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Police Sergeant Gunned Down With Assault Rifle; Obama Wins Guam Caucus; Man Confesses Holding Daughter Prisoner for 24 Years
Aired May 03, 2008 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: When it's this tight between these two every vote matters, even Guam's. Tonight, who is the winner?
He's now called just monster, for what he allegedly did to his own daughter for more than 20 years in this underground dungeon. How did he do it? Tonight, new details in a special report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, it's easy if you don't have to worry how much gas costs. It's kind of simple if you go to the grocery store and you can buy whatever you want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Turning up the gas on each other. When it comes to record gas prices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And all she could find was, get this, a lobbyist for Shell oil to explain how this was going to be good for consumers. It's a Shell game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: A clarification from the McCain camp. He did not mean to say that war in Iraq was being fought for oil.
Unbelievable pictures coming in from where a killer tornado has taken its toll.
Breaking news from Philly. A cop killer with an AK-47 on the loose. What America's talking about, now.
And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. And we are going to get to the politics in just a moment because there has been another caucus tonight, one in four years ago wouldn't matter, but tonight it matters.
All night long, you see right there, at the bottom of the screen, we're going to be scrolling all the information that you need to know. But we're going to have to begin with this breaking story. There's been an explosion within just the last couple of hours. In fact, it's being called a massive explosion in Mississippi. This is a paper plant. Here are some of the pictures just now coming in. It's the international paper plant in Redwood. We understand at least one employee there is dead, 17 others are hurt after a boiler went up this afternoon.
Plant officials there in Redwood are trying to figure out what happened. Redwood is a Mississippi River town, by the way. And it's about 45 miles we're told from Jackson. I understand that we now have someone there at the scene who could provide some more information for us. Matt Kozar is there. He's with our affiliate WJTV.
Matt, what are you hearing?
MATT KOZAR, WJTV REPORTER: Rick, we spoke to some of the employees who are coming in from the night shift and they were told by their supervisors to go home. Many didn't know what actually happened today. But we did speak to one employee who was actually near the explosion. He told us it sounded like an atomic bomb went off.
And also, we spoke to the director of the hospital. He said 17 people, as you said, Rick, were taken to the hospital, four in critical condition, five people were airlifted to a burn center in Augusta, Georgia. He praised the work of the people at his hospital.
This is a very small, tight knit community here. Close to Vicksburg where all the river boats are along the Mississippi River. So everyone knows everyone here and they're very upset about this tragedy.
SANCHEZ: Hey, Matt, we were told earlier that there may be some people still missing. Is that the case or have they found out where everybody was?
KOZAR: Rick, everyone is now accounted for. Just the 17 people at the hospital including one fatality. And we spoke to some of the residents who lived around here, too and they heard the boom.
SANCHEZ: Matt, we appreciate it. We'll get back to you if anything changes on this story. We appreciate the update.
Now let's go to Philadelphia. Another breaking news story throughout the evening. You'd better believe that every police officer in this city is thinking about one thing tonight, finding the cop killers/bank robbers who killed one of their own and are out there somewhere, but they don't know where.
A police sergeant responding to a robbery call was gunned down with no less than an assault rifle. We were told it was an AK 47. An officer shot and killed one of the suspects but police are now searching for another man and a woman. Slain Sergeant Steven Lavinski (ph) was 40 years old. He was married and we understand he had three children.
Big developments tonight from tornado alley. Wait until you see some of the pictures as we've been following this story. This is Etowah, Arkansas. Trees are down, cars are flipped, houses are demolished. Seven people are dead after the storms bore down on them in many cases as they slept.
Now take a look at what's left of Damascus, Arkansas. Homes turned inside out. Personal belongings scattered far and wide. About 400 homes reportedly sustained some damage or were destroyed in some of these storms.
Jacqui Jeras has been following this all day. Jacqui, where did this come from?
(WEATHER REPORT)
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Our I-reporters out getting some incredible video of some of the severe weather from yesterday. Take a look at these pictures. This is video from Allan Smith, Lake City, Arkansas. That's his hometown.
