Birthing Her Father’s Children

In the 24 years that Josef kept Liesl in the basement, she would go on to birth 7 children under his grotesque imprisonment. And all 7 children were products of the worse kind of incest. In 1989, Elisabeth bore her first daughter Kerstin, then in 1990, her son Stefan came along. After which, Elisabeth had Lisa in 1993, but rather than keep her in the basement, Josef decided to take the baby at 9 months old, and leave her on the steps of their house for Elisabeth’s parents to “find.” Josef forced Liesl to write another note explaining that this was her daughter, but she wasn’t in the right place to care for her. And due to Austrian law, which erases past convictions, Josef and Rosemarie were able to adopt the child, despite Josef’s past rape sentence.

And It Only Got Worse

The next year, Elisabeth had Monika. Josef also took the baby, but this time as a newborn infant, and made it seem that Liesl had left her in a stroller. He had even forced Elisabeth to record a message saying, “I just left her at your door,” which he, later on, played via mobile to Rosemarie. Her mother believed, and again took in yet another child of Elisabeth. Two years later, Liesl had twin boys, Alexander and Michael. Alexander was also brought to live upstairs, whereas Michael, who died 2 days after birth, was put in an incinerator by his father Josef. He wanted to make sure that no trace of the baby would be found. Then In 2003, Liesl would have her last child Felix, who would remain with her in their downstairs lair.