Father Holds Daughter Hostage in Basement for 24 Years: The Story of a Teen’s Terrifying Captivity

Be warned – this is a tale of the girl thrust into darkness for 24 years by her father. Elisabeth Fritzl was only 18 when she went missing in August 1984. Her mother, Rosemarie, distraught over her daughter’s sudden disappearance, filed a missing person’s report.

The days turned to weeks, and there was still no sign of Elisabeth. Everyone, including the cops, had no information except for her father Josef’s claims that she had run away probably to join a cult she had been talking about. No one knew where she had run away to either.

The horrific saga for the innocent girl started with a seemingly simple request from her father on the fateful day of August 28, 1984. He asked her help fixing up the final door on its frame to the cellar he had been renovating for months.

Once she helped her father fix the door to the dingy confines of the cellar, he pushed her into it. Josef then covered her mouth and nose with the ether-soaked cloth until she passed out.

Josef had planned this elaborate scheme to imprison his daughter for years. Living in Lower Austria, where nuclear bunkers were necessary, helped his plans. In the early 1970s, he received permission from the city council to build a cellar.

The cellar was a dungeon with no way out. There were only two ways one could access the cellar: a metal door operated with a remote control and another a heavy-hinged door. As if that wasn’t enough, you had to pass through eight doors to reach the final one Elisabeth had helped install.

Meanwhile, Elisabeth’s mom, who had no clue what her husband had done, was worried sick about her. Josef stayed by her side all along – pretending to be equally distraught – but he knew something had to be done.

Over the years, Elisabeth had habitually run away from home so many times she had to be forcibly dragged back by her father or the cops. So, this time, when Josef claimed she had run away to join a cult, people believed his words without a doubt.

The case ran cold with no leads in sight, and for all intents and purposes, the world had abandoned her. This was precisely what Josef wanted – he could execute his twisted plans without suspicion or interruption. Like clockwork, he would head down to the basement at nine every morning to work on his machine drawings.

While everyone believed Elisabeth was leading a life elsewhere, she was living a nightmare under the family home. Josef visited her almost daily, at least thrice a week, and had left her alone for the first two years, satisfied with keeping her captive.

Abusing her was nothing new; he had been doing it since she turned 11. The girl knew he was pure evil. She was merely a child, scared and alone. His repeated threats if she spoke up about the abuse stopped her from confiding in anyone.

Even though time stood still for Elisabeth, she had to bear the consequences of her father’s actions. Within four years of captivity, she became pregnant twice; the first one resulted in a miscarriage. The second time, she gave birth to a daughter named Kerstin in 1988.

Josef provided the three of them with weekly rations. She tried to give her two children a normal life, teaching them whatever she knew. Sadly, the dingy underground cellar became their entire world. Unfortunately, her father continued to abuse her, which resulted in her having five more children.

Bringing three kids into their home needed another plan that involved Elisabeth writing another letter. Even though she was devastated that he was taking her children away, she had no choice but to do as instructed.

Interestingly, no one suspected anything amiss with the mysterious arrival of the children, not Rosemarie, not even the social services. The people assumed they were raising their runaway daughter’s children and treated them as devoted grandparents.

Pregnancies are challenging; women need as much medical help as possible to ride them out smoothly. Unfortunately, Elisabeth had to endure all her pregnancy woes without any medical assistance. All she had at her disposal was a pair of dirty scissors, disinfectant, and a book on childbirth.

No matter how many items such as television, cassette player, and radio he provided them with for entertainment, the living conditions remained terrible. They had a place to cook and store food, but the entire cellar turned into a scorching oven during summer.

As Elisabeth and her kids led a horrific life 20 feet below ground, unknown to them, the world kept spinning. So many things happened, and they had no clue about it. Time stood stagnant for the captive souls as the world witnessed the Chernobyl disaster, the LA riots, and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Josef had kept her hidden from the world for 24 years without anyone even suspecting him of her disappearance. No one knows how long he meant to keep her captive, but a day came in 2008 when the poor girl had a chance to escape.

Josef took her to the city hospital in an ambulance. He showed the attending doctors her mother’s note that explained her rapidly deteriorating condition. When they looked at him suspiciously, he said that the mother could not afford to care for Kerstin and asked him for help.

Concerned about the plight of the girl who looked to have escaped from a near death experience, the cops asked the public for any information on the mother. They requested the mother and the relatives of Kerstin to come forward.

While the police began digging into Elisabeth’s letters, she began pleading with Josef to allow her to visit her sick daughter in the hospital. The cops found inconsistencies with the letters, finding them odd and dictated.

When Elisabeth visited the hospital, the cops looked at her suspiciously, threatening her with arrest for child abuse for neglecting her daughter. She started recounting the ordeal she had been through, shocking them with the gory details of her captivity.

The family, including her mother, were protected as Josef told the police how to enter the cellar. Rosemarie was stunned and devastated at what had been going on right under her nose for several years. She had no clue about it and felt miserable for not protecting her daughter.

Josef’s defense attorney, Rudolf Mayer, stressed the need for evidence that confirmed the continual abuse and enslavement. He painted the monster as a devoted father who had worked hard to provide for two families.

With Elisabeth’s statement, more of his terrible deeds became public. Her father had threatened them into submission by claiming they may get electrocuted if they touched the doors. He’d release poison into the cellar if they ever tried. It turned out that his empty threats were simply psychological torture.

Even though evidence kept mounting against him, Josef refused to plead guilty to threatening to gas the captives and for murder. Besides the video testimony of Elisabeth, her older brother revealed he was also a victim of his physical abuse.

Within three days of trial, Josef was sentenced to life imprisonment. He showed no remorse and thought what he did was the norm. In fact, he had done this before.

Some horrific details about the man prove he was nothing but pure evil. He was once put in prison for violating a woman at her home. It was during his time there that he came up with a plan to lock up his daughter. He had wanted to express his ‘sick’ side.

Things were rocky initially, with them being placed in a psychiatric clinic. The “Upstairs” and the “Downstairs” children needed intense therapy. Stefan was hunched over because of low ceilings, and Kerstin had plucked out clumps of hair in captivity.