The Fritzl Case

Welcome back. I'm Nicole and I'm Ben.

Of course, welcome back. But you're listening to wicketing.

Around, a true crime podcast.

My podcast listener, we both said welcome back.

I said it first, I win.

Yeah, but first the worst, second the best. Sure you know how that works. Second is the best. I learned that in like grade two. Come on now, oh my god, that's elementary.

Welcome back.

Oh now you're trying to be third the golden turd.

It literally feels like we have not been on here.

Forever, I know, and it's it's only been slightly over a week.

Yeah, but I think with Halloween Week, it was such a part of our life for so long. Okay, only a week, but it was just a lot of effort every day, and so it just it's felt like this was a really long break.

It did. It felt I mean a break we needed, but it was definitely lengthy. And that's what she said.

Halloween Week was so epic that for quite a while after Halloween actually, I was like, you know what, screw Christmas, I'm done with you. I don't want any part of you, because that was just like my favorite Halloween ever, I think, And but I'm starting to get into the Halloween spirit.

I bought Christmas lights getting in that Christmas spirit.

Oh, the Christmas spirit. Now, yeah, I'm still stuck on Halloween. It's it's slowly coming because I love Christmas. I'm gonna have to pick some Christmas cases.

Oh, we'll definitely have to pick Christmas cases.

Totally goats.

But also side note, because Halloween did go so amazing and so awesome. Just the other day, we hit a total of two hundred thousand lifetime listens on the podcast, so our episodes because of all you listeners out there, all you patrons, all you people who support the shit out of us, you have listened to us two hundred thousand times. That's wild, It's insane.

Thank you, thank you, Thank.

You so much from the bottom of our little shoveled up grinch hearts that are about to grow three times with Christmas.

It's so funny that you say something with the Grinch, because I say something with the Grinch in my case.

Oh really, Oh well, look at us go.

We're in sync totally?

Or is that is that Backstreet Boyds? Oh shit, I always get to make I always get a make.

Know someone will tell us if we're wrong, which is totally fine. Okay, So we have some patrons to thank you do and then before I end up forgetting the case I'm doing today. Actually, one of our patrons requested and her name was Samantha. Sorry for a minute that I almost thought I was saying the wronger, but Samantha, because yeah, I put a little selfie up there and

So, Samantha, thank you very much for the request.

Yeah, super appreciate it you're doing.

I don't even know what it is. Well, I know the name, I know the gist of the case in like a one sentence summary. Oh dude, it's yeah, that's it.

It's it's a bad one.

I'm looking forward to hearing it, looking forward to what happened that it does not sound good, but I'm anxious to hear wild Wild. But before we get into the details, can we thank our patrons?

Absolutely?

Okay, So since we last thanked our patrons for signing up, we have a few more to thank like Solangel, Tracy Shandy, Julie Phillips, Alex I almost did, Alexandria, Alexia, Kevin, Kyle Dylan, and Teresa Ends.

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Thank you, yes one seriously super appreciate it. Okay, do you drink? Don't? I don't actually have a drink today. I'm it's kind of sad.

I have like a leader of.

It, but you have a leader. So if I need a drink, I'm just gonna steal some.

And fear not. There is Irish cream in it, so we're good.

Yeah. So I don't know, we can start going, let's do it. I think we have other updates but we probably chit chatted enough, so let's dive right in. So this is the story about Joseph Fritzel and Elizabeth Fritzel. But we're going to focus more on Elizabeth because she's the victim, and we try to focus on the victims around here as much as possible. So Elizabeth was born on April sixth, nineteen sixty six, to parents Joseph and Rosemary. She was the fourth child to be born out of

Yeah, this is your official second warning. Yes, because we have a warning at the beginning of the episode. But and now here's your second chance.

To give you a second one. So, now, out of the seven children, Joseph seemed to gravitate towards Elizabeth, taking a special interest in her and treating her differently than the rest of the children, on an obsession towards her.

If you will, an obsession obsession I missed. Did you say how many children he had?

Seven?

Seven? Okay?

Seven? If he needed to go somewhere, he'd want Elizabeth to come with him or if he needed help. It was Elizabeth he wanted help from. He liked for her to always be in his sight. At the age of eleven, Joseph would start to sexually abuse Elizabeth. Fuck, which is honestly horrific. Like that, that's her father, Yeah, like her father.

