as her own knowledge from school faded over the
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: long and long years of abuse. It was just an
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: inadequate s * * *. but this underground bunker was
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: the only home Elizabeth and her captive children knew for
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: 24 years. And hygiene and health were a constant concern.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: The lack of sunlight meant that Elizabeth and her children
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: became very, very pale and obviously vitamin D deficient. So
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: they were prone to illness that they never could properly treat.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: So if someone got sick, Joseph might bring some medicine
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: but a serious condition could be life-threatening down there. There
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: was also a freezer in the cellar where Joseph stored
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: food when he went away on holidays. But when he
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: cut the power as pun- sometimes the freezer would thaw
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: and rotting food would just leak across the floor, creating
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: a nauseating mess that Elizabeth had to clean in the dark.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: So they would just live on whatever supplies he delivered
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: intermittently and they never ever had enough. So Joseph Fritzl
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: maintained absolute control over his underground family through a mix
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: of violence, lies, and psychological terror. He would visit the
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: hidden cellar almost every single day, usually in the early
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: morning around 9 a.m., under the pretense of working in
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: the basement workshop. And he would tell tenants who rented
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: the room in the building upstairs, and his wife, that
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: he was doing technical drawings or private projects down there
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: and he did not want to be disturbed. And Rosemary
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: was never allowed to bring him coffee into the basement
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: or visit him in the basement ever. But in truth,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: each morning Joseph would unlock the secret door that had
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: that electronic code and descend into Elizabeth's prison with supplies.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: He would bring food, water, and occasional treats, but always
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: just enough to keep them dependent and subservient. And sometimes
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: he would even stay down there through the night. And
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: neighbors and tenants reported hearing noises, but Joseph dismissed those
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: as faulty pipes or the gas heating system just acting up.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: So his cover was just airtight because everyone in the
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: house knew the cellar was completely off limits and trusted
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: his explanation for any odd sounds. And inside the cellar,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Joseph acted both kind sometimes and like the absolute f
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: * * * ing devil. Sometimes he could be oddly domestic.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth would later recount her father would sit down after...
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: doing horrible things to her and act as if though
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: they were a normal family watching movies together or on
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: TV or eating dinner on their little table together. And
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: he would bring toys and books on occasion for the children,
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: trying to appear like a benevolent parent. And he would
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: even bring a canary down for them at one point
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: to see, because at this point they'd never seen a
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: living animal. And one Christmas, he even carried down a
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: small Christmas tree for them. in a twisted version of
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: holiday spirit. And he also physically beat and kicked Elizabeth frequently,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: especially if she even dared to disobey him in any way,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: shape or form. And the abuse was not only physical
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: or sexual, but also deeply psychological. Because Joseph would force
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth to reenact violent porn graphic scenes he had seen,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: just humiliating her in front of her own kids. So
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: the injuries and trauma he caused left her with lasting
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: medical issues. Her teeth, for instance, suffered from a lack
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: of care and many would have to be removed. And
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: just to keep control, Joseph had cultivated an atmosphere of
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: just utter hopelessness down there. He repeatedly would threaten Elizabeth
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: and the children if they ever tried to escape or
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: even resist that he would kill them in horrible ways.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: And he would tell them that he installed a very
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: elaborate system that would electrocute them if they meddled with
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: the cellar doors at all, or that poisonous gas would
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: flood the chamber if they ever attempted to break out.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: But in reality, all of those threats were complete lies.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: But Elizabeth and the kids obviously believed him, because they
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: had no reason not to. And the thought that one
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: push against the door could result in being gassed to
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: death was enough to keep them from ever attempting to rebel.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: And Joseph had exploited their concern for each other as well.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: And he would warn Elizabeth that if she didn't submit
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: to his will, he would say, quote, Your treatment will
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: get worse and you will not escape from the cellar anyway.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: So he would just make her feel like resisting him
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: only would bring her and her children more pain. So
