Vote it up! Bars of a Prison Flickr (cr. SiFu Renka) (Creative Commons - Attribution)

You certainly wouldn't want to wake up on a Sunday morning and read this shocking news. A report says that an Austrian woman in the town of Amstetten was kept imprisoned and sexually abused by her own father for 24 long years. The woman, Elisabeth Fritzl is now 42. The sexual abuse over the last 24 years led to her conceiving seven children. The case tumbled out of the closet when one of the children now 19, identified as Kerstin Fritzl took ill and had to be rushed to the hospital. The police said that the girl was 'dropped off' at the hospital last weekend. Investigations to ascertain the identity of the girl led the authorities to the discovery of this heinous crime. A tip finally helped the police to narrow down the search to the house in 23,000-populated town of Amstetten.

The woman, Elisabeth , was entrapped by her father in a basement dungeon since she was 11 years old and continuously abused. She was drugged , handcuffed and incarcerated. The woman said that Joseph Fritzl, her father repeatedly abused her. The results of those perverse attacks led her to bear seven children with one dying shortly after birth. The father kept the children imprisoned with the girl-mother and provided them with clothing and food. Even more strangely, the man's wife and the girl's mother, Rosemarie was oblivious of what was happening in her own house. The Austria Press Agency said the three boys and three girls range in age from 5 and 20. Elisabeth was in a traumatic state and she answered the police queries only after being assured of her and her children's security and well being.

The police are conducting further investigations in an attempt to piece together this strange case. According to the news report, they are relying on DNA samples of all the persons concerned for clearing up the crime.