He's a truck driver and he was out making a delivery when the tornado crossed the road right in front of him. He says it took the windshield wiper off of his vehicle. And he had to stop and back up. Just some incredible pictures. So thanks to Allen Smith for sending that to us and to all of our I-reporters. Of course, always stay safe, take your pictures then and send them to cnn.com/ireport.
SANCHEZ: Take your picture and then get out of the way.
JERAS: Yes. Well, safe first, then do it.
SANCHEZ: Shoot and go. Shoot and go.
JERAS: Exactly.
SANCHEZ: Hey, Jacqui, thanks so much. We'll get back to you if anything changes.
JERAS: Sure.
SANCHEZ: All right. Here we go now with presidential politics as promised, where it's Clinton, Obama, Obama, it's Clinton, it's tight. Tight all right. So what do you think happens when there's a caucus in Guam? Guam.
It's a tiny U.S. territory but it matters more than ever this year because of a tight presidential race. 4,500 people voted. The final results -- you're not going to believe this.
It's a virtual tie. Seriously. Obama wins Guam for the record but not by much at all.
Joining us now is Sabrina Salas Matanane. She is in Harmon, Guam.
How big a deal was this in Guam, Sabrina? SABRINA SALAS MATANANE, KUAM REPORTER: It was a huge deal. A lot of people came out to vote. Some Democrats, even just for a day, they've spoken. And the Democratic Party of Guam's nomination committee spent several hours -- 11 hours last night and this morning tabulating the results from Saturday's Democratic caucus here.
SANCHEZ: Who would have thunk it though? I mean, it's all but a virtual tie. Was that expected?
MATANANE: Actually, no. I don't think it was expected. I don't think they expected it to be a virtual tie but they expected it to be extremely close.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask you a question about the delegates. I understand there's four and they're going to be splitting right down the middle. So she's going two and he's going to two. But we also understand that ironically enough, there are more superdelegates in Guam than there are regular delegates. Who are these superdelegates and do we have any indication yet, in which way they're going to vote.
MATANANE: Yes. We kind to do have. There's five superdelegates. It's pretty much for sure that Hillary will pick up one of Guam superdelegate votes via Taling Taitano. She ran unopposed for National Committee Woman of the Democratic Party. She's also the state adviser for Senator Clinton's campaign on Guam.
And as for Obama, it's likely he'll pick up two superdelegates via Pilar Lujan. She ran last night and she was elected as the new party chairman. And Jaime Paulino as vice-chair and both have expressed their public support for Barack Obama. So that's two again for Obama and one for Clinton. The remaining superdelegates are unpledged.
SANCHEZ: Sabrina Matanane, thanks so much for joining us and bringing us that perspective there from Guam.
So, did you know that today was the first day in 18 straight days the gas prices did not set a new record? And these were the fighting words between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. It's giving the White House hopefuls plenty to debate all day long, in fact.
The candidates, senators Clinton and Obama and McCain, are all talking about this. They say they have plans to ease the gas price emergency. The two Democrats disagree totally on this no gas tax idea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would immediately lower gas prices by temporarily suspending the gas tax for consumers and businesses.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, let me tell you something, this isn't an idea designed to get you through the summer. It's an idea designed to get them through an election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Senator McCain favors suspending the gasoline tax temporarily calling it, quote, "A little bit of a break for the summer." But the presumed GOP nominee says if he wins the White House, his energy plan looks further ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East, that will -- that will then prevent us -- that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And that is where the controversy began with John McCain. We're going to get into that in just a little bit, by the way. What did he really mean by that? Some people are saying the implication was that we are in the Middle East, in wars, because of oil. He says no, that's absolutely not what I was trying to say.
In ten minutes a shocking case of brutality and perversion, a father allegedly locks his daughter in a secret cellar for more than two decades. Police say she was his sex slave. Monster dad is what they're calling him. House of horrors. We've got new details that have come in on this story. You don't want to miss it. It's a special report. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I would immediately lower gas prices by temporarily suspending the gas tax for consumers and businesses.
