Keeping it in the Family

DNA testing has proved that an Austrian man has fathered 6 children by his own daughter. According to CNN.com, 73-year old Josef Fritzl kept his now 42-year old daughter imprisoned under his home for 24 years. The man's wife had NO IDEA that a whole other family was living in a dungeon in her basement. There was a seventh child who died shortly after birth.

The children are 19, 18, 15, 14, 12 and 6.

Here's the timeline:

1977: Elisabeth Fritzl claims she was first abused by her father Josef when she was 11 years old.

1984: Elisabeth is allegedly lured into the cellar of her house and drugged and handcuffed by her father. She is forced to write letters saying she has run away from home.

1988: Her first child, Kerstin, is born.

1989: Elisabeth gives birth to her first son, Stefan.

1993: A baby, nine-month-old Lisa, is left on the doorstep of the Fritzl house, with a letter asking Josef and his wife Rosemarie to look after her.

1994: Another child, Monika, arrives with another similar note and is adopted by the Fritzls.

1996: Elisabeth gives birth to twins, but one dies after three days. Josef allegedly burnt the body.

1997: Alexander, the surviving twin, is moved upstairs to join rest of family.

2003: Another letter from Elisabeth arrives saying she had a second son, Felix, the previous year. he is also raised in the cellar.

2008:
April 19: Kerstin is taken to hospital after falling serious ill, and doctors discover that her grandfather is in fact her father.

April 20-27: Josef releases Elisabeth along with Stefan and Felix and tells wife they have chosen to return home.

April 26: Police pick up Josef and Elisabeth near the Amstetten hospital where Kerstin is being treated.

April 27: Josef admits his guilt following Elisabeth's statement.

April 28: Police search the family's house and discover cramped cellar with special security door.

April 29: Josef Fritzl appears in court.

Elisabeth told police that only her father supplied her and her children with food and clothing, and that she did not think her mother, Rosemarie, knew anything about their situation.

Police continued to question Josef Fritzl and he led police to the underground cellar on Sunday. A day later, he confessed to raping his daughter, keeping her and their children in captivity, and burning the body of the dead infant in an oven in the house. The retired electrical engineer faces a possible 15 years in prison if charged and convicted of rape.