← Murder, Mystery & Makeup
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- [00:02]
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- [00:30]
Bailey Sarian
Hi, friends. How are you today? My name is Bailey Sarian, and today is Monday, which means it's murder mystery and Makeup Monday. Okay, intro if you're new here. Hi, my name is Bailey Sarian, and on Mondays, I sit down and talk about a true crime story that's been heavy on my noggin. And I do my makeup at the same time. Let me tell you about today's story. This one I've been avoiding for a long time. People. People have been asking for it since day one. And I've been avoiding it because it's just awful. It's like my worst nightmare. And it will be yours, too. Okay, today's story is about Josef Fritzl. So Josef Fritzl was born April 9, 1935, in Olmstetten, Austria. Now, at this time, when he was born, it was still, like, under control of Nazi Germany. So not great, right? His father, his name was Joseph Fritzel or Josef Fritzel senior, and his mother was Maria Nenning Fritzel. Growing up, Yosef was an only child, and he would later say that he was an alibi child, meaning that his mother only gave birth to him to prove that she was not barren and could produce children. You know, I guess his mom was like, not great. We'll talk about it later too. But it was said that she was, like, intimidating, she was mean. She would often, like, beat Yosef pretty badly. Yosef's father was said to be a severe alcoholic and had left the family when Yosef was only like 4 years old. And I guess, like, Yosef, like, never saw him again because his dad died when he was fighting in World War II, so never got to see him. I guess his name, like his dad, Fritzl Sr. Appears on a memorial plaque in Amstetten, Austria, you know, for his time serving little fun fact, I guess there isn't much else said about Joseph's upbringing until, like, 1956, when Joseph was 21. So when Yosef was 21, this is when he met and married his wife, Rosemarie. So when they met, she was 17 at the time and she was working as like a kitchen helper. I think they met like through mutual friends. I was trying to figure it out, but they met and then they liked each other and then they got married. That's what we know. So the two would go on to have seven kids together. Yeah, a lot. Two sons and five daughters. Yosef, he went to HTL technical college. And while he was there, he got an electrical engineering degree. Super smart. He liked to tinker, he liked to build stuff. And then when he was finished there, he moved to a neighboring city called Linz. And this is like he found a job there. He was working for a steel industry company. And then after he was there for a little while, he became a technical equipment salesman and he would travel throughout Austria for his job. There was also. I like, didn't know where to put this in the story, but there was also a moment in this era where he got a job doing mail in lingerie. And I couldn't, I was like, what? Based off of what we know now, it's a little, it's a little funky. And I was like, what? What was he doing? But it was only for a short time. And it just said like he did mail order lingerie. And I was like, okay, I need more, I need more. Couldn't find it. So in 1972, Josef purchased a guest house in an adjacent campsite at lake Monsee. And him and his wife, they like ran this together. Lake Monsee is in upper Austria. And I guess like a lot of people like to go there to the lake for a little holiday, a little vacation. That's where they got like this little campsite, little situation thing. They rented out a property, people would come, stay, go, you know, they did this until like 1996. Yosef, he had several properties that he leased and this like kept him busy, you know, when he ended up retiring in 1995 at the age of 60, that's what we know about, like his background. But let's get into his criminal record. Now. First of all, there were some unsolved crimes, I should say unsolved murders that occurred around this area where Yosef and his wife had been renting out property and whatnot. Many believe Yosef was involved. I do too. That's why I'm bringing it up. So one of them took place on August 17, 1966, when 17 year old Anna Neumayer, she was found in a field. I guess she was killed by a captive bolt pistol. Now this was in Linz, and it was like not far from where Yosef was working at the time. So yosef was looked at as a suspect, but there was no evidence tying him to the murder. You know, unfortunately, Anna's murder, like, would remain unsolved. And then in 1967, Yosef, he broke into a 24 year old nurse's home. And this happened again in linz. And I guess, you know, her husband was away. Yosef broke in and then raped her. You know, he broke in. I guess he like held a knife to her throat. He's like, if you scream, I'm gonna kill you. And then he proceeded to. Yeah, awful situation. For this though, yosef got caught and he ended up serving 12 months of an 18 month prison sentence. I know, I feel like for like breaking in and raping someone, maybe you should get a little bit more time. But what do we know? So you know, his wife rosemarie, she finds out, she doesn't want to tell the kids that daddy is a rapist. So she tells the kids, you know, dad is away at work, he's going to be away for like a year. And they believed that meanwhile he was just sitting in prison. Well, that same year, yosef was named a suspect in another rape of a 21 year old woman. It was kind of like the same situation, but there was no evidence again, tying him to the crime, so they couldn't do anything about it. Police. And then on November 22, it was like 1986, there were two scuba divers. They were out swimming, as scuba divers do, but they found the body of 17 year old Martina posch. She was like wrapped in green tarps and she was on the southern shore of lake monsee. Mm. So the forensic examination revealed that she had been killed by strangulation. Now, again, at the time, yosef and his wife, they were running their guest house where Martinez's body was found. And yosef was looked at. You know, he was investigated for possible involvement. Many believe that he was responsible, but again, there was no evidence tying him to the crime, so there's nothing they could do. And it was never solved. I get it. You can't just like arrest someone because, like, hey, I think you did it. You're arrested. Like you need evidence. But I don't know. Did they even try? Did they try?