There's that two perspectives. There's the age of being so young and eleven, and then there's the that's your fucking dad.

Yeah, Like, oh my gosh, I just can't. At fifteen, Elizabeth would com, oh, do you have something to say, my love?

It just reminded me of a joke. So whenever you're ready, so I tell you the joke. Go ahead, Okay, sorry. Why do teenage girls always travel in odd numbers?

Oh gosh, I feel like I've actually heard this, but I don't.

Know because they can't even.

Oh my gosh, they can't even. That's awesome And I even said that. Yeah, So am I like a teenage girl?

Pretty much?

Pretty much? Yeah, pretty much?

Sorry, I digress.

Go ahead, Okay. So at fifteen, Elizabeth would complete her necessary schooling, and once that was finished, she started a course to become a waitress. When she was sixteen years old in January nineteen eighty three, she would run away from home with a friend, but honestly can't blame her.

No kidding.

They went into hiding in Vienna, Austria, but were found by the police and returned to their parents three weeks after running away. I should mention the story itself itself takes place in Amsted in Austria. Once back home, Elizabeth rejoined her waitress course and completed it in nineteen eighty four, being offered a job in Lintz, which was a nearby town. Now, much to Nolan's knowledge, Joseph was realizing he was losing Elizabeth. She was becoming an adult and soon she would be

The one detail I do know is the detail you're leading up to, and it's fucking disgusting. Yeah, it's far beyond horrific. Yeah, there are no words.

Like my jaw. Researching was pretty much just constantly on the ground. So in nineteen seventy eight, the Fritzalhouse would undergo a renovation. The house was a larger, older home, dating back to the eighteen nineties. It had many rooms, some of them being rented out to tenants. Joseph had applied for a building permit to extend his basement, some reports saying for it to be an atomic bomb shelter. He went through all the necessary permits to make his

Right, yeah, that makes sense.

Once the shelter was complete, and to no one's knowledge, Joseph would go even further, adding more space to the basement, reading a small prison.

Yep, here we go, We're going there up. No one, this is fucking nasty.

Oh it's it's yeah, yeah, yeah, it's real bad. No one in his family was allowed to go to the basement. It was for Joseph's use only. He referred to it as his kingdom, and he was busy while down there, and not to be disturbed. He was a trained engineer, and apparently this is where he did his work. As you can imagine, he had much control over the family, and you did not question Joseph.

Fuck this guy, I know I already. I just can't this guy his kingdom.

Fuck yeah, he just deserves nothing.

So I'm a king of nothing, king of nothingness, King of the pilot who.

On August twenty eighth, nineteen eighty four, Joseph would end up luring Elizabeth into the basement of the family house, saying you needed help carrying a door or something to that extent. This favor would change Elizabeth's life trajectory completely. As Elizabeth was helping her father, Joseph would reveal an ether soaked towel, bring it to his daughter's face, and hold it there until she lost consciousness. She would later regain consciousness handcuffed in the secret prison cell her father

Yeah, that's oh fuck, I can't imagine.

Like that is a long fucking time.

Yep.

That It's just it's unimaginable. It's unthinkable, Like holy frank, like I just almost feel like i'd rather die.

Well, and I know I'm jumping way ahead here, but after those twenty four years, can you imagine what it would be like to get out of there? That's Stockholm syndrome that you're oh gosh.

And just like the amount of life that you've just missed out on, Oh yeah.

For sure, literally a quarter of your life if you are lucky enough to live to be one hundred.

Yeah, my gosh. Okay, So I didn't know exactly where to mention this, but his unwanted acts to words Elizabeth were not his first. He was known for indecent exposure, peeping into people's windows and watching them in intimate moments, which is just He's Tom, It's just so disgusting Jesus, often masturbating in parks while watching women.

Okay, well that one's completely normal. Oh my gosh, kidding, don't sorry. That was a bad joke.

That was a terrible joke. And in nineteen sixty seven, he was actually arrested for following and raping a woman in her home. Fuck and get this, Like, I was like, what the fuck? He served twelve months of his eighteen month sentence. Why the fuck was it only eighteen months?

Right?

And he even raped someone?

And even still, why did he only serve twelve months of that.

