The Chilling Details of Elisabeth Fritzl Being Held Captive for 24 Years

Adding Fuel To The Fire

After three incest kids, Josef still continued to rape Elisabeth, who continued to have four more kids. Monika was born in 1994, at which point Elisabeth begged for more space in the basement. Josef allowed for enlargement of the basement but made Elisabeth and her two eldest kids dig out more soil for space with their bare hands. Elisabeth then had Alexander in 1996, who was born a twin but the other baby died shortly after birth. Josef reportedly disposed of the body in the furnace used to heat the entire house. Monika and Alexander were also taken as infants to the outside world to be raised by Rosemarie, who didn’t find it suspicious that these children were seemingly appearing out of thin air.

The Upstairs Children

Elisabeth’s first two children were subject to a life in the basement because they already had memories of living there with their mother and father/grandfather. Lisa, Monika, and Alexander were taken as infants and were fortunate enough to live a relatively normal childhood, going to school and being taken to extracurricular activities by their grandmother. Josef and Rosemarie successfully adopted Lisa and were approved to be foster parents of Monika and Alexander. When social workers came to the Fritzl household, nothing appeared suspicious to them. But unbeknownst to everyone besides Josef, there were three hostages underneath the house the whole time.