The Investigation Begins

Because authorities and hospital staff were already skeptical of the situation, upon Elisabeth’s arrival, Dr. Reiter informed the authorities. From what they could gather, it seemed that Elisabeth and Kerstin were being held against their will. They could never have believed the kind of real terror the girls were living in. They took Elisabeth away for questioning and she told the police that if they could ensure the safety of all her children and that she would never have to see her father ever again, she would tell them about the horror of what was really going on. Her very first account of what she endured all those years had been more than three pages long.

How Much Did Rosemarie Know?

Once Elisabeth could speak the truth and the unbelievable story was told, hundreds of questions were raised about the entire ordeal. But one query which almost every single person wanted an answer to was, ‘How could Rosemarie not know?’ For 31 years, Elisabeth was being raped by her own father, and for 24 of those, Elisabeth had been “missing.” Her children would show up on their doorstep, and her mom would just adopt them, believing that her daughter was willing to just leave them. How could she have never heard Elisabeth in the basement, or even question when Josef would go down and sometimes spend hours and even the night in his basement lair. But until this day, Rosemarie claims that she was completely innocent of the entire ordeal. Elisabeth had even said, “I screamed many times during those long years, but no one ever heard.”