Elisabeth Fritzl, "the girl in the basement:" Where is she today?
Twenty four years of torture and sexual abuse is what Elisabeth Fritzl went through under the roof of her parent's house. She was locked up in the basement, never to be seen or heard. However, Elisabeth's misery didn't last forever since she managed to escape from the hands of her captor. Her story broke headlines in 2008 during the Fritzl case and led to creating the movie The Girl in the Basement.
Source: Twitter
Your primary caregiver is the last person you’d expect to subject you to any form of pain, torture, or abuse. But this was not the case for Elisabeth Fritzl. Her father, Josef Fritzl, was her offender. He locked Elisabeth in a basement and did the imaginable to her. She was r*ped, physically abused, and held captive until her rescue in 2008.
Elisabeth Fritzl's profile summary
- Full name: Elisabeth Fritzl
- Nickname: Liz
- Gender: Female
- Date of birth: 6th April 1966
- Birth sign: Aries
- Place of birth: Amstetten, Austria
- Age: 55 years (as of 2021)
- Nationality: Australian
- Ethnicity: White
- Eye colour: Brown
- Hair colour: Dark Brown
- Sexual orientation: Straight
- Father: Josef Fritzl
- Mother: Rosemarie Fritzl
- Siblings: Harald, Rosemarie, Doris, Gabriele, Josef and Ulrike Fritzl
- Children: Two
Elisabeth Fritzl Background
Elisabeth Fritzl was born on April 6, 1966, in Amstetten, Austria. She is one of Josef Fritzl and Rosemarie’s seven children. Her siblings are Harald, Rosemarie, Doris, Gabriele, Josef and Ulrike Fritzl. She attended elementary school, then went to Vienna to do a waitress course.
She became her father’s hostage after completing the course; therefore, her dream of becoming a waitress did not materialize. Before then, Josef Fritzl had already abused his daughter. Elisabeth was first abused at the age of 11, and this continued throughout her childhood and adulthood.
Josef Fritzl's daughter attempted to escape from her father's abuse when she was 15. She ran away from home. Unfortunately, she was found after 20 days and was returned to her abuser.
Later on, this incident served as an excuse for Josef Fritzl when the police searched for his missing daughter.
How old is Elisabeth Fritzl now?
She is 55 years and free for 13 years. Elisabeth Fritzl’s children are aged between 19 and 33. They receive therapy sessions as a family to heal from the trauma and abuse of being locked in a basement.
How Elisabeth Fritzl became a captive
She was only 18 years old when her father tricked her into locking her up in the basement. Josef Fritzl needed help in refitting a door in the basement, so he called Elisabeth to assist. Unknown to her, helping his ill-motive father would be the beginning of her misery.
Josef masked her nose and mouth with a cloth soaked in the ether when she was about to leave the basement. As a result, she became unconscious, and that's how she ended up in the basement for the next 24 years.
Her father claimed she was a runaway and lied to the authorities and Rosemarie that she had escaped joining a cult.
Source: Twitter
All along, Josef knew exactly where her daughter was and even sexually abused her. He r*ped and physically abused her, forcing her to recreate violent, pornographic scenes with him. It did not happen once or twice, but seven times. Eventually, she got pregnant for her father when she was held captive.
How did Elisabeth Fritzl give birth between being locked in a basement and having no one to communicate with? As inhumane as Josef was, he handed her a book about pregnancy and a dirty pair of scissors to help deliver the pregnancy. Unfortunately, he offered no medical help and left Elisabeth to do everything in the rat-infested dungeon.
She gave birth to seven children, but one died three days after being born. The child became sick, but Josef refused to let the baby get treatment. It eventually died, and the corpse was burnt in an incinerator by none other than Josef.
He also took away three children from her and forced his wife Rosemarie to raise them.
Since Josef didn't want to raise suspicion about the mysterious children, he forced his daughter to write letters and posted them far away to receive them as mail at his home.
In the letters, Elisabeth 'stated' she was fine but couldn't raise the kids, and that's why she had them left at their doorstep.
She suffered at the hands of her father, but a silver lining came when one of her daughters fell sick. She pleaded with Josef to let the child get medical treatment, and surprisingly, he agreed. They visited a hospital, and the baby got treatment.
However, the nurse attending to her realized something was amiss. She asked her if everything was okay, and without hesitation, Elisabeth told her what was going on. The nurse called the police, who embarked on a rescue mission.
She was rescued in April 2008 when she was 42 years old. Her father was arrested, and what followed was the Fritzl case opened against Josef Fritzl. He was accused of manslaughter, inc*st, murder and false imprisonment during Elisabeth Fritzl's interview.
Josef was charged, and since the accusations were true, he pleaded guilty. As a result, he received a life imprisonment sentence in March 2009 and was incarcerated at the Garsten Abbey in Austria.
Girl in the Basement, Elisabeth Fritzl's movie
Source: Getty Images
Elisabeth's story of being a survivor of kidnap and sexual abuse moved the public in different ways. It inspired Elisabeth Rohm, her namesake, to direct the movie Girl in the Basement. The crime file is a true story based on the events when she was locked in her home's basement.
Life after abuse: Where is Elisabeth Fritzl now?
After 24 years of captivity, Elisabeth deserves all the freedom she can get. But, instead, the state of Austria moved her to an undisclosed location and changed her identity.
She now lives in a two-storey house together with her children. The house is heavily guarded with security guards and under CCTV surveillance to keep off intruders.
Elisabeth Fritzl is a sexual abuse survivor who escaped from her abuser after 24 years. She was r*ped, physically violated, and abused by her father, Josef Fritzl. She was rescued by the police and kept in the state's custody together with her children. Elisabeth currently lives with her six children in a two-storey house. Their location and identity are not known for security reasons.
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