OBAMA: Well, let me tell you something, this isn't an idea designed to get you through the summer, it's an idea designed to get them through an election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right. Now let's break down the debate for you. This is Senator Clinton's implication of Barack Obama. A guy who doesn't understand the value of 30 bucks isn't a real guy. Now, the other side. Senator Obama's implications of Hillary Clinton. Don't fall for the $30 give bag trick. It's a trick. It's not a solution.
Two perspectives, right?
Mr. E. Steven Collins has a popular public affairs radio program in Philly and Renee Amoore is the first female and African-American to chair a Pennsylvania delegation to the Republican National Convention. So these are two real smart people who are going to break this thing down for us and tell us who's right.
So Renee, start us out. Who is right here? Who is right here between these two?
RENEE AMOORE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I knew you would start with me. Well, I just think it's exciting how they just keep fighting back and forth. The bottom line for me is that this whole gas thing for the summer is just not going to work. You need somebody to really understands foreign and trade policy. That's what this is all about.
SANCHEZ: So you're saying -- hold on. So you're saying that Barack Obama is right?
AMOORE: Not -- well, yes, kind of. He's more right -- he's a little bit more right than Hillary at this time. Let me just say that.
SANCHEZ: Well, he seems to be saying this is a gimmick. It's a campaign gimmick. It's a way of buying votes by giving people $30 in the course of a year for gas prices that have gone up by about 2 bucks.
AMOORE: If that much. If that much. And how much is that really going to help. And so folks are going to take issue to that. What it is is a Band-Aid. This all -- this is a Band-Aid. I want somebody who is going to be president of the United States that understands foreign and trade policy to make this stuff work. That it's a long-term thing, not just short-term.
SANCHEZ: Steven, he seems to be calling her out on it. She's saying...
AMOORE: He always calls me out.
SANCHEZ: ...to people -- no, but you know -- do you know what she seems to be saying through implication is, look, if he doesn't understand the value of $30, maybe he's rich friends $30 doesn't matter. But to the rest of us out here like me, Hillary Clinton and John McCain, $30 matter as lot, right?
AMOORE: And me.
E. STEVEN COLLINS, HOST, "PHILLY SPEAKS": Well, I think there are two separate issues. I think one is a popular issue or populous issue that is designed to get voters say, rah, we're going to get some money. The economics of it, though, would take a billion dollars away from dollars that are earmarked for infrastructure for bridges and for places like I-95 that are falling down all across America. They need that money. First of all.
Second, $30 at this time in the summer will only drive more demand and will create -- think about it -- create more and more demand for those who drive the prices back up again.
SANCHEZ: Complex principles to be understood by complex minds. Do you think -- and this is something I was thinking about a little while ago and I wanted to blow it by you guys, because most of his voters truly are, according to polls, more educated. That he thinks, you know what, the people who support me aren't going to fall for this so I can tell them the straight skinny and they're going to get it, where some of the other folks aren't going to get it. To them, it's like thank you for the $30, now go away --
COLLINS: But Rick, you're sounding elitist here, my man.
SANCHEZ: Of course I am. I am.
COLLINS: But think about it for a second. You're suggesting that American voters are stupid and they're not. They can see through, $30, come one, think about it. We're paying right now $80 to fill up our tanks.
AMOORE: Absolutely.
COLLINS: How far is $30 going to go? First of all, individually. Collectively, it's going to impact our nation in a way that's bad.
SANCHEZ: What I'm saying is -- look, here's what I'm saying. What I'm saying is a lot of people out there who don't understand the complex issues but they do understand the value of $30 and they're saying I don't get what the rest of them are talking about but if you want to give me 30 bucks, thank you.
AMOORE: I agree with that, Rick. They're going to buy into that $30 and that's unfortunate because that's not going to help them get through the rest of the year.
SANCHEZ: I got.
AMOORE: Just through that summer. That's my issue.
SANCHEZ: Hold on, Steven. I want you to talk about something else now. This is another interesting thing that has come up. Let's turn now to John McCain. Did he misspeak or did he just admit what many Americans have always suspected about our motives for going to war in Iraq.
