AMSTETTEN, Austria (CNN) -- A 73-year-old man has confessed to holding his daughter captive in his home cellar for nearly 24 years and fathering seven children by her, Austrian police say. Austrian police spokesman Franz Polzer told CNN, the man, known as Mr. F., admitted holding his daughter hostage in a windowless cell in the basement of his home for more than two decades.
Mr. F. also told police that one of the children he fathered with his daughter Elisabeth F. was a twin who died.
Mr. F. also told police that one of the children he fathered with his daughter Elisabeth F. was a twin who died.
The dead baby's body was burned in an oven inside the house, Mr. F. told detectives.
He was making an extended confession to investigators Monday, according to Polzer.
Further DNA tests will now be carried out to confirm fatherhood, Polzer said.
Elisabeth F., 42, is described as "very disturbed" and having trouble talking to police about her ordeal, reports CNN correspondent Fred Pleitgen.
He was making an extended confession to investigators Monday, according to Polzer.
Further DNA tests will now be carried out to confirm fatherhood, Polzer said.
Elisabeth F., 42, is described as "very disturbed" and having trouble talking to police about her ordeal, reports CNN correspondent Fred Pleitgen.
She went missing in 1984, when she was 18 years old, police said at a news conference Sunday.
The situation came to light earlier this month after her daughter -- a 19-year-old woman, identified as Kristen F. -- was hospitalized in Amstetten after falling unconscious, according to police.
She was admitted to a hospital in Amstetten, outside Vienna, by her grandfather with a note from her biological mother requesting help. Amstetten is a rural town about 150 km (93 miles) west of Vienna.
But police said a DNA test later revealed her grandfather, Mr. F., was also her father, according to ORF, Austria's state-run news agency.
That sparked a police investigation, which revealed that Mr. F. may have fathered at least six children with his daughter, forcing her and three of the surviving children to live in the cellar of his house, according to ORF's Peter Schmitzberger.
The children are now between 5 and 19 years old.
The situation came to light earlier this month after her daughter -- a 19-year-old woman, identified as Kristen F. -- was hospitalized in Amstetten after falling unconscious, according to police.
She was admitted to a hospital in Amstetten, outside Vienna, by her grandfather with a note from her biological mother requesting help. Amstetten is a rural town about 150 km (93 miles) west of Vienna.
But police said a DNA test later revealed her grandfather, Mr. F., was also her father, according to ORF, Austria's state-run news agency.
That sparked a police investigation, which revealed that Mr. F. may have fathered at least six children with his daughter, forcing her and three of the surviving children to live in the cellar of his house, according to ORF's Peter Schmitzberger.
The children are now between 5 and 19 years old.
Polzer told ORF that the 73-year-old led police to several hidden rooms in his cellar accessible only by an electronic passcode that he provided to police. Watch a report on the discovery »
On Sunday, police searched the hidden rooms where Mr. F. admitted he kept his daughter and their children, Polzer told ORF.
The rooms included sleeping quarters, a kitchen and a bathroom, which Mr. F. told police he built, Polzer said.
Conditions in the 50-60 square meters cellar were described as "very dark, narrow and damp, " reports Pleitgen.
Kerstin, 19; Stefan, 18; and Felix, 5, remained locked in the basement with their mother, according to police. None had seen the light of day during their entire time in captivity, she told police.
Shocked residents of the neighborhood -- a tidy, middle-class district of homes with -- said there were no indications of the horrors taking place in the house.
The suspect "was friendly -- that's why this is so unbelievable," said Franz Redl, 56, who owns a shop across the street. "I'm sure the authorities did all they could. He planned everything so perfectly," he told The Associated Press.
While a woman identified as Gabriele H. told Austria's Kurier newspaper she thought Mr. F. was a devoted grandfather doing his best to look after his abandoned grandchildren.
"One who looks after their grandchildren whilst their mother just ran away. We were all asking ourselves what kind of mother would do that to their children?," she said.
Another local, Berhard E , who lives opposite the family, told Kurier: "I am appalled, this is unimaginable and simply not comprehensible."
Mr. F. and I grew up together" said Erika Manhalter who lives a few meters away from their house. "We thought this would be a family just like others, but you cannot look through people," she told Kurier.
News of the cellar captivity case has also prompted much soul searching in a country still reeling from the 2006 case of teenager Natascha Kampusch, who was kidnapped and imprisoned in a basement cell outside Vienna.
Kampusch was 10 years old when she was kidnapped in Vienna on her way to school in March 1998. She was held for more than eight years by Wolfgang Priklopil, who later killed himself when Natascha escaped.
"How is it possible that no one has ever heard or seen anything?" Der Standard newspaper asked.
"What does it say about the neighbors, relatives, family and friends, but also those who had to deal officially with the family? How could he have been successful keeping people fooled?"
"The entire nation must ask itself just what is fundamentally going wrong," the paper said in a commentary.