Eighteen Oh okay, so you literally followed someone home, raped them in their goddamn home, and you had to go to jail for a year.

Yeah, okay, so you followed someone raped someone. We're given the fucking ridiculous minimum sentence of eighteen months and you didn't even have to serve that whole period. Yeah, that's a whole fucked up situation.

That is just i'd oh, like that is too low.

That's a whole home that is.

It makes my head hurt.

That is a whole bunch of messed up wrapped in whole burritoce. That's like going to Taco Bell, getting the cheapest chocolate you can, throwing it on the floor, stepping on it, and then eating it. Ew exactly. That's just like why I think of the shit because it's a whole messed up situation wrapped up. And I was gonna say burrito, and then I thought taco and then I thought taco bell, and I was like, how can you make taco bell any shittier? You throw it the ground and step on her.

Here is always thinking about taco tacos. I was gonna say taco bell, but just tacos. I don't generally have taco bell clearly, so this is even weird. Okay, not even weird. Actually I shouldn't say that, but his Okay, me being a wife, I think this fucked. His wife. Rosemary would stay with him through all of this. Did she know that that she visited him in prison? And shit?

Oh oh sorry, I thought you were skipping.

Ahead to Oh no, no, I'm still talking about like okay, so like the twelve month sentence and shit, like she would visit him and like just pretend like nothing happened. Really, like I'm pretty sure that is me.

And I'd be like, pigs, your Prince Charming just raped someone's in prison, and you're.

Like that's disgusting, Like I'm out.

I'd be like, your fucking nasty. I'm your nasty.

Okay. So initially Elizabeth's mother, Rosemary, would report Elizabeth missing. She was not part of this plan and had no knowledge that her daughter was locked just below the floors of her home.

Well, and Rosemary had a history of running away, so of course she could be missing. Rosemary or her daughter.

Who did I say, Elizabeth or Elizabeth? Rosemary is the mother?

Okay, sorry, Elizabeth has the history of running away. Yeah, so of course that's to be suspected. Now she's done it before.

I guess, But I mean like she's found. I mean I don't know. Okay. So Joseph would put on an act too as a distraught parent, even apparently crying at one point to the police, like freaking bastard. Not okay with that.

This guy sucks.

He was able to dodge this missing person's report by handing over a letter to the police, the first of what would be many letters he would force Elizabeth to write while he was holding her in captivity. The letter would address that Elizabeth was tired of living with her family and that she had joined a cult. It warned her parents not to look for her. This would close the investigation to look for Elizabeth.

See, anytime there's a letter, don't look for me, that's a red flag to say, fucking look for the person.

I can look like real hard. Yeah, but you know, it closed done. They're finished looking for her. Now, what exactly was Elizabeth living in? Well, I'm going to share with you.

Oh no, here we go.

Initially, going down into the basement, you were met with a utility room and a workshop Joseph's workshop. Behind a bookshelf in the workshop was a secret door only measuring one meter high that would lead to the cellar. The cellar consisted of a bathroom, kitchen, and two bedrooms, all connected by very little, narrow passageways, which I thought was really interesting. It covered approximately an area of approximately five hundred and ninety square feet, but it wasn't always that large.

Well, I mean that square footage of that it's like what we're living in in our tiny it's actually bigger.

Yeah, but I mean we have windows.

Oh yeah, we have luxuries that she would not have.

Yea, like literally like no daylight whatsoever.

Yeah.

Like I just could only imagine like the air, how like non fresh it would.

Be in there, like and in the cellar you got that cool damp stone foundation air and like, yeah, no, that's that's not fun.

It would just be awful. There were two access points into the cell a hinge door and this okay that I found it apparently weighed like a thousand pounds. This door, which is incredibly hard for me to envision, but became unstable over years due to the weight and the metal door and then there was a metal door reinforced with concrete on steel rails that weighed like six hundred pounds, so like he's like enforcing the shit out of this place.

He was making sure no one got out, or if they didn't, if they were trying to look for someone.

So that that door was located behind the shelf in Joseph's basement workshop and was very protected. So for one it was hidden. There was an electronic code using a remote control unit to enter, and in order to have reached this door, apparently five locking basement rooms had to have been crossed to get to Elizabeth. Eight doors in total needed to be unlocked. Wow, two of them being

The pre planning there, the premeditation involved in all this, the years, the saying I'm going to make sure if she gets past door number one or two or three, she's still fucking locked down.

