by John Glatt
“At this stage, there are no plans whatsoever,” he said. “A TV appearance by Elisabeth Fritzl is not planned at all. I am receiving many offers from various international media, but it is not in the family’s best interest to go public.”
Two days later, as investigators began staging “scream tests” from Josef Fritzl’s soundproofed dungeon, to ascertain if anyone could have heard anything upstairs, reports from St. Polten jail suggested that he was now showing some remorse, after his first exploratory interviews with Dr. Adelheid Kastner.
“Fritzl’s mood has changed dramatically in the past three weeks,” London’s Daily Mirror quoted a source inside the jail as saying. “When he first arrived, he was arrogant and unrepentant. But now he’s a broken man. He cries all night and has lost a lot of weight—he’s wasting away.”
Since his arrest, Fritzl’s only visitor had been an unidentified family friend. But now, through his attorney Rudolf Mayer, he had again requested Rosemarie and Elisabeth visit him.
“He told his legal team,” said the source, “ ‘I want to see my family to explain things and find out how they are. I’m worried about them.’ ”
Elisabeth’s lawyer Christoph Herbst said that she was now considering trying to recoup some of the estimated $1.5 million in therapy his family will need to recover.
“We have discussed if we want to sue him for damages,” confirmed Herbst. “This is a decision that has to be taken by Elisabeth. It is quite difficult to understand Herr Fritzl’s financial affairs, as he alone was in charge of his business. He owns several properties in and around Amstetten, but there are mortgages on some of them amounting to several millions. We are now trying to determine whether the sale of these properties would leave some profit after covering the debts.”
Herbst speculated as to whether Fritzl had a secret fortune cunningly stashed away, saying it might be many months until he could be questioned about his financial affairs.
“If he was able to keep such a dark secret from the world,” said Herbst, “he could also have been able to keep his financial dealings confidential.”
Soon after regaining consciousness, doctors gave Kerstin a CD player and headphones to help motivate her, as well as some CDs by Robbie Williams, whom she had first seen on television in the dungeon.
A few nights later, Dr. Albert Reiter discovered the teenager “almost dancing” in bed to the English rock star’s music, although she was still attached to breathing tubes.
“She listened to Robbie Williams until three a.m.,” Dr. Reiter recalled, “until I had to put a bit of a dampener on it. But that was the point in time where I said we should go ahead with steps to get her mobile.”
Three days later, at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 1, Amstetten hospital doctors removed the breathing tube from Kerstin’s mouth, as her mother Elisabeth looked on nervously. As Kerstin took her very first breath of fresh air outside the dungeon, she gave an angelic smile.
“I said to Kerstin, ‘Hello, Kerstin,’ ” recalled Dr. Albert Reiter. “And Kerstin told me ‘Hello’ back.”
This was a giant first step in Kerstin’s miraculous recovery from the edge of death, and from then on, things moved fast.
During the next critical phase of her recovery, Elisabeth assumed the role of life coach to her daughter. Every day she encouraged and motivated her to follow the doctor’s instructions, to start using her muscles again and get stronger.
After more than six weeks in a coma, Kerstin was suffering from serious bed rest syndrome, and it was vital she exercise, to prevent bone and muscle atrophy.
“After the removal of the breathing tube,” said Dr. Reiter, “things were progressing rapidly. [Her mother’s presence] had an immensely positive effect.”
Kerstin now had to be taught how to swallow food and speak again, having been connected to the respirator for so long. And several days later, she enjoyed her first meal, tasting fresh fruit for the first time in her life.
Dr. Reiter said that, although there was some damage to her internal organs, Kerstin was now expected to make a complete recovery.
“This is quite astonishing and a great relief after everything that she has been through,” he said.
But although she was making good physical progress, her fragile mental condition would be another thing entirely.
