[kj] OT: Feel-good story of the day

[B. Oliver Sheppard]

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4AC3MO20081113

Austrian incest father Fritzl charged with murder

By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer 14 mins ago

VIENNA, Austria – Prosecutors filed a murder charge Thursday against the 
man accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her 
seven children, saying one of the youngsters who died in infancy might 
have survived if brought to a doctor.

[...]

Investigators say Fritzl has confessed to imprisoning and repeatedly 
raping his daughter Elisabeth — now age 42 — in a warren of 
soundproofed, windowless cellar rooms he built beneath his home starting 
in 1984, shortly after she turned 18.

Police say Fritzl told them he tossed the body of the infant boy into a 
furnace in 1996 after the baby became ill and died. They say DNA tests 
have confirmed he is the biological father of the six surviving children.

Although nothing remains of the incinerated infant, prosecutors said 
they based the murder charge on interviews with Fritzl's daughter.

[...]

Fritzl, the 27-page indictment alleges, subjected his daughter to 
"multiple attacks" and terrorized her with threats that the cramped 
underground cell was rigged with booby traps to foil any attempts to 
escape. Fritzl also threatened to release poisonous gas into the 
homemade prison, the indictment said.

It said the daughter was completely dependent upon Fritzl for her 
survival and had no choice but to provide "sexual services," the 
indictment added.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4AC3MO20081113