It's like, could you imagine if you got cross this store one like just you'd probably just be like yes, yes, like the relief, and.

Then you're met by another door. Yeah, and you get past it and the fucking oh my god, the heartbreaks like.

Oh goodness. Okay, but then also to me, Okay, So if I lived in this home and there was an area of my home that I couldn't go into and that was just locked, I think I'd be suspicious, like af like, I just wouldn't. I wouldn't be okay with that. There'd be no way that I would not be breaking in there.

Well, my my assumption wouldn't be that you're holding our child captive in there, Okay.

But if I had an area that have our host ben you're not allowed to go in here, and it was constantly locked, you would need to go in there. Oh yeah, both of us would break into each other.

Oh yeah, But I'm just saying I was leading up to my point here, Like I wouldn't assume like they're fucking hiding our missing child in there. I need to go in the field.

No, you wouldn't be married to that person.

I would be like Nicole's fucking grown a shit ton of weed in her basement. I guarantee it. Either that or she's like some sort of dealer something.

Yeah, accounts growing.

Now, I'd be like, why isn't the bank account growing? You gotta harvest this crop? What are you doing?

Let me help you?

Oh my gosh, no, but I totally yeah, I'd be busting in, like what the fuck?

Yeah, There'd be no way that I would not be in there.

I'd send you a grocery shopping or something, and then I'd be looking at getting through the doors, and then I'd be questioning, why is there fucking eight locked doors down here that I can't get through?

That You would get through them, though, would so Joseph would visit Elizabeth, usually every day, bringing her food and other essential supplies. At these visits, he would, and I'm sure you guessed, also repeatedly rape her, which brings us to an even worse part of the story, and that is the story of the children yep, that would be born. Here we go in this hidden seller fuck. Elizabeth would become pregnant a total of eight times, with seven children being born. Did you know that many?

I knew? Well? Generally with these cases, there's not any sort of birth control being used. So if someone is being locked up and being used like that against their will, there's usually multiple at least pregnancies, whether it's children being born. Is it a different story. There's at least multiple pregnancies.

I didn't look into it. I feel like, I don't know. I feel like there almost wouldn't have been birth control, but there totally could have been. Or sorry, there was birth control because every child was born almost like after two years kind of thing. And there was numerous reports that he raped her upwards of three thousand.

Times totally fun in the span of those.

Twenty four years. So the fact that she had that few of children is almost surprising.

I'm I'm gonna do that math for how.

I did actually do that math or even I can remember.

Okay, well, you keep going on, on, Okay, calculate.

So her first pregnancy, in November of nineteen eighty six, ended with a miscarriage when she was about ten weeks pregnant. Her having to deal with this being completely alone, locked in a dark, dingy cellar. I just couldn't imagine. On August thirtieth, nineteen eighty eight, Elizabeth would give birth to her first child, a little girl named Kirsten Chris Kirstine. I think it is It's like they pronounced it maybe differently than us over there. I wanted to say, Kirsten, I.

Got the number, and honestly, I'm surprised it's that small of a number.

Because that's over it's over twenty four years.

Twenty four years, that's eighty seven hundred and sixty days, Okay, divided by three thousand times, that's an average of two point nine to two, so that's about every three days. Yeah, I'm surprised it was that little, to be honest, really, I'm surprised, Like if you were going through that trouble to essentially have a slave for.

Your bidding, a sex slave, yeah, then.

I'm surprised you're not taking more advantage.

But there would be times he was away, I mean times that like she was pregnant and probably like having a baby.

So it's just like, I don't know that's true.

Some it did say on times that it could have been numerous times a day, but then it would say it was like a minimum of three times a week usually, So yeah, ah, like gross, okay, so bad.

Yeah, it's fucking gross. Regarless, don't give you this.

So on August thirtieth, nineteen eighty eight, Elizabeth would give birth to her first child, a little girl named Chris, Kirsten, who would live in the cellar with Elizabeth. I even struggled to write this, But Elizabeth birth these babies completely on her own, no help from anyone. Fuck, And if that doesn't show like her strength, I don't know what the.

Fuck does Badass of the day.

Joseph would provide her with towels, scissors, and a pregnancy book and that is all.