That night, Natascha Kampusch debuted her own Austrian cable television show, featuring former Formula 1 world-racing champion Nikki Lauda as her first guest. To promote her new show, she gave what was billed as her first-ever major newspaper interview with the London Times, again drawing parallels between herself and the Fritzls. In both horrific cases, she believed, the perpetrators were “blind with mother love.”
“[Josef Fritzl] idolized his mother to an abnormal degree,” she explained, “and that’s what my abductor was like. He was very attached to his mother. Regardless of what I did, he would always say, ‘My mother does it better.’ ”
On Friday, June 6, Josef Fritzl appeared in St. Polten court, where a judge remanded him in custody for a further two months. At a closed-door hearing, the state prosecutor’s office said that more time would be needed to complete the investigation. It was also disclosed that DNA evidence conclusively proved Josef Fritzl had acted alone without an accomplice.
Meanwhile, sources inside St. Polten prison revealed that “Das Inzest Monster” had received more than two hundred love letters from women. Many of them offered romance, telling him he was “good at heart” and just plain misunderstood. But the love letters were being far outweighed by the sacks of hate letters also arriving each day.
Fritzl now stayed in his cell twenty-three-and-a-half hours a day, for fear of being attacked by inmates. He exercised his right to go outside for thirty minutes each day to sunbathe.
A week later, the narcissistic Fritzl requested a supply of anti-aging cream from prison officials, and also complained of chest pains and stomachaches.
“Herr Fritzl usually sits there watching television all day, especially news programs about him,” said prison spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Erich Huber-Guensthofer. “To be honest, other than the trips to the doctor, and the request for face creams, he gives us no trouble.”
On Saturday, the much-anticipated European Soccer Championships started, as co-host Austria hoped it would divert the eyes of the world from the embarrassing Fritzl case.
“Josef Fritzl . . . caused a scandal that shamed the nation,” wrote the Associated Press. “Euro 2008—an event that’s second only to the World Cup across this football-obsessed continent—will provide a welcome opportunity for some desperately needed merrymaking.”
Like everyone else in Austria, the Fritzl family were all fanatical supporters of the home team. And down in the dungeon, Josef Fritzl had always enjoyed watching a game with Stefan, Felix and Kerstin, while Elisabeth was washing the dishes and cleaning.
Now a plasma television had been brought into their Mauer clinic ward, so they could watch every game. This was the first time doctors had allowed them to watch any television.
“We felt it wise not to let them view the TV coverage,” explained Dr. Kepplinger, “as seeing reports about themselves could cause considerable distress. The ban is being lifted each time there is a game, so that the family can watch together, as one of the exercises designed to help them become a stronger family.”
And ironically, just forty-five miles away in St. Polten prison, their former jailer, Josef Fritzl, was watching the same soccer games in his cell.
The next morning, Kerstin took her first steps in the ICU department, helped by her mother and Dr. Reiter. A few hours later, she was discharged from intensive care and taken by ambulance to the Mauer clinic to be reunited with the rest of her family.
When they arrived, Elisabeth took her eldest daughter’s arm, helping her walk into the ward, where her brothers and sisters were waiting expectantly.
“For us it was a very special moment,” recalled Dr. Reiter, who’d first admitted Kerstin i
nto intensive care, and had become part of the family. “The mother was able to walk with Kerstin, the two of them literally stepping forward into a new life.”
Now Kerstin met her grandmother Rosemarie and siblings Monika, Lisa and Alexander for the first time since their father had snatched them away as babies. She was also thrilled to be reunited with Stefan and Felix.
“It was a miracle,” said family lawyer Christoph Herbst, who witnessed it. “It was a truly touching and happy moment. It was everyone’s—and especially Kerstin’s—great wish to be reunited. The family can at last come together.”
To aid her recovery, doctors gave her a CD player and headphones, and some CDs by her favorite singer, Robbie Williams. Kerstin had become a huge fan of his music, saying she wanted to go to one of his concerts as soon as she was well enough.