- [08:15]
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- [08:28]
Bailey Sarian
I was like, what?
- [08:29]
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- [09:52]
Bailey Sarian
So family life was not great for, for like yosef and rose, Rosemarie's kids. Apparently yosef was very verbally abusive towards the kids. It was said that yosef was really scary. Yeah, he was an intimidating man and he liked being in control over everyone. Now his wife, rosemarine, I think why he liked her so much was because she was submissive. She didn't speak up if yosef was like abusing the children. She, nothing, didn't say anything. You know, he just controlled everyone. I mean, just based off observation, it seemed like the house was tense and unpleasant. Later down the road, rosemarie's sister, she, you know, came to the media and started talking and she told the media that rosemarie was, quote, dominated and constantly belittled in public by yosef and that he took sadistic pleasure in humiliating her. I guess she also went on to say that, like, yosef liked to brag. He liked to brag to others about, like, getting mistresses pregnant while he was away on business trips. Yeah, she said he used to tell her off in front of the others. The worst things were his crude, dirty jokes which he used to laugh loudly about. And like, this was embarrassing for everyone because we all knew that they hadn't had sex with with each other for years. That's what rosemarie's sister said so it was said that yosef would make trips out to pattaya, which is like a city in Thailand, and it was known for like their sex tourism or its sex tourism. I don't know if it still is. I'm sorry. But like at the time it was, you know, and he was going there obviously for sexual encounters. Maybe he got people, he got women pregnant there, you know, and that's what he was bragging about, but we don't really know. But he would rub in Rosemary's face like what he was doing. I think we can all agree here that he is a really shitty guy. Huh? Wow. Yeah. In 1977, it was reported that yosef started sexually abusing his daughter Elizabeth when she was around the age of 11. She was born in 1966 and she was like their fourth child. Based off what we know, it seems like Elizabeth was the only one who was sexually abused by her father. Now it was said she was like chosen because she most resembled yosef's mother. Yeah, we'll get into that a little bit later. But yeah. So poor thing, living in this hell house. Mother's not standing up for her. Who knows what he's doing to the other kids too. But poor Elizabeth got it like the worst man. So, you know, she's grown up in this house being abused, poor thing. And like at the age of 15, I guess she was taking these courses to become a waitress and like, get the hell out of this house. Right? She's taking these courses because she wants to get the hell out of this house. And then In January of 1983, it was said that she ran away from home and she went to the city of Vienna. She was like hiding at a friend's house and she was there for a little bit. She was staying with a friend from work. And then three weeks later she was found by police. And then they sent her back to her parents home. It's like she finally escaped. And then they found her and dragged her right back. And I'm sure there was a punishment for that, you know. So when she got back home, she started back taking her waitress courses. And then she finished in mid-1984. So when she finished, she was offered a job in the nearby city linz. And then In August of 1984, Elizabeth, she turned 18. She was going to accept this job offer and move to linz. And she was like getting ready to start her new life, you know. So one day she's at the house in August and her dad comes up to her room and Is like, hey, can you help me out really quick? This is her dad. And he's like, can you hold up a door for me in the basement? And then I'll, like, screw it in. And you see, down in the basement, Yosef was redoing the area, and he just needed help installing the door. So she's like, okay, whatever, you know? So she goes down to the basement area with bozo, and she's there. She's holding up the door or whatever, and her back was turned to yosef. So he comes up behind her, and he puts a cloth with chloroform on it over her mouth until she went unconscious. Yes, he did. She's out cold. He then threw her into the basement, the basement cellar. And then he locked the door again. Yosef was really smart. He was an electrical engineer, so he knew how to, like, wire and, like, build and whatnot. And his hobby was, like, he was adding a makeshift prison to the house's basement. There was, like, a staircase that was leading from the home, and it would go into the basement, right? And the basement area was, like, a good size. And this is where yosef, he would work, he would tinker, he would do whatever. This was his little space. His wife would, like, leave him alone all day While he was just down there working. But really, when he was down there, he was building out this prison cell that was attached to the basement, and he had been working on it secretly for years. Nobody knew. That's the part that blows my mind. And one of his jobs was, like, to build equipment and whatnot. So maybe if he was, like, drilling or, like, hammering. She's. The wife is probably like, oh, he's working. This is a side note. The part that I can't wrap my head around was like, how did nobody fucking know? It's so weird. Anywho, so yosef had hidden this, like, prison cellar place really, really well. He made it so complicated to find. In order to even find the door to the hidden cell, you, had to go through eight locked doors to reach it. It was like this little maze. Door, door, door. And it would go to another room, not another room, right? It's like, what the fuck? And then finally, you get to this other room, and he had this shelving