That is it, that is it.

And she was literally left alone to give birth to this child.

Does he realize the risk involves in there?

I think he doesn't give a shit.

But he could have been dealing with a dead body coming back down there. Yeah, because childbirth.

Is there's so many things that could go wrong.

There is high risk for fatality in that.

Yeah, And like she literally had to do that herself. Like I just can't even imagine the strength that you would have to pull out of yourself to do that. No shit, Like holy crap. On February first, nineteen ninety so that's basically like just under two years, little Stephan would be born and would also stay in the cellar with Elizabeth. Just over two years later, on August twenty ninth, nineteen ninety two, Lisa would be born and interesting enough, Lisa would not remain living with Elizabeth.

Oh.

When she was just nine months old, she would be discovered outside the family home in a cardboard box, allegedly being left there by Elizabeth, but it was really Joseph with a note asking for the child to be looked after by Joseph and Rosemary.

Why did he select this one?

So there was quite a few different stories about it, some saying the seller was running out of room, okay, so like they wanted to bring some of the children above, Some saying that some of the children were louder than the others. Oh, so then he would let these children to go upstairs to like decrease noise.

Noise, yeah, because.

There was like tenants and stuff in this area and in this house, and people would sometimes say they heard things, but Joseph like would always say that or have excuse of it being something else. And then also he was a landlord, and he was kind of I don't know, dominating, right, and so I don't know how much could you say to your landlord.

Well and true, if you're renting a room or something from your landlord, who's to know. Maybe they had their sister over who has a baby and you heard the baby cry.

Yeah, oh ye. Numerous rooms in there and stuff.

Yeah.

There was one report though that someone said they had a dog, and so this dog daily would just constantly be staring at the floor and like kind of growl and stuff, really because he could hear things that were happening under there, right, and it was just like, what the fuckuck, So that's hole.

That's like fucking hair standing at the back of my neck.

It's super sad.

Oh my god.

In nineteen ninety three, and I mentioned this earlier, but the area they were living in was not always five hundred and ninety square feet. It was only initially three hundred and eighty square feet, but as the family grew, a larger area was needed, so Joseph put Elizabeth and the children to work. They were expected to dig out the soil to enlarge the prison using only their hands.

Fuck, you fucking.

Asshole, can you not just give them a shovel.

Right, go to the dollar store get a garden hole? Come on.

So it took them years, but they eventually got to a place where the prison was enlarged two hundred and ten square feet.

Like, I hate that fuck.

On February twenty sixth, Are you okay.

I just this fucking guy. If it's not bad enough that you're holding a human and then subsequently multiple humans after that captive and using them as a fucking sex slave, which is disgusting enough. That's your daughter daughter, Yes, sorry, I've forgotten that detail. God, And then you have the fucking audacity to not even have any human decency left

Like he is a monster, a monster far beyond far my gosh, and honestly, dude, like you haven't even heard the worst fuck.

I need a lot more alcohol in.

This just to make an actual beer.

I need like whisk I need moonshine after this.

So on February twenty sixth, nineteen ninety four, so again, basically two years after Lisa was born, the fourth child would be born, named Monica, and again, like Lisa had been, ten month old, Monica was left and found outside the entrance of the home in a pushchair. This time, Rosemary received a phone call, sorry, our dogs are making noise. Sorry,

Of course he did.

He was less than three days old when he died, and had he gotten the help he needed, he would have survived.

Of course.

Yep, So that's murder right there. Joseph would remove his body and cremate him in the family home, spreading his ashes in the back garden.

That's so far the only human thing this fucking person has done.

Oh I don't think that he like burnt, he like cremated and burnt the baby in like their furnace or some shit.

It's there's still some semblance of honoring the debt. That's it. It's not he didn't just fucking in a bag in the dumpster or something. You know.

I guess, I guess.

That is the first symbol of anything decent in all.

But it's not even in my opinion.

Oh it's not. It's not, don't get me wrong. I'm just I'm trying to salvage anything, anything heart. He still doesn't, don't get me wrong.

No, So Alex, the other twin, at fifteen months old, would be discovered as his previous two sisters and be taken to live upstairs with the three children living upstairs with Joseph and Rosemary. Social Services was actually involved and they were approved as foster parents. It was explained how the three infant grandchildren just appeared on their doorstep and during regular visits by social workers, no suspicious activity was ever seen or heard to deem them as a fit

Like, excuse me, I was just thinking that too. I'm like, deemed fit foster parents, criminal record of a fucking rapist.

