Around 200 Amstetten residents held a candlelit vigil on Tuesday night to pray for the family of Elisabeth Fritzl, who was imprisoned by her 73-year-old father in an underground cell for 24 years.
The gathering in the town square came hours after Austrian police said DNA tests revealed Josef Fritzl had “without a doubt” fathered his daughter’s six surviving children.
As the family underwent intensive therapy at a psychiatric clinic, authorities said they were looking at the possibility of helping 42-year-old Elisabeth Fritzl and her children, three of whom do not have birth certificates, to change their identities.
As Fritzl appeared in a court and was remanded in custody for 14 days, more details of his confession emerged.
He admitted to investigators that he had locked up his daughter. “Yes,” he said. “I locked her up, but only to protect her from drugs. She was a difficult child.” While admitting repeatedly raping her, he rejected his daughter’s claims that he had chained her to the cellar wall and kept her “like an animal”.
Investigators said Fritzl had not shown remorse. He was under psychiatric care but had not been deemed suicidal. His lawyer said he was “emotionally broken”.
