Horrifying new discovery about Josef Fritzl
Josef Fritzl, the notorious Austrian rapist who held his daughter captive in a dungeon, had a secret basement in a guesthouse he used to own.
Almost a decade after Fritzl was jailed, Builders made the horrific discovery while measuring the property during a routine inspection in the lakeside town of Unterach am Mondsee in Austria.
Fritzl ran the Seestern guesthouse before leaving in 1996 for Amstetten, where he would go on to imprison his daughter Elisabeth in a sound-proofed dungeon and rape her more than 3,000 times in a 24-year period. He fathered several children with her.
An anteroom with a staircase leading nowhere was discovered behind a wall during the inspection.
It's unclear whether police will investigate further or not, The Mirror reports.
According to local media, the house was not properly inspected by the police even after they learned about Fritzl's crimes.
Fritzl's house in Amstetten was bought by Herbert and Ingrid Houska for only €160,000.
Herbert Houska said renovating and refurbishing the house was like burying a coffin.
“The sarcophagus of Amstetten is gone,” he said. :I think really something beautiful has emerged and the past has been buried.”
“Many residents congratulate me and are happy,” he added, “It is time to finally look forward.”
However, the basement where Elisabeth was held is not in use as the Amstetten authorities filled it in to prevent it from becoming a shrine to other perverts.
Fritzi is currently being held in a special facility for “mentally abnormal criminals” at Austria's Stein prison.
Elisabeth, 51, and her remaining children all have new identities.