Saturday, March 21, 2009

Josef Fritzl

Quite angry when I saw this article on Josef Fritzl kept his own daughter caged in a cellar and raped her over a 24-year period, with the headline

"He raped his daughter 3000 times"

Somehow it just remind me of one of the forensic science cases.
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1977 Fritzl begins sexually abusing his 11-year-old daughter, Elisabeth.

29 August 1984 Fritzl lures Elisabeth, now 18 years old, into the basement and imprisons her.

November 1986 Elisabeth has a miscarriage in the 10th week of pregnancy.

1989 The first child, Kerstin, is born, and lives in the cellar until 2008.

1990 Stefan is born. He, too, stays in the cellar until 2008.

1992 Lisa is born. In May 1993, when she is nine months old, she is discovered outside the family home in a cardboard box, allegedly left there by Elisabeth, along with a note asking for the child to be cared for.

February 1994 The fourth child, Monika, is born.

1994 Fritzl enlarges the prison for Elisabeth and her children from 35 m² (380 sq ft) to 55 m² (600 sq ft).

December 1994 Ten-month-old Monika is found in a stroller outside the entrance of the house. Shortly afterwards, a phone call is made to Rosemarie, apparently, from Elisabeth. The caller asks Rosemarie to take care of the child. However, it is assumed that Fritzl was able to use a recording of Elisabeth's voice to make the call. Rosemarie reported the incident to the police, expressing her astonishment that Elisabeth knew of their new and unlisted phone number.

May 1996 Elisabeth gives birth to twin boys. One dies after three days and Fritzl is alleged to have removed his body from the cellar and cremated it. The surviving twin, Alexander, is taken upstairs when he is 15 months old. He is "discovered" in circumstances similar to those of his two sisters.

December 2002 Felix is born. According to a statement by Fritzl, he kept Felix in the cellar, together with Elisabeth and her two eldest children, because his wife was not able to look after another child.

19 April 2008 Fritzl arranges for the critically ill 19-year-old Kerstin to be taken to a local hospital.

26 April 2008 During the evening, Fritzl releases Elisabeth from the cellar along with her sons Stefan and Felix, bringing them upstairs, informing his wife that Elisabeth had decided to come home after a 24-year absence. Later that evening, after an anonymous tipoff during a visit to the hospital, Fritzl and Elisabeth are taken into police custody where she reveals her decades-long imprisonment during questioning.

16 March 2009 Trial commences in St.Polten, Austria.

18 March 2009 Fritzl changes his plea to guilty on all charges.

19 March 2009 Fritzl is sentenced to life imprisonment
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-562377/Pictured-Inside-cellar-father-locked-daughter-24-years-repeatedly-raped-her.html