A few days earlier, Austrian newspapers had reported that aging Josef Fritzl was suffering from a heart condition and might not live long enough to go to trial. Prosecutors had warned it could be months before Elisabeth, Stefan and Felix would be able to be interviewed by police, delaying the trial for up to two years.
When Elisabeth learned this, she was horrified, saying that she wanted to talk to prosecutors as soon as possible, vowing to do everything in her power to stop her father from evading justice.
CHAPTER 27
A New Start
On Wednesday, June 11, dozens of television crews from all over the world crowded into a small hotel dining room in Zeillern, a seven-minute drive from Amstetten. They had been summoned to a press conference, where Dr. Albert Reiter would announce Kerstin Fritzl’s miraculous recovery.
“These first moments were the end of a very long ordeal and the start of a long road,” said an obviously emotional Dr. Reiter, in a cracking voice.
Describing Kerstin’s dramatic recovery as “a miracle,” he recounted how she had first opened her eyes on May 15, and went on to describe her stunning progress, leading to the reunion with her family two weeks later.
“It was an extraordinary moment for me last Sunday,” said the doctor, “when Kerstin, holding my arm, and I were able to walk through the door into a new home, crossing the threshold into a new life. Certainly for all of us, our Kerstin’s good recovery has been a major relief.”
Asked what had caused Kerstin’s sickness, Dr. Reiter said he was still uncertain, but it could have been an epileptic seizure.
“We’ve so far been unable to ascertain the definite cause of organ failure,” he said. “But it’s probable that a small [untreated] inflammation triggered the failure of one of her major organs.”
He said Kerstin’s lungs appeared to have failed after she’d suffered an epileptic fit and bitten her tongue, leading to blood getting into her lungs.
Then, responding to a reporter’s question about any requests Kerstin had made, Dr. Reiter said that after the breathing tube had been removed, she’d asked to go to a Robbie Williams concert.
“Now of course, it’s very important that her condition will stabilize further. And further therapeutic steps are already being planned, certainly in the area of immune system strength.”
Finally, he thanked hospital staff who had thwarted the paparazzi by smuggling Elisabeth past them to her daughter’s bedside each day. He also thanked the catering department for brewing him all the cups of strong coffee he’d needed to function.
But on a more serious note, Dr. Reiter refused to discuss fears that Kerstin may have been sexually abused by her father, observing that medical examinations conducted while she was in intensive care had been inconclusive on the matter.
In June, the Fritzl family moved into a spacious villa, well hidden within the grounds of the Amstetten-Mauer clinic, embarking on the next step in the long healing process. Over the last few days, removal vans had quietly arrived at their new home, unloading seven beds, a lounge suite, a refrigerator, microwave, washing machine and toys.
Doctors hoped that by taking them away from a hospital atmosphere, they would be able to lead a more normal life. It would be that family’s first home together, after spending more than two months at the clinic.
The secret move was also made to evade the press. The private security force patrolling the grounds of the clinic around the clock was disbanded also, saving the Amstetten council thousands of dollars a day.
Family life soon settled into an easy routine. Each morning Rosemarie and Elisabeth got up early to prepare breakfast, helped by the clinic staff.
After breakfast, Kirsten received physiotherapy while Felix played Chinese checkers and other board games with his doting grandmother. In another room, the four older children had classes with their respective tutors. Stefan, who had been taught basic mathematics and German grammar by his mother, surprised his teacher with how advanced he was under the circumstances.
After lunch, the family rested or had free time to do what they wanted. Stefan had exchanged the aquarium for computer games, tutored by his younger brother Alexander. And the two cellar brothers loved walking through the local botanical gardens, looking at nature, still wearing sunglasses to protect their eyes from harmful UV rays.
Most days Elisabeth’s sister Gabrielle and other relatives came to visit, often bringing their children along.
“She has children of a similar age,” said Christoph Herbst, “and the clinic becomes a madhouse while the children play together.”
