Sex offender who locked up daughter for 24 years, fathered her 7 children may be released

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Josef Fritzl, an Austrian man who held his daughter captive in his basement as a sex slave for 24 years, fathering seven of her children, could be moved from prison to an elderly care home, according to global reports.

Fritzl, now 88, reportedly has dementia and is physically weak after several falls, meaning he is not expected to pose any future threats to the public, Austrian news outlet ORF reported.

An Austrian court will determine whether Fritzl’s condition makes him eligible to be removed from a high-security prison and placed in a care home. 

Fritzl is also eligible for parole this year under Austrian law, which allows prisoners sentenced to life in prison to apply for parole after serving 15 years.

JOSEF FRITZL, WHO RAPED DAUGHTER AND KEPT HER CAPTIVE FOR 24 YEARS, COULD MOVE TO REGULAR PRISON

An Austrian court in 2009 sentenced Josef Fritzl to life behind bars for rape, enslavement and murder for locking up and raping his daughter in a cellar over 24 years and causing his son’s death. (Reuters/Pool/Robert Jaeger )

Fritzl’s daughter, Elisabeth, disappeared in 1984 when she was 18 years old. She was found in 2008 after 24 years of captivity and brutal abuse in a windowless basement.

When asked about her whereabouts, Fritzl would reportedly say she ran away. Authorities charged Fritzl in 2008.

CELLAR WHERE JOSEF FRITZL HELD DAUGHTER AND FATHERED HER CHILDREN TO BE FILLED WITH CEMENT

Defendant Josef Fritzl, at 73, arrives for the last day of his trial in Sankt Poelten in Austria’s province of Lower Austria, March 19, 2009. (Reuters/Pool/Helmut Fohringer )

Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison a year later for incest, rape, coercion, false imprisonment, enslavement and negligent homicide after he killed one of the sons he fathered with his captive daughter soon after the baby was born, as The Associated Press and Reuters previously reported.

Investigators said in 2009, when Fritzl was 73, the incestuous killer burned his son’s body in a furnace.

DAUGHTER OF AUSTRIAN ‘HORROR DAD’ JOSEF FRITZL REPORTEDLY WAKES FROM COMA

Fritzl’s cellar is being sealed off with concrete, much to the relief of neighbours keen to forget one of Austria’s most horrific crimes. (Reuters/Leonhard Foeger)

“He forced Elisabeth into slave-like conditions… shut her away in the cellar and made her totally dependent on him, forcing her into sexual acts and treating her as if she was his own property,” the St. Poelten provincial prosecutors’ office said in a 2009 statement, according to Reuters.

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Prosecutors also alleged that Fritzl threatened to kill Elisabeth and gas their children to death.

Audrey Conklin is a digital reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business. Email tips to audrey.conklin@fox.com or on Twitter at @audpants.