I want you to take a listen to this, you guys, Renee and Steven, and then you at home. He's talking about eliminating our dependence on Mid-East oil and preventing future conflicts. Listen to how he says it though. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East, that will -- that will then prevent us -- that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Now, it's an interesting comment. Interesting phraseology. To be fair to Senator McCain, he later told reporters he was not talking about this war with Iraq. Rather the first war with Iraq. Quote, "No, I was talking about that we had fought the Gulf War for several reasons."
Steven, Steven.
COLLINS: What had happened was --
AMOORE: Thanks for taking up for him, Rick, thank you.
COLLINS: I think once again Senator McCain is showing may be he's a gentleman.
AMOORE: I knew you were going to go there.
(CROSSTALK)
AMOORE: Has nothing to do with this. I knew he was going to go there.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: And you got to look at that. And then he comes back with this. This is a statement that many of us have felt the only reason we're there was to maintain some control over the oil in Iraq away from the French and others in the world. And we're there. And 4,000 plus men and women have died for what good reason?
SANCHEZ: But isn't it straight talk to tell the American people the truth then?
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Look, look -- but wait, let me finish the question. Yes, there have been geo-political and geo-economic reasons for these conflicts and let's just be honest about it.
AMOORE: Exactly.
SANCHEZ: That would be straight talk. Why is he backing away from that?
AMOORE: Well, you know what? I think that all of a sudden once you got finished people thought he needed to go back and correct that statement. But I think, you know, he just went right to where everybody else went as far as Americans.
They think that McCain is too old and essence he has old-timers, not Alzheimer's, old-timers and can't be president of the United States. He can be the president. I mean, people aren't going to look at those little mishaps just like Hillary.
SANCHEZ: Well, why didn't they look at Obama's bitter misstatement for a week and a half?
AMOORE: That was a very deep statement. I mean, let's be clear about that.
COLLINS: It wasn't that deep.
AMOORE: I mean, he was talking about guns and religion. It was real deep. And the bottom line is that they're paying more attention to the Democrats than Republicans which I like right now. And Rick, you're the only one who really picked up on that statement.
COLLINS: Rick, all I can say is on one hand you have Hillary Clinton and Senator McCain pandering and you have Barack Obama doing what he has done from the beginning. He's straightforward. He's telling the American public the truth. He's honest. And his perspective, if you just look at the numbers, just take a minute and look at the numbers. $30 in a person's pocket isn't going to go that far.
AMOORE: And he's off his game and he's Mr. Elitist. And the bottom line --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: We're down to 30 seconds. I need your predictions for Tuesday. Who will win Indiana, who will win North Carolina?
Renee, we start with you.
AMOORE: You know what? The Democrats will win, of course. And I think that it's Hillary. I think Hillary is out there fighting.
SANCHEZ: You think she can win North Carolina?
AMOORE: I think she'll be close. I think she'll come real, real close and surprise people just like she did in Philadelphia.
SANCHEZ: So you're saying she'll win Indiana and she'll be close in North Carolina?
AMOORE: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: Steven, do you?
COLLINS: I think she will come very close to winning in Indiana and I think you will see a major, major, major win for Barack Obama in North Carolina for a variety of reasons. And I think most of them have to do with the economy. Major issues.
SANCHEZ: If he wins North Carolina big, does that close the door on Hillary Clinton?
COLLINS: No.
AMOORE: No. She'll be there. We're going to the convention. I'm going, too.
SANCHEZ: We're out of time. My producer is saying we can't get into that one although that's an interesting topic as well. I could talk to you guys for an hour.
COLLINS: Rick, it's good to be with you again. Thank you.
AMOORE: Good to be with you, Rick. See you soon.
SANCHEZ: God bless. Appreciate both of you.
24 years, never seeing the light of day. Think about that for a minute. Never allowed to leave her father's basement. A hostage in an incestuous living hell.
There's new details that are emerging tonight about this man, Josef Fritzl. The more that you hear about him, the more questions that you will have. We do and we're going to ask him right here.
Also tonight, we bring you those answers in our special coverage of the man called monster dad. And what really happened inside this cement dungeon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back to the world headquarters of CNN. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is the story people around the world have been talking about. Perhaps as much as any other in recent times. And no matter what you've already heard about this guy right here that you're looking at, this guy's name is Josef Fritzl.