So apparently, and I don't know if this is still a thing. I didn't look into that. But after fifteen years, in accordance with Austra Australian whoa Austrian law, your criminal record is cleared.

Really really holy shit.

So fifteen years after that incident occurred, like he didn't, he didn't fine, Like he did nothing wrong. Wow, And okay, I can maybe see that with like some incidents and stuff like I don't know, I stole a car or something. But rape, no, no, yeah, that is much worse.

That's another human you're you're committing your crime against, rather than stealing a car is just a tangible, literal object.

Yeah, you took something from a human.

Yeah, a human is not an object, So that doesn't fucking count.

No. So the last and final child to be born would be Felix, and he was born on December sixteenth, two thousand and two.

I love that name, Felix.

It's a good name actually. But he was left to live in the cellar with Elizabeth and her two oldest children, as Joseph's wife could not look after any more children. So to go into more detail on the captives living situation, they had a television, a radio, a video cassette player, and Elizabeth had also requested learning material as she would

Amazing, fucking go Elizabeth, like incredible.

She also taught manners. They were very well mannered children good, So I'm like this lady is just a superhero. She tried to make their situation as normal as possible. There was a refrigerator that food could be stored in, as Joseph would often go on trips and they would be left to fend for themselves, with reports being upwards of three weeks.

That's a long fucking time, no kidding.

They would cook or heat their food on hot plates. So as Elizabeth was trying to give the children as normal of an upbringing as humanly possible, Joseph obviously was doing the complete fucking opposite. Yeah, besides from them being locked away like prisoners. At times, he would go even further with their punishment by shutting off their lights or refusing to deliver food to them for extended periods of time.

Why.

I don't know, because he's a complete asshole.

Holy sh I was just like, what for a moment there, I thought you were going to say, he's bringing down photos of the kids so Elizabeth and the kids can see their siblings. No, but no, he's showing the activities and a life they're living.

And there's also reports and stuff where he go down like talk about the delicious food and stuff that he was eating and just being like a right asshole.

Holy fuck. Yeah, I want to punch this guy square in the ball so he tastes his own fucking nuts.

Okay, but you're ready, because this is the most you remember when I was sitting at the counter researching and I was just like no, no, no, like having my little spas. So this is the part.

You ready, Yeah, I'm ready.

Okay, So this horrified me, and I did think about leaving it out because it's horrifying, but like, we're here to just give all the facts. So Joseph would force Elizabeth to watch pornographic videos, make her reenact them with him, and he would be doing this in front of the children in order to completely humiliate her. Yep, Like I was like, no, no, Like, no one would do that. Oh my gosh, I honestly think that is like one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard in my life.

I'm curious because in the midst of this conversation, I realized something. Did a little quick google and found out that my brig no, it's not not facts about this, Okay, there's there's a movie based off this case. And I was like, this sounds familiar, and I googled it and yes, that movie is based off it.

I don't remember the name, but I did that. Okay, yeah, I've.

Seen that movie with Bree Larson. It's a good movie.

Okay, I want to read I want to watch it again. Okay. So it would take one of Elizabeth's children, Kirsten, to get extremely ill for this shit show to end. On April nineteenth, two thousand and eight. Kristen, who was the oldest child and nineteen years old at this point.

Holy shit, really, she lived her.

Whole life underground in that cellar. No daylight, no sun ever hitting her face, no rain, no puddles to jump in. Like the list goes on and on. Yea, like on and.

On, missing out on your entire childhood yeah, and adolescence.

Like fuck, like it just breaks it breaks her heart.

Can you literally imagine being nineteen And I mean I know that there's people around the world, like third world countries and stuff who definitely do not get this luxury, But living in a first world country and being nineteen and not even getting to celebrate your birthday.

Yeah, well I bet you. Well, Elizabeth might not have really known dates and stuff because I'm just thinking, like Elizabeth being the mom she was, I bet you she would try to do something about definitely, I mean like probably not have a cake and decorations and all that stuff.

Right, Yeah, they go through that a little bit in the movie room with the birthday situation. Oh okay, but yeah, and it's just it's heartbreaking up.