Amstetten police say they apprehended Mr. F. and Elisabeth F. on Saturday near the hospital for questioning, after receiving a "confidential tip." Once police assured the daughter that she would never have contact with her father again, "she was able to tell the whole story," Schmitzberger said.
Mr. F. lived upstairs with his wife, Rosemarie F., who police said had no idea about her husband's other family living in the cellar.
Mr. F. and Rosemarie F. had adopted three of the children that he had with his daughter, according to police. He told his wife that his missing daughter had dropped the unwanted children off at the house because she could not take care of them, police said.
After she was detained Saturday, Elisabeth F. gave police a "psychologically and physically disturbed impression," police said in a statement.
She said her father began sexually abusing her at age 11. On August 8, 1984 -- weeks before she was reported missing -- her father enticed her into the basement, where he drugged her, put her in handcuffs and locked her in a room, she told police. For the next 24 years, she was constantly raped by her father, resulting in the six surviving children, she said, according to the police statement.
She also told police she gave birth to twins in 1996, but one of the babies died a few days later as a result of neglect, and Mr. F. removed the infant's body and burned it.
She told police that only her father supplied her and her children with food and clothing, and that she did not think his wife knew anything about their situation.
When Kerstin fell ill earlier this month, Mr. F. apparently told his wife and the hospital that his "missing" daughter had dropped off the sick girl on his doorstep.
In an effort to find out what might be ailing 19-year-old Kerstin, the hospital asked the media to put out a bulletin requesting any information about the girl or her missing mother, attorney general Gerhard Sedlacek told NTV.
The rooms included sleeping quarters, a kitchen and a bathroom, which Mr. F. told police he built, Polzer said.
Conditions in the 50-60 square meters cellar were described as "very dark, narrow and damp, " reports Pleitgen.
Kerstin, 19; Stefan, 18; and Felix, 5, remained locked in the basement with their mother, according to police. None had seen the light of day during their entire time in captivity, she told police.
Shocked residents of the neighborhood -- a tidy, middle-class district of homes with -- said there were no indications of the horrors taking place in the house.
The suspect "was friendly -- that's why this is so unbelievable," said Franz Redl, 56, who owns a shop across the street. "I'm sure the authorities did all they could. He planned everything so perfectly," he told The Associated Press.
While a woman identified as Gabriele H. told Austria's Kurier newspaper she thought Mr. F. was a devoted grandfather doing his best to look after his abandoned grandchildren.
"One who looks after their grandchildren whilst their mother just ran away. We were all asking ourselves what kind of mother would do that to their children?," she said.
Another local, Berhard E , who lives opposite the family, told Kurier: "I am appalled, this is unimaginable and simply not comprehensible."
Mr. F. and I grew up together" said Erika Manhalter who lives a few meters away from their house. "We thought this would be a family just like others, but you cannot look through people," she told Kurier.
News of the cellar captivity case has also prompted much soul searching in a country still reeling from the 2006 case of teenager Natascha Kampusch, who was kidnapped and imprisoned in a basement cell outside Vienna.
Kampusch was 10 years old when she was kidnapped in Vienna on her way to school in March 1998. She was held for more than eight years by Wolfgang Priklopil, who later killed himself when Natascha escaped.
"How is it possible that no one has ever heard or seen anything?" Der Standard newspaper asked.
"What does it say about the neighbors, relatives, family and friends, but also those who had to deal officially with the family? How could he have been successful keeping people fooled?"
"The entire nation must ask itself just what is fundamentally going wrong," the paper said in a commentary.
Amstetten police say they apprehended Mr. F. and Elisabeth F. on Saturday near the hospital for questioning, after receiving a "confidential tip." Once police assured the daughter that she would never have contact with her father again, "she was able to tell the whole story," Schmitzberger said.
Mr. F. lived upstairs with his wife, Rosemarie F., who police said had no idea about her husband's other family living in the cellar.
Mr. F. and Rosemarie F. had adopted three of the children that he had with his daughter, according to police. He told his wife that his missing daughter had dropped the unwanted children off at the house because she could not take care of them, police said.
After she was detained Saturday, Elisabeth F. gave police a "psychologically and physically disturbed impression," police said in a statement.
She said her father began sexually abusing her at age 11. On August 8, 1984 -- weeks before she was reported missing -- her father enticed her into the basement, where he drugged her, put her in handcuffs and locked her in a room, she told police. For the next 24 years, she was constantly raped by her father, resulting in the six surviving children, she said, according to the police statement.
She also told police she gave birth to twins in 1996, but one of the babies died a few days later as a result of neglect, and Mr. F. removed the infant's body and burned it.
She told police that only her father supplied her and her children with food and clothing, and that she did not think his wife knew anything about their situation.
When Kerstin fell ill earlier this month, Mr. F. apparently told his wife and the hospital that his "missing" daughter had dropped off the sick girl on his doorstep.
In an effort to find out what might be ailing 19-year-old Kerstin, the hospital asked the media to put out a bulletin requesting any information about the girl or her missing mother, attorney general Gerhard Sedlacek told NTV.
