Father held daughter in cellar for 24 years

A father kept his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years, Austrian media reported today.

Austrian broadcaster ORF, citing authorities, said the victim was a 42-year-old woman.

The report also claimed that the man fathered four children with his daughter, including a 19-year-old woman who is currently in hospital in the Lower Austrian town of Amstetten in very serious condition.

The report identifies the father as a 73-year-old man.

According to ORF, the teenager was found unconscious in the man’s house last weekend and authorities had been searching for her mother ever since.

Police declined to immediately confirm the report.

Franz Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian Bureau of Criminal Affairs, told reporters today that the 73-year-old man, identified as Josef F., may have fathered six children by her.

His comments were carried by the Austria Press Agency.

Earlier, a spokesman for Lower Austrian police said that an investigation was under way but that authorities believe the woman, Elisabeth F., has been missing since 1984 and she appeared to have been held captive in her father’s cellar ever since.