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: she would just endure the abuse silently to protect her children.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: And for 24 years, this twisted routine would continue. Meanwhile,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: Joseph Fritzl would manage to live this double life of
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: unimaginable depravity. Because upstairs, he was a stern but caring
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: husband and father, having barbecues in the garden and taking
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: his grandchildren to buy ice cream. And downstairs, he was
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: a captor and a grapist, forcing his own daughter and
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: grandchildren to act as slaves. And he would even go
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: on vacations abroad. And at one point, he took a
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: three-week trip to Thailand in 1998. for sex tourism, wouldn't
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: put it past him, all while his daughter and their
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: children languished in this cellar with a freezer full of
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: food that eventually thawed and spoiled completely. So one has
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: to wonder if he had died or an accident had
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: happened on those trips, what would have come of the
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: prisoners below? And it's likely that all of them would
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: have perished one horrible deaths and remarkably over the years
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: no one had discovered this huge secret social workers would
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: visit the fritzl home to check the upstairs foster children
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: and they would just find everything was in order they
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: would say the family seemed so caring nothing to arouse
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: suspicion and with elizabeth being an official missing person no
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: one connected the dots and by the early 2000s joseph
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: was in his late 60s and the strain of maintaining
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: two families was starting to grow boo And Elizabeth herself
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: now was in her forties and the oldest cellar children
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: were teenagers. So Joseph had to have sensed that things
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: could spiral out of control very quickly. Yet he would
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: persist his lies. And it wasn't until a sudden medical
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: crisis in 2008 that his house of cards would finally
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: come tumbling down. So in April of 2008, the delicate
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: balance in Joseph Fristel's hidden world would collapse, because Kirsten,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth's older daughter that was in the cellar, fell critically ill.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: And at 19 years old, Kirsten had spent her entire
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: life underground, so she would have chronic health problems. And
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: now her condition was life-threatening, which is very unsurprising given
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: her environment. So Kirsten was suffering from kidney failure and
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: she was in such bad shape that Elizabeth was terrified
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: her daughter would die right there in the dungeon with them.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: So desperate to save Kirsten, Elizabeth begged Joseph to get
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: medical help for her. And on April 19th, 2008, Joseph
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: decided to take Kirsten to the hospital. And it was
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: the first time in 24 years he had ever allowed
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: any one of his captives to leave the cellar, besides
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: the infants that he had removed completely. So Elizabeth helped
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: Joseph carry limp Kirsten out of the underground chamber. And
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: she would see a glimpse of the outside world for
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: the first time since 1990. So I can't even imagine
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: how she felt in this moment. I imagine she just
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: had this surge of hope amongst just the feeling of dread.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: Joseph would force Elizabeth to remain behind Stefan and Felix,
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: threatening her as always. But Elizabeth would slip a note
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: to Kirsten and she would put it in her pocket
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: before her daughter was taken out. And then Joseph would
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: place the unconscious Kirsten into his car and he would
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: drive to the local hospital. And he would come up
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: with yet another f * * * ing tale. Because
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: upon his arrival, Joseph claimed he found this girl near
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: his home with a note from her mother. And he
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: would hand over Elizabeth's note to the doctors. And the
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: note would be brief and pleading. Saying, please, please help her.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: in Elizabeth's handwriting, mentioning to use aspirin to help her
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: treat her daughter. And she would say, Kirsten is really
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: terrified of other people. She was never in a hospital.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: And the hospital staff were insanely alarmed by her state
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: because she was extremely pale. Her teeth were rotted or
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: missing from lifelong lack of care. And she was severely malnourished.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: So medical tests would show that Kirsten had kidney failure
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: and life-threatening breakdown of all of her systems. And the
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: doctors luckily would find Joseph's story very suspicious because here
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: was a 19 year old who appeared severely neglected with
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: a mysterious note and an oddly evasive grandfather. So they
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: tried to get more information from Joseph about Kirsten's medical history,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: but Joseph would stick to his tale. And he implied
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: that Kirsten's mother was his long lost daughter, Elizabeth, who
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: had joined a cult and that Elizabeth had dropped Kirsten
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: off just suddenly. But the pieces weren't adding up for
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: the doctors. Because why would a cult allow a desperately
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: ill girl to be brought back to a public hospital?