But in early June, the whole family gathered at night in front of their widescreen television, to watch Euro 2008 soccer—or football, as it’s called in Europe. The excited children cheered so loudly for their favorite teams that Elisabeth had to keep them in order.
On Monday, June 16, they all watched Austria’s crucial game against Germany in Vienna. The children were upset when the Austrian team was knocked out of the championships, losing 1–0 to Germany, who went on to win Euro 2008.
“Football is one thing they are watching together,” said attorney Herbst, “as they are slowly prepared for a ‘normal life’ in freedom.”
One afternoon, Rosemarie Fritzl quietly slipped out of the Mauer clinic to drive to Ybbsstrasse 40, accompanied by a plainclothes female police officer. It was the first time she had been back to her house since her husband’s dungeon had been exposed, and she had been granted police permission to enter, necessary because it was still officially a crime scene.
Dressed in a pale blue blouse and beige slacks, she arrived with the officer in a battered red VW Golf car. Police, on twenty-four-hour guard outside, opened the garden gates for them to drive through. Then, as she walked up to the front door, a group of laughing tourists took her photograph, which would appear in an Austrian newspaper the next morning.
“She had to drive past tourists, laughing and posing in front of the ‘House of Horror,’ ” said a British photographer who witnessed the scene. “It must have been terrible for her. She hurried inside and didn’t look back at all.”
During her forty-minute visit, she ventured into her husband’s notorious cellar for the first time ever, collecting some of Felix’s favorite toys and Kerstin’s clothes. Then she went upstairs to her old apartment, emerging a few minutes later with two suitcases and a large bag of clothes belonging to Elisabeth and the children, as well as other personal items they’d requested to brighten up their new home.
“It was mentally quite tough for Rosemarie to go back in the house,” said a hospital source. “It has become something of a symbol of evil for her. She is, mentally speaking, shattered by the revelations of what happened to her daughter and the charade that her husband acted out for over two decades.”
In late June, Elisabeth Fritzl’s psychiatrists told prosecutors that she was “too unwell” to make her scheduled court statement in early July. They ruled that she was too traumatized to give evidence from the clinic, even via a video link to St. Polten prison.
Earlier, Elisabeth had asked to give her statement as soon as possible to speed up the legal process. Although her doctors would be
there to ensure she was not overwhelmed, the chilling prospect of facing her father, who would be able to challenge her evidence and question her, was proving too much.
Her mother Rosemarie was also due to give evidence at the same hearing, and Kerstin, Stefan and Felix at a later date.
St. Polten’s court spokesman Franz Cutka told reporters that the crucial hearing had been put on hold indefinitely, until Elisabeth’s doctors deemed her fit enough.
“A video recording of it will be shown at the main trial,” he explained. “So the victim will not be required to appear in person to give evidence.”
He said preparations for Josef Fritzl’s trial were running at “full speed,” and Judge Andrea Humer, 48, had been appointed to preside over it. One of her first tasks would be to supervise the taking of Elisabeth’s statement.
“We should be able to finalize the charges [in] the early stages by November,” said Gerhard Sedlacek, of the prosecutor’s office, “with a trial now in the winter months.”
After reports surfaced in the Austrian media about Elisabeth’s setback, her attorney Christoph Herbst threatened “judicial steps” against the police and her doctors if they continued to provide information to the media. She now had engaged a second lawyer, Eva Plaz, to protect the family from media intrusion.
In a letter to the authorities, Elisabeth wrote:
I require that no data or discussions about what took place in the cellar [is] passed onto any media. It must be the task of the state to prevent exposing that which the Fritzls endured. I want to live in freedom with my children.
A few days later, Austrian newspapers reported that Josef Fritzl had already started writing his memoirs from his cell, looking to make millions to finance his defense. Elisabeth was said to be “appalled” by the prospect of her father selling his version of the lurid events to the highest bidder.