New details have now come out of Austria that are truly beyond the pale. Here's the groundwork, first of all. Police say Josef Fritzl has confessed to holding his daughter prisoner 24 years in the basement of this cement fortress of a home. He continually rapes her. She has seven children by him.
Twisted as it may sound, they are his grandchildren. The family tree, Josef Fritzl and his wife Rose Marie also have seven children. One of them is that daughter, Elizabeth, that he kept in his makeshift dungeon.
As I mentioned, Fritzl and Elizabeth have seven children as well. One baby, a twin, dies at birth. Three babies all brought up stairs to live with Josef and Rose Marie. Essentially they're grandparents. The other three remain locked behind two steel doors in the makeshift dungeon with their mother. They have never seen the light of day until now. What a crazy story.
My colleague Frederick Pleitgen has been all over this story. He's in Austria. He's been covering it for us.
Fred, what is the latest information that has been coming out on this tonight?
FREDERICK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Rick. It is an unbelievable story. Right now what the authorities in Austria are doing, they are still searching through that underground dungeon. They are seeing if they can find if there's maybe even more chambers down there. Now what we're hearing from the officials there is that the going down there is very, very rough. Apparently, the forensic experts are complaining that the air to breathe down there is really stuffy and really, really bad and they have to take breaks very often. And when you think about it, that people were locked up down there for 24 years that's just absolutely unbelievable.
SANCHEZ: They have to take breaks and come up stairs because they can't breathe and now they're looking for other chambers. Two new pieces of information. Plenty more to come. Fred, stay there.
First, take a look at this time line that we put together before we do anything else because I know it's a story that has so many twists and turns. We've taken some police reports and used some of their statements to put together this time line since Fritzl's arrest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): August, 1984, Elizabeth Fritzl is drugged, handcuffed and locked in the basement of her father's Austrian home where she would live as a hostage for the next quarter century. Josef and wife, Rose Marie, received a letter in Elizabeth's handwriting telling them not to look for her.
1988 and 1989, Elizabeth gives birth to daughter Kirsten, a son Stephan, soon follows. 1993, baby Lisa is discovered outside the Fritzl home with a letter from Elizabeth saying she can't care for the little girl. 1994, baby Monica appears. She, too, is taken in by Josef and his wife, Rose Marie. 1996, Elizabeth gives birth to twins. One dies after birth. The other Alexandra appears on Fritzl's doorstep at age one, just like its two sisters.
December 2002, baby Felix is born. Fast forward, April, 2008, Josef Fritzl takes one of his grandchildren who he fathered with his own daughter, to the emergency room. She is gravely ill. Doctors notice the young woman's lack of pigmentation and other health issues.
Mystified, they issue an appeal looking for Elizabeth Fritzl. The following week, Josef releases his daughter and two children from the cellar telling wife, Rose Marie, the Wayward Family has come home.
Saturday, April 26th, police arrived and discover Elizabeth and children at Fritzl's house. Sunday, April 27th, police arrest Fritzl. Elizabeth and children are taken to this hospital where they remain. Daughter Kerstin remains in a coma at a hospital nearby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: So this is a story about rape. It's a story about incest. It's a story about a double life. How do you do something like that? Details are just starting to surface.
Let's go back to CNN's Frederick Pleitgen now. Fred, you know, the thing that most people are truly curious about this. How is this guy able to pull this off? How do you keep a secret like this for so long? PLEITGEN: That certainly is the big question out there in Austria. There are so many things that are just actually mind boggling about this. I mean, you have to think about the fact that he was holding four people down in that dungeon at any given time, you have to give them clothing, you have to give them food and also he was expanding that dungeon all the time trying to make new spaces, trying to improve certain spaces.
They had TV down there, they had electricity down there, they had water down there. Still, of course, terrible living conditions but just think about the kind of work that he had to put into that. And the time that he had to do that and also just getting food into that place and then there's also that big sort of overview of all the lies he told them.