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: And why did the note suggest treating with aspirin if
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: the girl clearly was beyond that? And where on earth
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: was the girl's mother at this point? So by April 21st, 2008,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: the hospital alerted local authorities that something was off. And
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: this would be two days after Kirsten's arrival. So the
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: police would open an investigation. Because they had a gravely
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: ill young woman with no past medical records and... a
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: questionable note and a mother who was still officially missing
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: since 1984. So the authorities decided to make a public
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: appeal and they went to the media and broadcast messages
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: pleading for Elizabeth to come forward and provide medical information
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: about Kirsten. And this was a pivotal moment because for
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: the first time in decades, Elizabeth's disappearance was back in
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: the public eye. And news reports on TV and radio
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: in the area talked about the case of the sick
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: girl named Kirsten and her missing mother, Elizabeth. And down
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: in the cellar, Elizabeth and her sons actually saw these
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: media reports on the television. And one can only imagine
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: how Elizabeth was feeling when she saw those. Just hearing
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: the world finally calling her name, just knowing this might
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: be her chance at rescue finally, but still being trapped
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: behind these cellar doors. I can't even imagine. So for
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: a week after Kirsten's hospitalization, Elizabeth remained trapped in the cellar.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: Her anxiety for her daughter growing every passing hour. And
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: she knew from the news appeals that doctors were begging
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: for her to come forward. So she confronted Joseph, pleading
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: with him to let her go to her sick child's side.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: And Joseph Fritzl, now 73 years old, found himself under
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: more pressure than ever. Because his ability to juggle these
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: f * * * ed up double lives was failing.
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: And perhaps that if Kirsten actually died, an autopsy would
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: reveal evidence of long-term abuse that he could not explain away.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: And perhaps he just sensed the police were closing in
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: on him. You know, like... cold, dark cellar doors. So
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: in any event, Joseph decided to stage a sudden return
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: of his missing daughter, Elizabeth. And his hope was to
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: release his daughter and their children without too many questions asked.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: And on April 26th, 2008... He told Rosemarie that Elizabeth
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: had unexpectedly left the cult and had come home, along
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: with the two remaining cult children, Stefan and Felix. And
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: when they arrived at the hospital that evening, events unfolded rapidly.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: Doctors who had been on alert informed police that Elizabeth
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: Fritzl was there, and the police wasted no time. And
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: they would separate Elizabeth from her father immediately, recognizing that
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: this reunion might not be as simple as it seemed,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: or as Joseph had made it seem. And Elizabeth was
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: so frightened of Joseph that she initially refused to say
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: anything in his presence. So that's when the police would
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: take a very bold step. And they would tell Elizabeth
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: in a private room that they suspected she may have
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: neglected Kirsten. And that if she didn't explain what was
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: going on, she could face legal consequences. So Elizabeth would
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: just break down and beg the officers, plead them, to
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: make a promise. And that was that she would tell
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: them the whole story, every horrific detail, if they guaranteed
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: she'd never have to see her father again. And the
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: police assured her on the spot. And what came next
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: was a 24 year saga of horror that none of
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: the officers could have imagined. So Elizabeth, at age 42
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: at this point, began to recount the events since August
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: of 1984. And for the next two hours, she would
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: relay the key points of her captivity. And the police
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: listening must have been just utterly stunned, shocked, just horrified,
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: because this was far beyond just a missing person or
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: a case. It was an atrocity on an almost unthinkable scale,
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: but they had finally found Elizabeth. But in doing so,
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: they had uncovered one of the most shocking crimes of
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: the century. So shortly after midnight on April 27th, 2008,
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: officers would approach Joseph Fritzl and they would place him
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: under arrest. you, you piece of shit, piece of shit face.
