Austrian police on Sunday arrested a 73-year-old man accused of imprisoning his daughter in a windowless basement for 24 years, abusing her and fathering seven children with her, according to local police Monday.
The woman, identified as 42-year-old Elisabeth Fritzl, told investigators her father, Josef, put her to sleep with an anaesthetic on August 28, 1984, handcuffing her in a locked basement.
Officially, she was declared a missing person, with Interpol opening an investigation.
Elisabeth Fritzl told detectives she was "regularly abused" by her father. Elisabeth gave birth to seven children during her ordeal.
Josef's wife Rosemarie had been unaware of what happened to her daughter and it was assumed Elisabeth had disappeared voluntarily when her parents received a letter from her saying they should not search for her.
Miss F told police that she gave birth to twins in 1996, but one died days later because it was not properly cared for. Police said her father took the corpse and burned it.
Three of the younger children were brought up by Josef and his wife after they were left at the building, the first child accompanied by a note from Elisabeth saying she was unable to care for the baby herself.
Three others, including the two eldest aged 18 and 19, and the youngest, aged 5, had been locked up in the basement with their mother since birth.
The case only came to light when the oldest child became seriously ill and was taken to hospital in Amstetten. Josef said that child had also been left unconscious on his doorstep, according to media reports.
Authorities in Amstetten, 130 km (80 miles) west of Vienna, were still piecing together details of the case.
"We are faced with a crime that is incomprehensible," Interior Minister Guenther Platter said on Austrian television. "Everything that has happened here goes beyond one's imagination".
Rosemarie, as well as Elisabeth and her children were receiving psychological counselling. DNA samples of all those involved were taken and would be analysed, police said.
The woman, identified as 42-year-old Elisabeth Fritzl, told investigators her father, Josef, put her to sleep with an anaesthetic on August 28, 1984, handcuffing her in a locked basement.
Officially, she was declared a missing person, with Interpol opening an investigation.
Elisabeth Fritzl told detectives she was "regularly abused" by her father. Elisabeth gave birth to seven children during her ordeal.
Josef's wife Rosemarie had been unaware of what happened to her daughter and it was assumed Elisabeth had disappeared voluntarily when her parents received a letter from her saying they should not search for her.
Miss F told police that she gave birth to twins in 1996, but one died days later because it was not properly cared for. Police said her father took the corpse and burned it.
Three of the younger children were brought up by Josef and his wife after they were left at the building, the first child accompanied by a note from Elisabeth saying she was unable to care for the baby herself.
Three others, including the two eldest aged 18 and 19, and the youngest, aged 5, had been locked up in the basement with their mother since birth.
The case only came to light when the oldest child became seriously ill and was taken to hospital in Amstetten. Josef said that child had also been left unconscious on his doorstep, according to media reports.
Authorities in Amstetten, 130 km (80 miles) west of Vienna, were still piecing together details of the case.
"We are faced with a crime that is incomprehensible," Interior Minister Guenther Platter said on Austrian television. "Everything that has happened here goes beyond one's imagination".
Rosemarie, as well as Elisabeth and her children were receiving psychological counselling. DNA samples of all those involved were taken and would be analysed, police said.
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