that was, like, against the wall, and behind the shelving, There was a little door. It was, like, half the size of you. It was a little door, and it had, like, an electronic security code in order to open it. Now, again, this is, like, way before, like, beep, boop, boop, boop. Like he did it on his own. He made it on his own. So psycho he is. So you get there. If you get there, you get there. And then once you walk in, it's like another maze. You would walk through this long corridor, like a hallway area, very narrow. And it would lead you to this kitchen area. It was small. And then like to the left there was this little bathroom area. It had like a small toilet. There was a sink and a little tub. And then if you went through another door, it would lead you to two little bedrooms. Mind you, this is all under the house. I know, I know. I was like, what? Nobody heard anything. Nobody heard anything upstairs. So creepy. There were no windows. Everything was like concrete. It was gross. It was cramped, it was dark, it was musty smelling, and it's just really sad. The ceilings were said to be like, at the highest point. I guess they were like a little under six feet, so not that much space, you know. So when Josef, like, first got Elizabeth into the cellar, he had chained her to the wall and he kept her there like that for like the first year. A year goes by. Oh, Jesse. You wait though. Now I know what you're thinking. Didn't, like, the rest of the family wonder where she was? Yes, they did. When she originally went missing, her father told the family, like, oh, she probably ran away again. You know, she's nothing but trouble. But Rosemarie, her mother was like, we need to file a missing persons report. She wanted to do this, right? So they did. So they filed a missing persons report. And then, you know, time goes by, nothing's happening. And then a year later, Yosef went to the family and to the police and he's like, look, I got a letter and it's from Elizabeth and. And it was like in her handwriting. So they're like, oh, shit. You know, the letter said she ran away from home. She went to go stay for a friend, and, like, do not come looking for her or she would just leave the country. So the letter said, you know, Yosef kept telling people, like, see, I told you she ran away because she's such a difficult child. She was always difficult. And you know what? She probably joined a cult. Yeah, he was like, she joined a cult and was telling the police, cult. So it was later revealed that the. The letter was handwritten by Elizabeth, you know, while she's in this basement cellar situation, she's under captivity. Yosef forced her to write. Write the letter and, like, was threatening her if she. If she didn't do it. Now here's the part that gets me just gooched. I don't know if that's the right term. But Elizabeth would stay in this makeshift prison cell for 24 years, huh? Yes, 24 years. I need my calculator. So how old is she? After 24 years? You probably figured it out by now, but let me get my calculator. Thank you. She was 18 when she went in. 18 plus 24, 42. Oh, my God. Yeah. He kept her there for 24 years, and, like, again, nobody knew. No matter how many times I hear this story, I still can't get over the fact, like, 24 years. Holy crap. During her first year of captivity, again, she was mostly, like, restrained, But I guess after some time had passed, you know, Yosef let her walk around the cellar freely. It was said that yosef would visit the cell almost every day, a minimum of, like, three times a week. During his visits, he would bring her food and, like, other quote, unquote, supplies. I'm assuming, like, toilet paper, you know? I don't know. Supplies. Whatever that was. Didn't matter, though, because when he showed up, he would repeatedly rape her. I can't believe this is real. You know, her first four years, she was just totally alone down there. I don't know. I know. I don't know. I don't know how she did it. I don't know. She would only, like, see her father when he came to rape her. And then over the next 20 years, she would have seven of his children. Who were all born in the cellar. Yeah. So she ends up giving birth to seven of her dad's kids. And there was one baby who died pretty shortly after birth, like, a couple of days later. And yosef, I guess, got rid of the body by, like, putting it in the incinerator. I know. So the first three children were born and raised in the cellar, but as the family grew, the next three children Elizabeth gave birth to would be raised in the home upstairs with yosef and his wife rosemarie. I know. This whole thing is so bizarre. And you're like, well, what was the explanation for these kids showing up? Right. Glad you asked. He had this whole plan yosef did. He would take the baby, you know, after it was born and then put it in a basket. I'm just kidding. I don't know if he put it in a basket, but he would leave the baby at the doorstep, and then yosef would answer the door and be all surprised by this baby and be like, oh, my God, you know, like, it must be from Elizabeth, you know, she couldn't raise the baby herself, so she must have like brought it here for us to raise. I would have questions, but okay, I guess like Rosemarie just believed it. I don't know because she didn't really talk much. But she went with it. She was like, all right, okay. Everyone just kind of went with the story. Everyone seemed to believe it, you know, that like Elizabeth was out there somewhere. She must have gave birth to these kids and then was like, I can't raise it. I'm gonna leave it at my, my parents house. I'm like, wow, what a miracle. Yosef and Rosemarie, they were actually approved by local social services authorities to be their foster parents. So the family received like regular visits from social workers who saw and like heard nothing at the house that made them, you know, suspicious of anything.
