An article in March 2010 in The Independent stated that Elisabeth and her children recovered remarkably well, given the difficult lives they endured for so long. [73] According to Josef's sister-in-law, Christine, Elisabeth enjoys spending her time shopping, taking frequent showers, and driving. She has passed her driving test without difficulty. Her relationship with Thomas Wagner, one of her bodyguards (who is 23 years younger than Elisabeth), [74] [75] was reported to be ongoing, with him becoming a big-brother figure to her children. All of Elisabeth's children have developed normal sibling relationships with each other, and after having trouble dealing with the traumatic events, the three "upstairs" children slowly began recognising Elisabeth as their mother. The children enjoy being outdoors, playing video games, and spending time with their mother and grandmother. Despite their strained relationship, Elisabeth and her mother Rosemarie started visiting each other more, and Elisabeth has reportedly forgiven her mother for believing her father's story. Josef told his prisoners that the door was electrified and if they tried to escape, they would be electrocuted. Each time he left the room, Elisabeth and the children noticed that he fiddled with something at the door as if setting a system. He also told them that the gas lines had been rigged so that any time, he could gas the occupants to death. Did anyone else know about the family being held captive in the basement? Rosemarie Fritzl Authorities were sufficiently impressed to allow Josef and Rosemarie to keep the child in their home. Monika He looked at this woman and her physical appearance. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but looking at this woman, you could believe that she’d been imprisoned for many, many years.

Doctors found that even the children who were not held captive and were raised inside the house still experienced deep emotional problems. They were treated for anger and resentment conditions after experiencing extreme guilt from living a “normal” life while their mother and siblings suffered. All have been forced to move in and out of psychiatric clinics and require persistent ongoing therapy. All the children must take prescription mood- and emotion-altering drugs to cope with their newly expanded world.Chancellor of Austria Alfred Gusenbauer said he planned to launch a foreign public image campaign for his country, in light of the "abominable events." [65] Aftermath [ edit ] Naughton, Philippe (19 March 2009). " "Fritzl met Elisabeth's eyes — that changed his mind," says lawyer". Times Online. London. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011 . Retrieved 22 March 2009.

a b "Cellar in abuse case described". BBC News. 5 May 2008. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008 . Retrieved 6 May 2008. Fritzl will nicht mehr leben"[Fritzl does not want to live anymore]. OE24 (in German). Österreich, Germany. 16 March 2019. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. According to Fritzl's sister-in-law Christine, he went into the basement every morning at 09:00, ostensibly to draw plans for machines which he sold to manufacturing firms. He often stayed there for the night and did not allow his wife to bring him coffee. A tenant who rented a ground floor room in the house for twelve years claimed to hear noises from the basement, which Fritzl said were caused by the "faulty pipes" or the gas heating system. [36] Discovery [ edit ]They learned grammar. They learned the language. They learned mathematics. So I mean, they have raised very well. They have a — they are very well behaved. On 19 March 2009, Fritzl was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 15 years. [10] He said that he accepted the sentence and would not appeal. [63] Fritzl is currently serving out his sentence in Garsten Abbey, a former monastery in Upper Austria that has been converted into a prison. [64] Government response [ edit ] Cellar father refuses to explain". BBC News. 30 April 2008. Archived from the original on 2 May 2008 . Retrieved 30 April 2008.