The monster of Amstetten: story of a case that terrified the world
On April 26, 2008, a woman named Elisabeth arrived at a hospital in Austria to visit her nineteen-year-old daughter, who had suffered a multi-organ failure.
In view of her evident state of nervousness, she was interrogated by hospital doctors, at which time the woman stated that she had spent the last twenty-four years in the cellar of her father, who had repeatedly raped her during this time and with whom she had conceived seven children (including the hospitalized daughter). It's about the case history of the monster of Amstetten .
Brief summary of the Anstetten case
The story of this case begins in August 1984. At that time Elisabeth Fritzl, an eighteen-year-old woman, was drugged and locked in a dungeon by her father, Josef Fritzl . The zulo in question was in the basement of the family home, having been built with premeditation years before by the young man's father.
The young Elisabeth remained tied for months, being frequently raped by her own father. She was forced to write a note in which she reported that she left the house of her own free will and that she was in good health (showing that she had joined a sect), in order to justify her absence before her mother and the rest of society.
The confinement was prolonged during years, in which the one that later would be denominated "monster of Amstetten" She abused her daughter continuously, reaching a total of seven children with her (of which one would die due to their refusal to receive medical assistance) of which three remained with their mother and would often be used to coerce the woman into accessing relationships.
None of the prisoners would see the sun during all those years (in the case of the three children who stayed with the mother, they did not manage to do so until they were released), remaining in conditions of deprivation and suffering verbal and physical abuse. It would not be until Elisabeth's eldest daughter and her father, Kerstin, fell seriously ill when she was taken to the hospital. That moment that would end up causing the case to come to light and free the woman and the children, twenty-four years after Elisabeth was locked up.
The motivations of Josef Fritzl
The declarations of the monster of Amstetten and of the psychologists who took care of the case indicate that the main motivations of the subject to commit this act are based on the desire of being able. Elisabeth was the most rebellious of her children, which made her choose her as an object of desire.
The subject used sexual violence as an element to dominate the young woman and have her subjected . In addition to this, the use of psychic and physical abuse both on her and on the children and of coercion to force her to do her will, as well as the situation of dependency to which she subjected her (it was he who provided them with food and in some occasion threatened her daughter with stopping doing so) reflect that interest in achieving the submission of women. Another aspect that shows that one of the main motivations of the subject was power is found in the statements of the individual, which mentions that he wanted to have children with Elisabeth as a mechanism to dominate and make it less attractive to other men.
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Josef Fritzl links his actions, of which he does not regret, to the experience of an abusive relationship on the part of his mother, who mistreated him physically and mentally, and at the time in which he was born (corresponding to the Second World War and the Nazism). According to the experts who analyzed him, this could have caused a hatred towards the figure of his progenitor that would end up in the desire of domination towards the woman and a remarkable lack of empathy.
The children of Elisabeth
Throughout the twenty-four years that she lived locked in the basement, the repeated violations to which her father subjected her had the result that during her captivity, Elisabeth gave birth to a total of seven children.
Three of them remained all their lives with their mother, in the basement, without having contact with the outside world beyond what their mother and grandfather-father explained to them. One of them, Michael, died three days after being born without receiving medical assistance (which is why, among the charges of Josef Fritzl, there is murder). His body was incinerated in the caldera by the monster of Amstetten. The other three were brought to the surface, where they would be legally adopted by Elisabeth's parents.
The reason that some were taken abroad and others was not, according to Fritzl himself, that those who lived on the surface were those who cried the most and worse adapted to life in the basement.
It may be surprising that the adoption of the children did not arouse the suspicion of neighbors and relatives, and even of Elisabeth's own mother. But nevertheless, the monster of Amstetten had prepared the situation so that when the children appeared , these will arrive at the home of such with a letter that simulates that they were children that Elisabeth had had sporadic relationships and could not take charge.
The role of Fritzl's wife
Rosemarie, the mother of Elisabeth and then wife of Josef Fritzl, was for a time investigated by the police before the possibility that she was in connivance with her husband and knew the situation of her daughter. However, he apparently did not know where his son was and what had happened to her.
When she locked her daughter, Josef Fritzl had forced Elisabeth to write a letter in which she stated that she left home at her own will and that she was safe. He also emphasized that it was not wanted. As for her grandchildren, they had been coming home as children Elisabeth could not support and whom she asked them to raise.
Since the case was uncovered Rosemarie has never communicated with her husband nor has she ever visited him in prison , being currently divorced from him. Today he makes periodic visits to his daughter and grandchildren.
Psychological opinion
The characteristics of the case could make us think that we are facing behaviors related to some type of mental disorder . It is necessary to bear in mind that sometimes certain crimes can be carried out in states of alteration of conscience in which the subject is not aware of their acts due to some disease, such as schizophrenia. This would require psychiatric hospitalization, but depending on the situation it could become non-criminally imputable.
In order to determine the state and mental faculties of the subject, Fritzl was subjected to various sessions with a psychiatrist. The result of this examination shows that the monster of Amstetten does not suffer from any type of mental pathology that clouds its capacity for judgment, being totally imputable and aware of its actions and the implications of these.
But in spite of this, if they were observed lack of empathy and emotional bonding, as well as sadistic sexual tendencies. All this, together with the set of acts and statements carried out by the individual himself (he declared that he was born to rape), suggests the existence of a psychopathy or sociopathy.
Trial and conviction
The case of the monster of Amstetten was carried out throughout March of the year 2009. During the trial, Josef Fritzl was accused of the charges of kidnapping, rape, incest and slavery, as well as murder in relation to the death of one of his children with Elisabeth, Michael.
Initially the defendant would reject the last two charges, but would end up recognizing them.
The final verdict of the jury was guilty in all charges , condemning the subject to life imprisonment in a psychiatric center.
Other crimes
The confinement and systematic violation of his daughter for twenty-four years was not the only crime committed by Josef Fritzl. The so-called monster of Amstetten had been accused and even imprisoned on charges of rape in the sixties and during his youth.
In addition to that, she also kept her own mother locked up during her last years of life , making her a prisoner and even covering the windows so that she would not see the sunlight again.
Present
Currently, Josef Fritzl is serving a sentence in a prison in Stein, apparently beginning to manifest a cognitive deterioration that suggests the onset of dementia.
With regard to Elisabeth and her children, over the years they have evolved positively . Although they are still in psychiatric treatment, little by little the children of the woman (aged between twenty-four and ten years old) are adapting to their new life and fortunately without great interference from the media.
In the case of Elisabeth, her recovery is such that it has been suggested that the visits to the psychiatrist be spaced out, and apparently she could be starting to bond emotionally with one of her bodyguards.