- [23:14]
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- [24:57]
Bailey Sarian
Meanwhile, down in the prison, Yosef did just as he wanted with Elizabeth. She has the three kids down there, right? So she tried to like, school them. She was teaching them how to read and write. They would keep busy by watching TV and like listening to the radio. You know, at some point the room had gotten kind of crammed. Three people living down in the cellar at this point. So yosef, being the little crafty man that he is, he's like, we should expand the cell. So originally the cell was like 380 square feet, and they made it bigger to 590 square feet. And they did it by yosef putting the family to work. So he had them all like dig out soil with their bare hands again for the expansion. And this took years, years of them digging and expanding. Yeah, yeah. Again, nobody upstairs heard. I don't know, you know, it's just weird. So Yosef, like kept the family living in fear. If they tried to like leave or disobey him, he would tell them, like, oh, you'll be gassed. I can turn on the gas in the cell and you will all die. He also told them that if they tried to mess with the doors at all and then try to escape, he had rigged them so they would be electrocuted. Now, you know, later it turns out none of this was true, but he was trying to keep them in their place. I guess there were times where yosef would like punish them by shutting off their lights or refusing to deliver food for like days at a time if they did something that he didn't approve of. So yosef, I mean, he. 24 years, he was going down there and raping his daughter. God. It was said that there were times where like, he would force Elizabeth to watch porn movies and then perform sex acts on him. And he would make her do this like in front of the children to humiliate her. Mind you, there's like no windows or anything. They haven't seen sunlight. Those kids had never seen sunlight. At this point, Elizabeth hadn't seen sunlight for 24 years. So again, this is according to yosef's sister in law, Christine. She was given quotes to the media after the fact. She said that yosef would go to the basement every morning at 9am he would tell everyone that he was working on drawing plans for machines that he had sold to manufacturing firms. He. He's like going to work, go down there, she would say. Like, he would be down there for like hours and hours. Sometimes he would stay overnight working and that he did not allow his wife to bring him coffee or food. But everyone just thought, like, he was down there working my nosy ass. I would be all up in his business, like, what are you doing? What are you working on? When he's gone, I would be, like, going through all of his shit. But, you know, like, yosef was really scary. He kept everyone in their place. I mean, no one tried to, like, challenge him or anything. And if you see pictures of him, which you will on screen, he's creepy. As you know, he looks scary. So upstairs in the main house, as their family grew up and, like, moved out or whatever, I guess they had all these spare rooms inside the home. So they decided, you know, to rent them out to, like, tenants. So there was one tenant who had lived in the main house for, like, 12 years. And then in a later interview, they would say, like, oh, I used to hear noises coming from the basement all the time. And that he would go to yosef and ask, like, what are these noises? Like, I keep hearing bane and stuff. And yosef told the tenant, like, not to worry about was an old house. And with an old house, you know, comes faulty pipes. And if it's not the pipes, it's probably the heating system. So this tenant just learned to, like, ignore it. And there were a lot of tenants who came through because later police, they would end up interviewing, like, a hundred people who ended up living at this home. A hundred. But I'm getting ahead of myself. So. April 19, 2008. Can't believe I don't know how she did it. I really don't. So down in the cellar, Elizabeth's eldest daughter, her name's Kirsten. I guess she got, like, really sick and she fell unconscious. Kirsten needed medical attention, and it was like she needed help or she was gonna die. So somehow Elizabeth, like, convinces yosef that she needs help. She's gonna die, and if she dies, it's gonna be on you. She's trying to convince him, like, you have to let her go to the hospital. So yosef eventually cracks and agrees that, you know, she should probably go to the hospital. So for the first time ever, Kirsten was like, let out of the chamber and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. So she would be admitted, like, in serious condition with life threatening kidney failure. And initially, like, Elizabeth had helped carry her daughter Kirsten out of the cell. She's like. With yosef. And again, like, this is the first time she is seeing sunlight in over 20 years. The outside world, like, holy shit. It wouldn't be for Long, though, because once Kirsten was like, up out of the cell, Yosef ordered that she go back into the cell or into the chamber, whatever we want to call it, while he would deal with Kirsten at the hospital. So when she arrived to the hospital, it was said that the doctors and the staff, they were pretty suspicious. Kirsten, when they first looked at her, she was looking a little sickly. She was lacking vitamin D. I mean, literally never saw sunlight. She was very pale. She just didn't look well. So they were also confused, asking, like, where's the money, mother? Like, where is she? Who is she? What is going on? Like, they had questions and nobody was giving them answers. When Yosef got to the hospital, he told the doctors and stuff that once again, he had found a note that was written by Kirsten's mother. He's like, I found a note. I couldn't find clarification as to, like, what the note said exactly, but he had it. He's like, look. The mom said blank. But either way, Yosef was hoping that this letter would, like, stop any suspicion or questioning from the doctors. It did not. And the police, they were low key alerted. The doctors were like, hey, you gotta come down here. Something's going on. So police come down, they want to locate the mother, but they're having difficulty. So police, they end up broadcasting an appeal on, like, public media for the missing mother to come forward and provide information about Kirsten's medical history. So