A glimpse into the new life of Josef Fritzl's daughter: Elisabeth Fritzl lives with her bodyguard husband in an isolated house on the river, just half an hour from the dungeon where the monster fathered seven children with her
The daughter of evil Josef Fritzl lives just half an hour from the hellish cellar where her father held her captive and raped her thousands of times, MailOnline can reveal.
Fiend Fritzl, now 88, held Elisabeth captive in a dungeon beneath his house for 24 years and forcibly fathered seven children with her before his reign of terror ended in 2008 and he was jailed for life a year later.
After the trial, Elisabeth and the children were given a new identity – and she married the bodyguard who had protected her after the crimes were exposed. It is believed that they are still together.
MailOnline is aware of the current surname and other details of their new life, but is not disclosing them due to strict Austrian laws prohibiting their disclosure to protect Elisabeth.
However, we can now release more general information about Elisabeth's circumstances.
Elisabeth Fritzl (pictured as a schoolgirl), now 56, was held captive by her father Jozef in the basement of the family's Austrian home from 1984 to 2008. She bore him seven children after being repeatedly raped.
Josef Fritzl is seen during day four of his trial at the St. Poelten Land Court in 2009
Fritzl is said to have been spotted near Krems an der Donau, apparently in preparation for his parole
Elisabeth and three of her children lived in the basement of the family home in Amstetten, Austria, while Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie lived above it.
Elisabeth lived with her children in this filthy, cramped basement for 24 years
She now lives in a detached two-storey house about 30 minutes' drive from Amstetten in a small hamlet – and also a short distance from the infamous Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen.
Located just across a bridge over the River Danube the normally snow-covered fields were muddy and boggy after recent heavy rains and the sky was still gray and gloomy as a warship as MailOnline approached the small hamlet of just a few hundred inhabitants .
A gray wooden fence surrounds the orange rust-painted house and security cameras hang on the outside wall, keeping an eye on every visitor to the home of Elisabeth, now 56.
The house has a carefully landscaped garden with a small swimming pool. Inside, ceramic art hangs on the walls, with empty flower boxes on the balustrade outside the house, which has a double garage.
Directly opposite is her daughter Kerstin's house, which is also decorated with ceramic works of art – and both houses overlook flat, featureless farmland close to the River Danube.
The family is said to have settled in the village after Fritzl's eldest son Harald moved there and told his sister how isolated it was.
Locals are tight-lipped about the family, but Elisabeth – who now has long hair – is known to have attended the local dance earlier this month and occasionally eats out at the village restaurant.
A resident says: 'Elisabeth and some older children still live here and occasionally they can be seen in the restaurant and at village events.
'Everyone knows the backstory, but no one talks about the past – they have a new life and people respect that.'
Neighbors confirmed that Elisabeth and Kerstin still lived in the village, but they respect their privacy, so leave them alone, they say.
Fritzl is seen during day four of his trial at the St. Poelten court on March 19, 2009 in St. Poelten, Austria
Fritzl, 88, is being held in Sankt Poelten prison and is suffering from Alzheimer's disease
Fritzl, pictured in his cell window, changed his name to Mayrhoff in an alleged attempt to avoid attacks from other prisoners
The street where Elisabeth was kept in a cellar for more than twenty years
The local mayor and priest of the local church both confirmed that residents are aware of the family but keep their presence a secret from the rest of the world.
Elisabeth was known to have married her bodyguard Thomas Wagner, who was 23 years her junior, in 2019 and it is believed that the two are still together.
According to Oesterreich newspaper, the couple bonded after spending months together following her release from her dungeon hellhole, and married when she was 52 years old.
A source told the publication: 'They are a couple, everyone saw from the start how safe she felt with him.'
The relationship is said to have given Elisabeth 'renewed strength' on her journey to normality.
Meanwhile, Fritzl himself also strives 'for normality' as he tries to be released from a psychiatric prison where he is serving his sentence in a regular prison.
During the trial against her father, Elisabeth said through her lawyer Eva Plaz that she never wanted him to be released.
Ms Plaz said: 'She wants the defendant to be held responsible until death.'
Earlier, the lawyer had told the court: 'The suspect has made himself the master of life and death. He must be punished for this.'
But last month a court in Krems ordered his transfer after a closed-door hearing was told he was “no longer in danger of reoffending” after being convicted of rape, incest, slavery, coercion and murder by neglect of his newborn son.
However, prosecutors, who did not attend the case, have now filed an objection and a higher court in Vienna will now hear the appeal.
But his lawyer Astrid Wagner told MailOnline: 'The prosecution can try, but they won't win, their case has no chance.
“It will just extend the timing by a few more months, but I'm confident it will be moved.
'I spoke to him after the news about the appeal because he was surprised about it, but I told him he had nothing to worry about and that he would be fine.'
During his trial he heard how he raped her 3,000 times in the rat-infested basement and how he hit and kicked her and eventually had seven children with her – Kerstin born in 1988, Stefan (1990) and Felix (2002) lived downstairs with their mother.
While Lisa (1992), Monica (1994) and Alexander (1996) grew up upstairs in the house Fritzl shared with his wife Rosemarie in sleepy Amstetten in central Austria, 70 kilometers from Linz, another son Michel tragically died shortly after his birth.