Secrets of horror cellar revealed
Austrian investigators Monday released more details about the elaborate underground cellar where Josef Fritzl kept his daughter imprisoned for 24 years, along with three of their children.
Investigators believe Fritzl planned to build the cellar as early as 1978, shortly after, according to his daughter, he began raping her at age 11 or 12, said police spokesman Franz Polzer.
The 73-year-old Austrian began building the dungeon as part of an addition to his home that year, and simply added the hidden space -- which was not recorded in any building plans -- Polzer said. It took Fritzl until 1983 to finish the addition, Polzer said.
Investigators recently discovered another door to the dungeon prison, which was blocked by a 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) steel and concrete door that Fritzl probably stopped using when he later constructed an electronic door for a second entrance, Polzer said.
Fritzl, who police believe was the only one with access to the cellar, had to travel through an elaborate maze to get to the prison.
"You would have to open up a total of eight doors, and ... (for the) last door which would go into this space (where the family was imprisoned), you would also have to use electronic opening apparatus," Polzer said.
"We will have to find out perhaps later from now if perhaps there are other spaces we haven't discovered yet, and perhaps maybe there is something else interesting."
Fritzl was recently arrested and confessed to holding his daughter, Elisabeth, captive in the dungeon under the Fritzl home for decades, repeatedly raping her and fathering seven children -- six of whom survived. Three of the children were adopted by Josef Fritzl and his wife after he concocted the ruse that Elisabeth had left the babies on their doorstep.
On Wednesday or Thursday, prosecution authorities will attempt to question Fritzl -- who is no longer talking to police following his initial confession, state prosecutor Gerhard Sedlacek said.
A warden at the St. Poelten jail, where Fritzl is being held, told CNN that Fritzl appears to be doing well, but he is refusing to go on walks outside the building where he is detained.
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