in the meantime, the police had reopened the case file on Elizabeth's disappearance, hoping, you know, they could find her. So Yosef, when questioned, he repeated his story to authorities, saying that Elizabeth, most likely she was in a cult and that he had these handwritten letters from her saying that she was. So of course he came ready with those letters. He shows the police and, like, the most recent letter that he had received was from January of 2008, which was like just a couple months before. So it's like he kind of knew something was coming, I think. I don't know. So back in the chamber, Elizabeth, she's watching TV and she sees the police broadcast. She's like, I need to come forward. She decided to stand up against Yosef, and the next time he came to the chamber, she demanded that she be able to go to the hospital and talk to the doctors and stuff and help be there with her daughter. I'm not sure how she did it, but she did it. And yay, glad that she did. On April 26, Yosef released her from the cellar along with her sons Stefan and Felix. So he brings them all upstairs into the home, him and Elizabeth, they go to the hospital where Kirsten was being treated. And, like, Lisa, two kids behind. I don't know how he explains that away right to everybody. Oh, God. So confused. He's in deep shit. And, like, it must have been wild for them, right? Again, they haven't seen sunlight in forever. They haven't seen the outside world. It must have been, like, really confusing, Overwhelming and bizarre. So while yosef and Elizabeth were at the hospital, one of the doctors that was treating Kirsten goes off to the side and is, like, calls the police and is like, hey, they're here, you know? So police have been waiting for this moment, so they swoop in real quick. So police end up detaining them on hospital grounds, and they take him down, Yosef and Elizabeth, down to the police station. So the police, they split up the two, and they ask Elizabeth, you know, for more details, like, what was going on. Now, in the beginning, it was said, like, she was the one in trouble. Essentially, they thought, like, she was being abusive towards her kids, and they wanted answers. And at first, she, like, wasn't talking. I'm sure she was afraid and, like, conditioned not to talk. But once the police told her that they were going to take her children away forever, then she finally started to talk. So police, they also, like, made a promise with her that she would never have to see her father again if she told them, like, what was really going on. So over the next two hours, Elizabeth told police everything that had been happening over the last 24 years in captivity. 24 years. They record this, too, on video, Tink. But she tells them everything. Like, you know, Yosef raping her over and over again. The dink cell, the control and power he had, the children she had, how Yosef threw that one of her babies into the incinerator, how evil he was. I mean, everything she told police, she did not know why, but her. Her father simply chose her for himself. So the interview with police ended after midnight. And then shortly after that, Josef Fritzel, who is, like, now 73, he was arrested on suspicion of serious crimes against family members. Yeah, I think that's safe to say serious crimes. Yeah, I guess Yosef, he was like, this is a bit much like he was telling people. Like, he felt like this was a bit much. Saying that his behavior towards his daughter was consensual. Yeah, he kept saying that it was consensual. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. Locking someone up in a cellar, I'm sure that's what they wanted. Well, the police, they knew about his secret room and everything, you know? Cause Elizabeth, she told them. So with that, they go to yosef and they're like, you know, give us all the information. So yosef provided them with the information they needed to find the chamber's entry point. Point and also the secret keyless entry code to get in. I was watching an interview with, like, one of the investigators, I think it was. But they were saying, like, when they went into that cellar, it was, like, super traumatizing for them, and they all needed, like, therapy afterwards. If they just walked in and that was traumatizing. Could you imagine 24 years, how much that would fuck you up? Gives me a lot of anxiety. On the night of April 27, 2008, Elizabeth, her children, and her mother, rosemarie, they were taken out of the house and they were put into care. I know. I was trying to figure out, like, how was the meeting? When elizabeth first sees her mom, I was like, what was that? Like, like, was it weird? Was it nice? Was she angry? I'm unsure. I feel like I would be pissed off. Like, you didn't know I was underneath the house. Where were you? Like, you didn't think it was weird all these kids were showing up? Like, I don't know. I'd be so mad. I mean, I wouldn't even make it past a year. There's no way. So I don't know why I'm talking anyhow. So. Unsure how the meeting went, but they were all taken. So then police do, like, DNA testing and whatever. And, like, on April 29, it was announced that the DNA evidence confirmed that yosef was the biological father of his daughter's children. So they're like, okay, she's not lying. And then on May 1, during a daily press conference, Police said that yosef had, like, forced elizabeth to write a letter the previous year saying that she wanted to come home, but it's not possible yet. Now, to them, police, like, this meant that yosef was planning on, like, releasing her and the children. Maybe at some point, I don't know, but this is what they're thinking. So police, they believe that yosef was planning to, like, pretend to have rescued his daughter from this fake cult that he made up. They don't know when that was gonna happen, but they think, like, it was gonna happen. I don't know. Did he really think she was never gonna say. Say anything, though? Well, maybe because, like, she had been conditioned for 24 years. Damn. So again, like, police, they had planned to interview at least 100 people who had lived as. As a tenants in the fritzel house. Which is wild that they had 100 different people, but over 24 years. Is that normal? I don't know. That's just a lot, right? So then in July, Elizabeth gave her videotape testimony before for prosecutors and investigators. And this is what they were gonna use in court.