Yeah. So she was in very rough shape, and surprisingly Joseph ended up calling an ambulance or taking her and one or the other. And if she were to have like, okay, I think the reason he basically did that because if she were to have died, what would he have done with this full grown, you know, dead woman's body. Like, I just don't think he would be able to deal with that. So he gets Elizabeth to write a note that she's once again dropping off one of her children

Yeah.

For two, she was whiter than a ghost and displaying illnesses to them that kind of had them puzzled. One of them, for example, being that she was so deficient in vitamin D that it surprised them that she had even like lasted this long. I mean they I'm sure he wasn't supplementing.

No, probably not. He's probably just giving him cheap ass food, no vitamins, no nothing, And like you say, no windows in a basement, sellar, So there's no vitamin D coming in.

Yeah nothing.

I mean, at least you could put some fucking proper light bulbs in there that might have a little bit of fucking proper Come on.

No, he gave no.

Shits, no shits.

Because Joseph wasn't offering basically any assistance and just wanting to get out of the hospital as quickly as possible, the hospital put out a search to try and find Kirsten's mother During the evening of April twenty six, two thousand and eight. Joseph basically had no choice but to release Elizabeth, informing his wife, Elizabeth's mother mother that oh, Elizabeth just decided to come home, like geez.

Yeah, and you imagine that Elizabeth is not going to say a word and that everyone's going to believe all this and like think.

Really, yeah, so and this is being like she was twenty four years like and then just boom yeah here, like.

No, can you imagine that conversation, Oh, how was your twenty four years away? Sweetie? Well let me tell you.

Yeah, my gosh. Joseph takes Elizabeth to the hospital to see her daughter, and everyone is shocked by her appearance. At this point, She's in her forties but looks years beyond that, looking to be around fifty or sixty years old, with extremely pale skin like her daughter. It's described as almost being transparent looking. And she herself looked quite sickly. I can imagine, like, I mean, just the trauma that

Well, and to be fair, look at it, look at it from that police perspective.

Oh totally. I'm not saying anything bad against the police.

Because you have this frair looking woman who looks years beyond her age. Her skin is ghostly pale, and like, what does that sound like?

It sounds like a cult, Like she could have been in a cult.

Well, it sounds like drug abuse to me, an addiction, that's true. Yeah, So generally with addiction you have struggles with families and you have abandonment issues and that sort of stuff or neglect of children. That sounds like right off the bat, just from looking at her, I could see that authorities would pinpoint that as the first thought.

Yes, yes, and no. I mean I could also see that the story of her just being in a cult because I feel like sometimes you see people that are in the cults and they don't seem like they're they're taking care of themselves either and stuff, right, true, Yeah, so.

A lot of cults they'll deal with substance abuse and.

Drugs, yeah, and alcohol and stuff too. So so at this point, Elizabeth reveals her story to the police, and it was a dozy no shit for them to understand, so much so that initially they didn't believe poor Elizabeth, like, give this hericking woman a break, for God's sakes, but she insisted, causing the investigation to lead to the Fritzl house and them to find the cellar below ground and then to find two children in that cellar. Stephan and

My gosh, thankfully after twenty four years of all the school.

It was reported that on the way to the hospital, Felix was just glued to the window, amazed by the sky, the trees, cars that were passing by them on the road. He had just never seen anything so magical, which it almost likes you want to cry.

Well, they depict that in that movie Moom or that movie Room really well and that's why it's called room because the main characters in the movie, she only has one child that she's dealing with. Oh, but they live in just a single room. It's a shed, and he knows nothing. He can't comprehend anything outside of that. To him, the entire world is that shed is a room. Yeah, so the fact on being outside of a room is mind blowing.

Oh, I know, you just couldn't imagine what would be going through their little heads, like like you just absorb everything and just be in awe. So Joseph was obviously arrested immediately, and thank you. The thought that he could have even gotten away with this for that long, for as long as he did, is mind blowing. The community was absolutely shocked though, because in their mind, Joseph was quite a respectable member of the.

Community aside from his rape.

Well, they like they didn't know that, yeah really right, Like his neighbors probably didn't know that he came across or just wait where am I here? Okay, there go, he came across nice enough to his neighbors. He took and he took on grandchildren that were dropped off by this cult member mother and had raised them as their own, he had a respectable job, like the list goes on. So from the outside he did appear quite fine.

