Earlier this week investigators released details about the elaborate underground cellar where Josef Fritzl kept his daughter imprisoned for 24 years, along with three of their children.
The 73-year-old Austrian began building the dungeon as part of an addition to his home in 1978, and simply added the hidden space- which was not recorded in any building plans. It took Fritzl until 1983 to finish the addition, police spokesman Franz Polzer said.
Investigators recently discovered another door to the dungeon prison, which was blocked by a 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) steel and concrete door that Fritzl probably stopped using when he later constructed an electronic door for a second entrance, Polzer said.
Fritzl, who police believe was the only one with access to the cellar, had to travel through an elaborate maze to get to the prison.
Anyone else think this is starting to sound like one of those messed up plots from the Saw movies?
“You would have to open up a total of eight doors, and … (for the) last door which would go into this space (where the family was imprisoned), you would also have to use electronic opening apparatus,” Polzer said.
The investigation isn’t over just because they found this secret dungeon either. They will continue to search Fritzl’s house and property to see if anything else is discovered. The thought that there may be more secret hideaways like this is utterly frightening.
Specialists are also searching through the Fritzl home for evidence. Chief investigator Franz Polzer said that in addition to the cellar, Fritzl had deemed several rooms of the vast house off-limits to others.
“We don’t have any concrete reason to suspect there is anything else, but we want to be absolutely sure,” Polzer said.
At least they are going about it the right way and being thorough to make sure another daughter isn’t hidden away in an underground holding cell or something.
While we are all hearing about this, Josef Fritzl is sitting in prison.
Fritzl’s lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said his client has access to a television and has been watching the coverage of his case. It’s been hard since the discovery to go a day and not hear anything about it. But what I find unsettling about Josef Fritzl is that he doesn’t think he is the man the media is portraying him as.
Mayer said Fritzl was bothered by the fact that he was being made out to be a monster. He said Fritzl told him, “I’m only being portrayed as a monster and not as someone who committed monstrous acts.”
I don’t know how it is in Austria, but anyone who commits a crime a fraction as horrendous his was is a monster. To think this man has the audacity to claim he should be seen differently is ludicrious.
He needs to be put away in jail for a long time! YUCK!