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: And Joseph, did not resist. In fact, he informed investigators
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: on exactly where and how to enter the chamber, which
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: at this point he's just gloating because like what else
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: is he gonna do, I guess. And perhaps in that
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: moment he just realized it was over and his iron
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: grip on this dark secret had pried loose at last.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: So the police would rush to Fritzl's house and they
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: would descend into the cellar. And guided by the instructions
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: that they received, they unlocked the hidden dungeon. And I
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: can't even imagine the scene that the officers would pass
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: through one by one, through all of these multiple doors,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: behind these shelves and walls and decoys, and finally step
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: into a place that no outsider has seen for 24 years.
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: And news of this discovery would spread rapidly. And in
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: the following days, the world would learn of the cellar girl, Elizabeth,
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: and the monster of Abstetten, which is Joseph. And this
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: story would just dominate the headlines in Austria, and worldwide.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: Because people struggled to comprehend the enormity of what had
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: happened in that unremarkable yellow house in Austria. And the
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: neighbors were... Shock. Just recalling how Joseph had been strict
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: but seemed like a normal dad and family man. And
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: officials would hold press conferences to share initial details while
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: pleading for privacy for the victims. And remarkably, Elizabeth and
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: all six of her surviving children were finally safe. and
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: they would be immediately taken into medical care. And Kirsten
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: slowly began to recover once she was treated for proper dialysis,
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: and she would eventually recover. But there was just an
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: ironic silver lining in all of this, and that's that
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: the very crisis that nearly killed Kirsten just ended up
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: saving all of their lives. So Joseph Fritzl, now completely exposed,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: tried to minimize his actions. And during early interrogations, he
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: claimed that he had done what he did to protect
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth from the outside world and bad influences. Okay. you
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: and he asserted that it was consensual in some twisted
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: way but needless to say these justifications fell on deaf
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: ears and the sheer volume of evidence was overwhelming the
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: physical dungeon the dna test confirming he fathered the children
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: and years of letters and notes so as he sat
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: in his small decrepit piece of shit jail cell that
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: he deserved to be in because he's a piece of shit.
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: And the full reality of his deeds finally confronted him
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: in the public eye. And Joseph reportedly expressed some self-pity
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: and complained, saying, I'm only being portrayed as a monster
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: and not as someone who committed monstrous acts. I swear
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: to f * * * ing God. But his words
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: would ring hollow, because to virtually everyone on the planet,
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: he was exactly what the tabloids would soon call him,
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: which was... the monster of Abstenten. So after Joseph's arrest,
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: Austrian authorities moved quickly to ensure justice. And Elisabeth Fritzl,
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: freed from her father, showed immense courage from providing detailed
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: testimonies against him. And she gave a videotaped statement to
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: prosecutors in July of 2008. So by November 13th, 2008,
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: an indictment was issued against Joseph Fritzl. And the charges
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: were staggering. There was murder by negligence for the death
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: of Michael due to Joseph's failure to get medical help, enslavement, grape, incest, kidnapping,
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: false imprisonment, and coercion. And the murder charge was the
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: most serious, carrying a potential life sentence of its own.
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: And the other charges like enslavement carried up to 20
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: years each. But in Austria, multiple convictions wouldn't stack in
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: a US-style, consecutive way. But the expectation was that Fritzl
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: would receive the maximum penalty allowed, which was life in prison.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: So prosecutors were determined to hold Joseph accountable for every
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: aspect of the 24 ordeal. And the Austrian public, and
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: indeed the entire world, waited to see if he would
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: try to deny responsibility or claim insanity. So Joseph Fritzl's
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: trial would begin on March 16th, 2009, in the city
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: of Songpolten in Lower Austria. And the case drew such
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: intense media attention that it was dubbed a media circus.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: And on the first day, reporters and camera crews from
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: around the globe camped outside the courthouse. And the now
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: 73-year-old Joseph was led into court, trying to hide his
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: face from the cameras behind a large blue folder, like
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: a baby bitch face. piece of shit. I'm sorry. Actually,
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: I'm not, anyway. So it was just a man who
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: had hidden unspeakable crimes, just now hiding behind the public,
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: behind a little blue folder, because he was scared. So
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: under Austrian law, defendants in certain trials can conceal their
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: face from the press, and Joseph took full advantage of that.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: So once the proceedings started, the courtroom was cleared of
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: public press for all but the opening and closing sessions,
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: out of respect for the victims and the extremely graphic
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: nature of the evidence. And Joseph would plead guilty on
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: all charges except murder and grievous assault, which was him
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: threatening to gas his captives if they didn't listen to him.