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- [40:41]
Bailey Sarian
So in May of 2009, it was like almost a year later, Some of yosef's conversations, like, with his lawyers, were released to the media. You know, the media was all over this. I mean, obviously, this is like a what, what? Right, What? So media frenzy. So when, like, anytime yosef spoke or anything, like, people are leaking stuff all the time. But according to yosef, he believed that the media was making him out to be some kind of beast. He was like, this is unfair, you know? And he was nothing like the beast that the media was making him out to be. He's like, this is not true. It was consensual. So Joseph said, this is a quote. When I went into the bunker, I brought flowers for my daughter and books and stuffed animals for the children. He said they watched adventure movies while Elizabeth cooked their favorite meals. And then we all sat around the table and ate together. You Know, trying to prove that they lived this, like, happy life. I was like, okay. Then when elizabeth became pregnant, yosef said that he gave her medical books so she knew what she had to do on the day. He also went on to say that he gave her towels, disinfectant, and bandages. As if we're just supposed to be like, oh, well, alright then. You know, you're good. You gave her bandages and a book. All right, Makes sense. You're a good guy. I could not believe that answer. I was like, is he fucking serious? Oh, he's serious. He's serious. He went on to say that, like, he knew what he was doing the whole 24 years was, like, not right. But that it had become a normal occurrence to kind of lead the second life. Like, one in the house and one in the basement. And he's like, that was just my normal. When yosef was asked why Elizabeth, why her? Yosef said that he chose elisabeth because, again, she looked like his mother, maria. And also because her rebellious teenage behavior offended his love of discipline. The whole mom comment is like. But it gets worse because, listen, yosef said that he succeeded in suppressing his lust for his mother, maria, but he could not control himself when it came to Elizabeth. He went on to say, quote, my desire to have sex with elizabeth became ever stronger. It was a vicious circle from which there was no exit, not only for elizabeth, but also for myself. Bro, the. This guy's a different level of sick. So yosef, he loved to tell everyone and anyone that, like, elizabeth was a difficult child, as if this was, like, some good, great reasoning as to why he did it. He said, quote, elizabeth was very different to my other children. She'd go out the whole night long, drank alcohol, even ran away twice. I tried to get her out of this rut that just made her fight me all the more. That's when I decided to find somewhere for her, even if I had to force her from the outside world. God, what do you even say? I don't know. I don't know. So yosef had admitted that he spent years preparing the cellar before drugging and imprisoning Elizabeth in 1984. He said that he started working on the cellar in, like, 1981 and 1982. I mean, so he was thinking about it for a while, right? So when he was first arrested, you know, he sat with the forensic psychiatrist and they interviewed yosef to kind of figure out what the hell is wrong with this guy, right? So they sit down, they do the interview. And then, of course, like, the transcripts they got leaked to the press. So during this interview, yosef, like, dug a little more into his relationship with his mom. Now, first he was like, he loved his mom. He was like, she's the best in the world. I love that bitch. Like, she was strict, but it was necessary. And he was like, team mom. But then he finally flipped the script, and he went on to say, like, that his mom never showed him love, that she beat him until he was lying in a pool of blood, like, on the floor, that she would often leave him feeling weak and humiliated. And that, like, he never got a kiss or love from her. And that all he did was, like, try really hard to please her. But it was, like, it didn't work out for him. And the only thing she would do with him is, like, go to church. So kind of sounds a lot like himself. So yosef also said in the interview that his mom would call him a satan, a criminal, a no good. And then he had, like, a horrible fear of her again. It's just like, oh, it sounds so familiar. Yosef. I wonder if he ever connected those dots. I'm not sure. Maybe they did in this conversation. I don't know. But I guess things had changed in his relationship with his mom in 1959. This is when it gets even more weird. I know. How can it get even more weird? Let me tell you. Joseph and rosemary, they got married, right? They bought this house together. And when they got the house, Yosef's mother ends up moving in with them. Now, yosef had said that over time, the roles had reversed, and now his mom was afraid of him. Oh, yeah. So I guess he treated her pretty poorly. Well, I don't guess. Cause he actually said Yosef later admitted that he had his mother living up in, like, the attic of the home and that he put a lock on the outside of the door to keep her locked in. He also bricked up her window. I think there's only one window. Windows, I don't know. But he bricked them up. And, like, if anyone asked where she was, like, the neighbors or something, he would tell them that she died. She did. Yosef didn't give a clear answer as to, like, how long he kept his mother locked up there, but it's believed to be around 20 years until her death in 1980. So what I'm saying is he had done this before, you know, Now I don't know if there was anything sexual going on with his mom. I think probably. I don't know. So many questions. I know, I know. And I couldn't find any answers. Like, didn't his wife have questions like, hey, where's your mom? She was here one day and now she's gone. Or did she know, you know, what did he tell the rest of the family? Like, leave grandma up there. Don't let her out. Like, did she go to the bathroom? Like, in a bucket or something? Like, what? Again, nobody ever said that he did anything, like, sexual with his mom or anything. That's just, like, my own opinion. No one really knows. I also was trying to think, like, what did he do with her body when she died? Did she go into the incinerator? Because, again, there was no, like, answers there. Did she get buried? But then she. I don't know. I don't know. I hate not knowing. Yosef had told the psychiatrist that he actually had thought up this plan about locking up his daughter way back when he was sitting