After Monika appeared in 1994, Rosemarie said that she received a call from a woman sounding like Elisabeth asking her to take care of the infant, Der Spiegel reported in 2008 the grandmother reported this call to the police, saying she was perplexed as to how her daughter got their new, unlisted number. Josef Fritzl “very plausible” explained this to officials and the couple was allowed to foster the children as foundlings.

When they were infants, Josef Fritzl decided that Lisa, Monika, and Alexander would be removed from the cellar and brought upstairs to be raised by him and his wife, creating what became known as the 'upstairs family.' Rosemarie believed her husband when he said each infant had appeared outside the home with a note from Elisabeth, asking for them to be taken in. Michael, Alexander’s twin brother, died three days after being born with breathing problems, reportedly aided by Josef Fritzl's negligence the newborn’s body was taken and cremated by his father.

Over the next 14 years, she birthed six more children - Stefan, Lisa, Monika, Alexander, Michael, and Felix. In 1988, four years into her ordeal and two years after having a miscarriage, Elisabeth gave birth to her first child, Kerstin. Her father visited the basement chamber nearly every day, repeatedly raping and abusing her over the years. The next years were just the beginning of Elisabeth’s nightmare, which stretched on for nearly a generation. A police report was filed and Elisabeth remained on the Interpol missing person list but was presumed to have joined a religious sect, a story her father suggested to authorities. Rosemarie Fritzl was soon shown a handwritten letter from her daughter, postmarked from the town of Braunau in Upper Austria, saying she had left her parents and the town, and to not look for her or she’d flee the country. As was outlined in Allan Hall’s book, “Monster,” while his daughter was holding the door in place, Josef Fritzl held an ether-soaked rag on Elisabeth's face until she passed out, handcuffed her, then locked her in the dark subterranean prison. Josef Fritzl, then a 49-year-old engineer and property developer, had spent years on a basement conversion project placing that door, however, was the final step in building the prison where the young woman would be tortured for decades. 28, 1984, Elisabeth, then an 18-year-old waitress, was living with her mother, Rosemarie, and father, Josef, when he lured her to the basement of their home to help him place a door for an ongoing home project. In this undated Police handout image provided by Security Administration of Lower Austria a portrait of Josef Fritzl, who imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and had seven children with her, is seen in Amstetten, Austria.

Elisabeth fritzl now photo