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: So they had no easy task ahead because the evidence
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: included hours of wrenching testimony and details that would test
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: anyone's composure. And on the second day of trial, jurors
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: were shown 11 hours of videotaped testimony from Elizabeth. And
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: this video had been pre-recorded in sessions with psychiatrists and
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: investigators so that Elizabeth would not have to personally testify
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: in court and see that idiot faces face. But even so,
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: the content was so awful that the jurors watched in
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: segments of no more than two hours at a time.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: That's just how disturbing the evidence was. It was literally
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: unwatchable in one go. And unbeknownst to Fritzl, Elizabeth attended
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: one day in trial in disguise. Because she wanted to
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: witness the proceedings personally. And on March 17th, 2009, which
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: was the second day of trial, she sat in the
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: gallery wearing a wig and glasses to blend in. And
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: as her video testimony played, at one point Fritzl's lawyer
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: noticed that Joseph had suddenly gone pale and was trembling.
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: Because Joseph had spotted a familiar face in the crowd.
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: And it was Elizabeth staring right at him. And their
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: eyes would meet briefly. And according to his lawyer, quote-unquote,
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: From this point on, you could see Joseph Fritzl going
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: pale and he broke down. As if seeing his daughter,
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: the one that he had brutalized for so long, now
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: a free woman, just unafraid to confront him, finally shattered
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: whatever defenses he had left. And the next morning on
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: March 18th, before the session began, Joseph unexpectedly changed his
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: plea to guilty on all counts. So now he acknowledged everything,
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: even the murder and negligence of the baby Michael and
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: the enslavement of Elizabeth. And many observers did believe that
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: it was Elizabeth's presence and fortitude that compelled this last
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: minute reversal. Like the amount of strength this girl has
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: is incredible. Just incredible. And he would claim that he
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: just couldn't continue to deny his guilt knowing what he
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: had done, which I claim bullshit, but whatever. So the
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: trial proceeded to its conclusion swiftly after the plea charge.
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: And in the courtroom, even during the opening days, the
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: prosecution and defense painted starkly different pictures of Fritzl. The
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: defense lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, argued that Joseph was... Not a monster,
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: but a man who had a second family he tried
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: to care for in his own twisted way. You are
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: just as much of a monster in my eyes, Rudolph.
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: The f * * * ing red-nosed f * *
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: * ing reindeer, f * * * you. And Mayer
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: would infamously tell the court that Joseph brought down a
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: Christmas tree for the children in the cellar, implying that
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: there was some kind of kindness in this action. And
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: he also pointed that Joseph made sure the upstairs kids
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: were provided for. Oh, give him a f * *
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: * ing gold star. But these arguments received widespread criticism
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: for obvious reasons. Because no fucking Christmas tree could erase
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: the unspeakable abuse that occurred to these kids. And the
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: chief prosecutor, Christian Berkheiser, on the other hand, spared no
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: harsh detail. And she would demonstrate to the jurors how
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: low the cellar ceiling was by marking the height on
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: the courtroom door. And she even passed around a box
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: of musty items taken from the cellar. And the smell
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: was so bad that it actually made the jurors flinch.
