The news of an Austrian man kidnapping his own daughter and keeping her in a cellar for 24 years was bad enough. Then came the news that he had repeatedly raped and abused her, fathering seven children.

Three of the children had been kept in the dungeon-like cellar along with their mother, two of them until adulthood.

Austrian man Josef Fritzl has been charged with kidnapping his then-18-year-old daughter Elizabeth in 1984, and forcing her to live in a windowless, soundproof cellar under his home. He also faces potential murder charges stemming from the death of one of Elisabeth’s children shortly after birth, and will also face murder charges if the oldest daughter, Kerstin, dies of her illness. He is also charged with sexual assault and other related offenses.

Neighbors of Josef Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie in the quiet town of Amstetten say they had no idea of the horror that went on beneath the home.

Even tenants who lived there on and off over the years told reporters they didn’t know there were people living beneath them.

Fritzl explained Elizabeth’s disappearance by saying she had run away to join a cult and had told her parents she would never return. He crafted a letter that was supposedly from Elizabeth so that her mother would believe the story.
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