in prison for his rape conviction. I guess he had a lot of time to think. He admitted that he planned to lock his daughter up so that he could contain and express his evil side. This is what he said. He said, quote, I was born to rape, and I held myself back for a relatively long time. I could have behaved a lot worse than locking up my daughter. I think he did because, remember all, like, the crimes that happened in the beginning that were, like, unsolved, I think he did so much more that. And he was traveling all the time for work. I mean, who knows what he did? So yosef told the psychiatrist that Elizabeth and the children, they actually enjoyed being in the cellar and that their life was normal, saying, quote, they didn't miss anything, as I really tried to make their life in captivity as pleasant as possible. We played, we chatted, we laughed in the cellar. We actually led a completely normal family life. End quote. It was a direct quote. Can you believe that? What? What? What? What? I was like, he can't be. He's serious. He was serious. They loved it down there. No windows or anything. So the forensic psychiatrist, they gave him, like, a lengthy diagnosis and recommended that he receive psychiatric care for the rest of his life. Yeah, that sounds about right. Right? So then finally, they go to trial. Yosef's trial started March 16, 2009. He was being charged with rape, incest, enslavement, and the murder of one of his children. So on the first day, when he was, like, entering the courtroom, you could see footage of this. But yosef, like, he's trying to hide his face from the cameras behind a blue folder, as if, like, that did something he's trying to hide. He doesn't want everyone to see him. Little coward, you know? But then once inside the courtroom, all the journalists and the spectators, they were asked to leave. And that's when he finally took down, like, the blue folder from his face. But yosef, at first, he pleaded not guilty to all charges. Yosef's counsel, in their opening remarks, they tried to convince the jury that yosef wasn't that bad. You're not that bad. He's not the monster you guys think. And then their example. Their example was that yosef brought a Christmas tree down into the cellar during the holiday season. See, would a monster? Like, would a monster do that? No, a monster would never do that. I was like, all right, okay. So on the first day, the jurors, they watched the testimony that Elizabeth had recorded back in. In 2008. It was said that the tape was harrowing. That's a hard one for me. I don't know why harrowing, but it was awful, right? So the eight jurors, they watched this testimony, and, like, bits spread out over the day because they didn't want the jurors to, like, tap out. The prosecutor, obviously was, like, pushing for life imprisonment in, like, a institution for the criminally insane. So she demonstrated to the jurors the low height of the ceiling in the cellar dungeon by making a mark on the door to the courtroom at like, 174cm or like, 4.5foot, 8.5 inches. So made a little mark and then described the seller as damp and moldy, and then passed around a box of, like, musty objects that were taken from the cellar. And, you know, the jury's all, like, holding it, and they could smell it. And I guess, like, the jurors were just getting sick from the smell. Besides the video testimony, Elizabeth's older brother, his name was Harold, he actually testified. Not much else was said about with the family, but, like, Harold testified, and Harold said that yosef was, like, physically abusive towards him as a kid and then shared his own experience. But other than that, like rosemarie and like Elizabeth's children, they all refused to testify. So yosef was also on trial for the. For the baby, baby Michael, who died less than three days after being born. So the judge had asked Yosef, like, hey, were you aware that the infant was, like, super ill? And yosef had responded by saying, quote, I just overlooked it. I thought the baby was going to survive. I should have realized. It was only yesterday I realized for the first time how cruel I was to Elizabeth. I had Never realized it before. What? Yeah, he's like, just yesterday. I real. Just yesterday. Shut the up. What a dumbass. On March 18, 2009, Elizabeth, she attended the second day of trial. And it was said that when yosef saw her and, like, recognized that it was elizabeth, he went completely pale and then, like, broke down. I don't know what came over him with the spirit or something, because the next day, he had changed his not guilty to guilty on all charges. On March 19, 2009, Yosef was found guilty on all charges, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for, like, 15 years. He shouldn't be even allowed parole, but whatever. Yeah, so he got sent away. Now it's your turn to get locked up, buddy. So he's been living his life in prison. I guess it's not. It hasn't been going too well for him. He's been getting beat up and stuff. Oh, so sad. I know. Tragic. And then in, like, 2017, Yosef, he changed his name from yosef fritzel to yosef mirhoff. Something like that. He changed his name? Most likely. Well, everyone thinks, you know, it's because everyone knows his name and he wanted to, like, hide from that. But also, he was getting, like, treated like shit behind bars, and he thought maybe changing his name would, like, help stupid. You know, while behind bars, he hasn't really shown any remorse. I don't think he's capable of it. He really thinks he, like, didn't do anything that bad. There was, like, a direct quote that he gave saying, like, just look into the cellars of other people. You might find other families and girls down there. Like, he was hinting that, you know, like, I'm sure there's other people out there who, like, are doing what he did. Or maybe, like, even worse. There's probably tons of people you don't even know about. So recently, yosef was released from a psychiatric detention facility to, like, a regular prison. And this decision was made in, like, 2022 based off a psychiatric reform fort that said he was no longer, like, any danger. He's still serving a sentence. I came across this article that said that, like, he gets free time outside of prison. I need to clarify, and I'm sorry, I'm not ready with that, but, like, I think I saw that or I'm making it up. Either way, he's still serving us time. It's just, like, seems a little bit relaxed because of his good behavior in May of 2023. He's still talking. He loves to talk. Yosef Gave an interview to the sun saying, I miss my family very much. I'm sure that we are