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: And she would describe the space as damp and moldy,
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: just describing the awful living conditions that Elizabeth had lived
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: in for 24 years, along with her children. And the
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: prosecutor would press for a sentence of life in a
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: psychiatric facility, emphasizing that Joseph Fritzl was a danger to
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: society and that his crimes were the worst imaginable. And
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: beyond Elizabeth Tate's testimony, the court also heard from other
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: witnesses and notably elizabeth's older brother one of fritzl's sons
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: who grew up in a normal life and he would
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: testify about the he endured from fritzl just confirming that
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: joseph's cruelty extended to the family upstairs as well and
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: rosemary joseph's wife and the children themselves did not testify
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: because they understandably just wanted to avoid any further trauma
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: publicly So on March 19th, 2009, the trial would conclude.
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: And Joseph Fritzl was found guilty on all charges. And
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: when the verdict was read, Joseph stood silently. Because he
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: had already admitted his guilt. So there was little suspense.
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: And the judge would sentence him to life imprisonment with
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: a possibility of parole after 15 years. Which is like,
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: what the f * * k? What the f *
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: * k? However, given the severity of his crimes, it
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: was widely understood that he would likely never be freed.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: And Joseph stated through his lawyer that he accepted the
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: sentence and would not appeal. So he would be sent
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: to Garston Abbey to begin serving his time. And this
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: was a former monastery turned prison. just a collective sigh
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: of relief in Austria that this monster would be finally
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: locked away forever. And outside the courthouse, crowds would gather
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: each day. And when the life sentence was announced, onlookers
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: and victim advocates would cheer about the outcome. And Elizabeth
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: Fritzl would not be there for the reading of the verdict.
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: But justice was served on her behalf. And after 24
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: years of nightmarish captivity and abuse, her father received the
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: maximum punishment Austrian law would allow. And the case would
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: be closed in a legal sense. But the healing journey
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: for Elizabeth and her children was only just the beginning.
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: So in the immediate aftermath of their escape, Elizabeth Fritzl
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: and her children would be sent to a psychiatric clinic
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: for intensive care. And Kirsten would actually remain in the
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: hospital for some time, but eventually woke from her coma
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: and began recovering, reuniting with her mother and siblings in
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: later 2008. And doctors would report that, miraculously, Elizabeth and
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: her children were actually pretty good physical health condition, considering
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: their circumstances underground. However, they did all suffer from psychological
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: trauma and health issues related to their years in captivity.
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: The children from the cellar specifically had very pale skin
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: and had a lot of difficulty adjusting to sunlight. And
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: they also had to adjust to just open spaces after
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: living in such confined spaces for their entire lives. And
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: during those first months, the family was kept in complete
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: seclusion and therapists and medical experts would work with each
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: member of the family to begin the long process of rehabilitation.
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: And luckily the Austrian authorities were extremely protective of their
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: privacy and continue to be. And new identities were offered
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: to Elizabeth and her children and even her mother, Rosemary.
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: But it was made very clear that they could make
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: that choice on their own. And they were also offered
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: a chance to start fresh somewhere far from Amstetten. And
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth and Rosemary initially actually stayed together to support the children.
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: But Rosemary's relationship with Elizabeth was strained given the decades
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: of deception. Because Rosemary truly hadn't known, but the guilt
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: just weighed on her. And eventually she would separate from
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: the group and Elizabeth decided to build a new life
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: with her children. And in 2009, Elizabeth, her children, and
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: Rosemary moved to a new, undisclosed location in the Austrian countryside,
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: known only by the codename Village X. And this location, luckily,
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: remains confidential to this day. And the community just understood
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: that the Fritzls had endured and suffered enough, and that
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: they deserved peace. If anyone deserved peace, it was these people.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: So as the family settled into their new home, messages
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: of support just flooded in from around the world. And
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth was deeply moved by the public's kindness. And in
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: June of 2008, a few weeks after their rescue, Elizabeth
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: and her children created a handmade poster with colorful drawings
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: and rainbows, which was displayed briefly to thank everyone for
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: their compassion. Saying, we, the whole family, would like to
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: take the opportunity to thank all of you for the
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: sympathy you at our fate. Your compassion is helping us
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: greatly to overcome these difficult times. And this heartfelt message
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: was one of the very few communications the family made
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: to the public. But it just showed despite everything they
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: felt gratitude and hope thanks to the support of others.