Yeah, I mean he's hiding it all, so yeah, what's there's no reason for anyone to suspect anything. Yeah, I could see that.

I do have to mention he seems to appear quite fine other than his freaking eyebrows. I don't know if you've seen a bit this guy, but he has freaking heft. He's actually quite a weird looking dude. There was a photo that I came across on his researching, and it was his face next to the face of the Grinch. Oh god, and there was actually, like so much of a resemblance that it was freaking hilarious.

Okay, I Google, you have to google this.

But this story would have no happy ending and Joseph's heart would not grow three sizes.

Joseph, my god, he does look like the.

Grin, doesn't he like a human Grinch?

He also looks like a human piece of shit?

Yeah, disgusting. So your phone was making noise?

Yeah, I was getting in too close to the recording feedback.

So Joseph Strials started on March sixteenth, two thousand and nine. He was charged with rape, incest, kidnapping, slavery, and murder. Joseph's defense being that he wanted to protect Elizabeth from a lifestyle he didn't think was good for her.

Yeah, well that's his fucking call.

Fuck off. After Elizabeth's testimony, which was recorded and not shared to the public to protect her, Joseph actually broke down and realized the crimes he'd committed. He apparently apologized for the pain he inflicted on his family, and pleaded guilty to all the charges.

Yeah, years too late, I know.

Wait, he was sentenced to life in prison, which is he which he is still serving today?

Good.

At one point in time, Joseph admitted that he had always planned to lock Elizabeth up so that he could contain and express his evil side, saying he was born to rape and he had held himself back for too long and could have behaved a lot worse than locking up his daughter.

What the fuck? Yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised the fact that he always planned to lock her up. I could have guessed that on my own, But the born to rape, he could have done much worse. What the fuck?

Yeah? Like, that's like he's almost making excuse for his horrific actions.

Holy shit, this guy is disgusting.

Like I don't even there isn't words to describe how how brutal he is.

If the Devil is real, the Devil is We'll probably look at this guy and be like, uh the fuck.

Yeah, there was actually a video I was watching and they're like, the devil wouldn't have wouldn't treat his children this bad?

No, no never.

After finally being released from their prison, Elizabeth and her children lived in a clinic for a year, finally learning to live a normal life. They now live in an undisclosed location and have never accepted any interviews with media. They lost a ridiculous amount of their life and needed to learn what it would be like to be free to feel the rain on their skin, see grass, feel

Wow.

So that's the story.

That was a really good wrap up.

Holy shit, I know I even have sus but it's it's true, Like I one hundred percent take those things for granted, and it's like, if this story can teach us anything like maybe just next time when you're outside, enjoy the blue sky.

Even on your drive to work, looking out that window of your car, just being amazed by the world on that glass.

Yeah, because it could be a hell of a lot worse.

Yeah, Holy shit.

Quite the story.

Eh, Yeah, I kind of knew of this case without even knowing of the case apparently. Yeah, although the movie is significant different, there's just there's details that made me draw the parallels.

Was were they in that shed for that long? Like twenty four years long?

I don't know if it was quite twenty four years, but it was definitely over a decade, maybe fifteen to twenty somewhere in there.

Maybe I know, because it just amazes me that this shit actually happens, Like this is not the only story where someone has been held captive for just that extended period of time. It's just I don't know. I just feel like the doom you would feel would just be so much. So I mean, hopefully they're doing like okay and at least someone able to be enjoying the rest of their lives, right, Yes.

No, kidd, I wish nothing for the best of that family, Oh totally, And as far as Joseph fucking.

Rot yeah, rot, Yeah, he's disgusting, like he just.

I hope he stubs his big toe. You know what, No, I hope he stubs his little toe. That's even worse.

That's a lot worse.

Well, yeah, stubbing your little toe fucking hurts a lot.

I hope he does that every fucking minute.

So do. I hope he stubs his toe every Monday, Tuesday. I'll give him Wednesdays to maybe, you don't know, get the flu.

Yeah.

I just hope everything bad on him, because fuck that guy.

Yeah, it's disturbing. Okay, well, there you go. We have the story. Thank you for listening.

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Yeah. So until then, my friends stay wicked.