going to be reunited and I think they are going to forgive me for what I have done. Then saying I'm extremely sorry and that he regrets his crimes. He also added that he watched the whole coronation of King Charles and that, quote, I'm a big fan of King Charles, end quote. I was like, all right, okay. In January of this year, there were reports that Yosef is like suffering from dementia. I don't know, I think it's the early stages, they said, but that's the thing. So Elizabeth and her family, woo. They have been through it. Elizabeth and her children, obviously, like life has been, I'm sure, like confusing and difficult. Right. I mean, once they got out of the cellar, it was said, like the kids obviously completely shocked. They were taking everything in. It was like they were experiencing a lot of firsts, like riding in the, in a car, going outside, seeing rain, being around other people. It just must have been a lot to wrap their heads around. Just one day you're out and you're like, wait, what? I didn't even know. Like, I was stuck somewhere. So when they got out of the cellar, they were immediately taken into care. So it's like Elizabeth, all six of her children again, her mother Rosemary, they were housed in like a local clinic where they were completely shielded from the outside world. So they went from one locked in place to another. But at least they were free. Right. But while they were there, they received medical and like psychological treatment. Great. Right. The children who were living in the cellar, they didn't have the best health. Again, they had never seen sunlight. So it was said, like they had also a lot of different infections due to the filth that they were living in. Inside the cellar, it was like really humid. Bacteria was constantly growing. And then they were like breathing that in all of the time, all of their life. So therapy hasn't been that easy for them. They needed a lot of extra help for everything. Like, for one, like getting adjusted to the light after years in semi darkness. They also needed help coping with the extra space they had. Like, they could freely move about. But, you know, they were raised in a place that was so small, so they didn't know. They, they didn't know what to do with all the extra space. And then as time went on, it was revealed that like, Elizabeth and her children were more traumatized than they had thought. I mean, yeah, 24 years, I guess Kirsten, she would like, she was tearing out clumps of her hair. She would rip up dresses and, like, stuff them in, like, the toilet. Her son Stefan, he could not walk properly because he was over 5 foot 8. And again, the cellar ceiling was shorter than that. So he was walking around, like, hunched over all of his life, and he had a really hard time correcting that. And it was said that they had severe anxiety. Geez, I bet. I mean, duh. I mean, like, I'm sure we can all understand that. Well, you know, like, everyday, normal occurrences, like people dimming the lights or, like, closing doors would send Kirsten and, like, Stefan into panic attacks. And then Elizabeth's other children, her three other children that were raised upstairs in the normal house, whatever that is, you know, they dealt with, like, major anger and resentment afterwards. Yeah, just a lot. Right. And then Elizabeth and her mother, Rosemary, they had issues, too. It was said that Elizabeth kind of eventually, like, she started to have anger towards her mom, you know, for being passive during her upbringing. Don't blame her. Right. I guess they, like, didn't talk for a long time after she came out of the cellar. And, like, later down the road, they. They now have, like, a relationship. It said. Yeah, I would be pissed. Elizabeth and her children, they have moved to an unnamed village in northern Austria, and that's where they live and require ongoing therapy. I read they stopped doing therapy, but whatever. Like, I hope they're just doing well. Right. Elizabeth, though, she also found love. Oh, yeah. With a bodyguard who was working with the family during the trial. Over the years, it's been said that the family has been trying their best to do normal things like driving, being outside, playing video games, spending time with their mother and grandmother. Yeah, that's kind of. Kind of confusing. Is that their. Never mind. I'm kidding. I'm overthinking it, but, yeah, spending time with family, I guess. So. The family is said to be, like, really private. And the residents in the neighborhood where they live, they also help protect and, like, look out for the family, which must be really nice to have, like, that kind of support. Support system. Right? Because I guess a lot of people come around trying to get interviews and stuff, and, like, the whole community is like, nope, get the out of here. Elizabeth and the. The family, they haven't given interviews. They haven't been seen in pictures or anything since coming out. And, like, I'm sure they just want. They want to keep it that way. Right. Obviously. Which I'm glad, Like, good, good if that, you know, good for them. Let them heal. Seriously, like, maybe one day they'll want to share their story and experience or, like, maybe they won't. Either way, I'm sure we all can agree, like, glad they made it out, right? Oy vey. Other than that, the only other update was, like, In June of 2013, the Fritzl home was sold and the basement was covered in or filled with concrete. So, wow, we made it to the end. And that is the awful case of Josef fritzel. And I don't even. I don't even know what to say. I think, you know, I think. I think I'm not laughing. You know, I'm not. It's just uncomfortable. I'm laughing because it's uncomfortable. I think that we can all agree, like, it's glad they made it out, right? Like, life must be really challenging after the fact. So I think we. We all can agree. Glad that they're out, hope that they've been adjusting well. And it's really nice to hear that they have a community that, like, has their back and is looking out for them. Just hope that they can live their lives as best as possible, you know? As for yosef, what do you even say to that guy? I don't even know he. I hope he has a miserable time in prison. It's really all you can wish for, huh? This is like one of those stories that just sits with you for way too long. And I'm like, I can't believe there's people out there like this. Oh, my God. Thank you guys so much for hanging out with me today. I hope you have a good rest of your day. You make good choices. Please be safe out there. Right? And I will be seeing you guys later. Goodbye.