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: And over the years Elizabeth's children had undergone extensive therapy
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: to address trauma and to just adjust to normal life.
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: And the differences between the upstairs kids and the downstairs
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: kids presented unique challenges. Because the three who grew up
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: above ground, which was Lisa, Monica, and Alexander, had to
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: just deal with the guilt having lived relatively normal lives
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: while their siblings and their mother lived underground. And the
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: psychologist said that these kids had severe survivor's guilt and
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: just general confusion as to why they were the chosen ones, basically. Meanwhile,
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: the three cellar-raised children, which was Kirsten, Stefan, and Felix,
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: had to learn just everything from scratch. Just like what
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: the sky is and how to walk in open spaces
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: and how to interact with other human beings. And at first,
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: reportedly the downstairs siblings had trouble bonding with the others
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: because of their life experiences and how they were so different.
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: But in time, according to occasional updates from those close
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: to them, the children have slowly integrated together. But understandably,
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: therapy is something that's ongoing for them and likely for
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: many years to come. And Elisabeth Fritzl emerged from that
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: cellar at the age of 42, with virtually no experience
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: of adult life in the real world. Yet her determination
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: to live a normal life after the horrors committed against
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: her and her children demonstrate that she is astonishingly strong
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: and that she is an incredibly resilient woman. And thankfully,
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: after receiving proper medical care and years and years of therapy,
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth's condition has improved. And it was later reported that
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: her hair gradually regained some color because after years and
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: years of being In that cellar, her hair had actually
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: gone like ashy and gray. And she began to dress
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: more normally and started to experiment with colorful clothing And
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: it's also noted that Elizabeth has even learned to drive
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: a car and now goes on shopping trips into town
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: enjoying just the simple pleasures that any ordinary person would
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: take for granted. And there are numerous reports that suggest
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: that Elizabeth is indeed living with a partner who cares
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: for her very, very deeply. And the kids. So it's
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: just a heartwarming development after the horrors that they endured.
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: And I'm so happy that Elizabeth has a chance at
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: genuine love and just a normal life. Meanwhile, Joseph Fritzl
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: has been in prison since 2009, and the years have
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: not been kind to him, nor does he deserve any kindness.
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: And a few years into his prison sentence, he changed
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: his name to Myroth. And it's speculated just to avoid
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: conflict with other inmates. And now in his 90s, the
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: won't die. Fritzl is incarcerated at a regular prison, though
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: it took quite a bit to get him there. And
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: according to his lawyer and some new reports, he now
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: suffers from dementia and is frail in physical health. Womp womp.
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: As of now, Joseph Fritzl remains behind bars. And his
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: lawyer claims in more lucid moments, Joseph is haunted by
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: nightmares of his crimes and that he deeply regrets his actions. Okay.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: But the psychiatrist who assessed him, which is Dr. Heidi Katzner,
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: reportedly believes that Fritzl is still minimizing and whitewashing his deeds,
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: even in old dementia age. So, you know. Still a
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: giant monster piece of shit. But in all likelihood, Joseph
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: will die in prison and no one will mourn his passing.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: Good riddance. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is living free with her children
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: and she deserves everything everything wonderful in life. And she
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: just wants to live her life in peace and anonymity,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: raising her family and never being in the shadow of
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: her father's name again, which she won't be because this
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: video is for Elizabeth and Elizabeth's children. And that is
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: the video. If you have any other videos you want
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: me to deep dive into, let me know down below.
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: This one was a lot. This one was a lot,
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: but I think it's an incredibly interesting important case. I
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: know a lot of you suggested this one, but it's
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: a lot. So I hope you take a little breather,
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: go outside, go outside, go take a walk, go think
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: of everything you're grateful for and remember to be safe
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: out there. All right. And until then, I will see
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: you a beautiful face. Okay. You can all say bye
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: to Rupert. We'll say bye to Rupert. Come here, baby.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: Say goodbye to everybody. Say bye. Say bye. Oh, thank you. Goodbye.