Cops use sonar in probe of dungeon

Sunday, May 04, 2008

As forensic teams examined the windowless basement of the Amstetten house where he held his daughter captive for 24 years, more questions are being raised as to why he was not caught sooner.

Officers are able to work only one hour at a time in the narrow cellar, where he caged daughter Elisabeth and three of their children, because of the severe lack of oxygen in the dungeon, the officer in charge of the investigation said. This is hampering efforts to unearth DNA evidence.

Austrian Police Colonel Franz Polzer, leading the investigation in Amstetten, said the entrance to the windowless rooms where Fritzl (73) held his daughter captive, fathering her seven children, was protected by two steel doors that locked electronically.

He said: "They are open now, but we are trying to get another way out of this room because the working conditions in this prison are so exceptional.

"Investigators wearing special clothes and masks ... can work there only one hour and during this hour they try, one team after the other, to gather everything available in this living space and search particularly for DNA traces to establish if the alleged criminal really committed this on his own.

"Not until then can we start with technical investigations like sonar probes, cavity and sound measurements, and also to comprehend all the electric and electronic systems."

Leopold Etz, chief of murder investigations for Lower Austria province, said investigators were also questioning more than 100 people who lived in Fritzl's house during the time of his daughter Elisabeth's captivity and others who have come forward saying they knew him.

"We're casting a wide net. ... It's a lot of work," Mr Etz said.

Authorities said Fritzl's activities came to their attention on April 19, when Elisabeth's eldest daughter, 19-year-old Kerstin, was admitted to a hospital suffering from an unidentified infection.

She remains in a critical condition and doctors are not hopeful she will survive.

Baffled doctors appealed on TV for Kerstin's mother to come forward because they needed information about the girl's medical history.

Fritzl then accompanied Elisabeth to the hospital on April 26, and her story came to light, authorities said.

Klaus Schwertner, a spokesman for medical issues relating to the family, said Kerstin remained in a critical condition "but has stabilised somewhat in recent days".