Imagine if you were Josef Fritzl's wife, Rosemarie, the 69 year- old, all of a sudden he tells you that the 18-year-old daughter has run away. That she's joined some religious cult in Austria. Then, babies start surfacing, laying on your doorstep. He says it's her baby. She can't take care of them. It was all a big pack of lies.
And you're absolutely right. People are asking what kind of person is this man, Josef Fritzl. What drives him? Why did he do it? And that's one of the things that we were trying to find out this past week. As we were trying to get inside the mind of Josef Fritzl.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (voice-over): This is the Josef Fritzl people in Amstetten knew. A confident 73-year-old man who liked to vacation in Thailand. But all along, Fritzl was leading a second sinister life.
FRANZ POLZER, AUSTRIAN POLICE (through translator): He has confessed to detectives that he locked up his then 18-year-old daughter in the cellar. He admitted that in there he forced himself physically on her, beat her, locked her up against her will. And he also admitted having repeatedly performed sexual acts, assaults on this young woman, his own daughter.
PLEITGEN: The Austrian police official said this shortly after cops discovered the dungeon under Fritzl's house. For 24 years, he fooled authorities and even his own wife Rosemarie, who police say probably knew nothing.
Gertrude Baumgarten is Rosemarie's friend. She also worked in the same company as Fritzl for two years. She says the man was a tyrant.
GERTRUDE BAUMGARTEN, FRIEND OF ROSEMARIE FRITZL (through translator): I never wanted to have anything to do with him. I never liked him. His posture was always so arrogant.
PLEITGEN: Authorities describe the 73-year-old Fritzl as a man with an extreme lack of empathy for his victims, his own children. They also say he has extreme sexual energy and police believe that was his motive. Authorities think he carefully designed and built the dungeon, where he sexually enslaved his daughter for more than two decades. But Fritzl's lawyer says the man is not the monster people think.
RUDOLF MAYER, JOSEF FRITZL'S LAWYER: My impression is that he really regrets what he had done and he wants really to have that this would never be done from him.
PLEITGEN: Many in Amstetten feel nothing but rage.
I only have a small pension, says Gertrude Baumgarten, but I would spend my money to get a rope and hang that dog.
For decades, people in Amstetten believed Josef Fritzl was just another resident. Now the man who kept his daughter locked up as a slave is himself locked up and may never leave this jail again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: And Rick, there's one more important piece of information that I do want to give you. Remember, you were talking about the fact that in all he fathered seven children. And one of those little babies died shortly after birth.
Now, Fritzl has admitted that that baby's body, he took it and burned it in a furnace inside the house. And now what the police in Austria are trying to do, they're trying to see if in any way they can charge him with murder for the death of that baby because, of course, he didn't allow that baby to have any medical attention at the time, Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: But you know what's ironic about this? And this is the real curious question. He also then ended up taking his 19-year-old granddaughter/daughter, boy, that's strange to say, to the hospital whereby officials began asking questions and this whole thing was uncovered. Why did he do that? Is there any sense of that?
PLEITGEN: Well, that's a very good question. That's certainly something that authorities are asking as well. I mean, they do say that he was a very cold-blooded person in many respects, but in the end he did do that, he did take her to hospital.
But he did also always try to the backdoor open. He seemed like someone who thought that he was so far above everything and so far above all the law enforcement officials. (INAUDIBLE) he could maybe pull that whole thing off and get that girl to the doctor and still keep up that secret life.
I mean, he was dishing up stories, telling them that he had found that 19-year-old girl on his doorsteps gravely ill. And of course, the doctors started asking questions, saying who puts a 19-year-old ill woman in front of someone's door.
You know, when it's a baby -- when you leave a baby at a door, that's something doctors really were willing to believe, but not that it's a 19-year-old girl. So, you're absolutely right. He did try to get out of that.
SANCHEZ: And a 19-year-old girl with no pigmentation, who obviously, according to officials, had never seen the light of day. And that's where the questions spring up.
Fred, do me a favor. Stay there. We're going to continue to bring you back into this conversation because there are questions that continue to keep coming up in this.
First of all, how did it happen and how could it happen? We're going to break down the information as it comes in tonight. A lot of new details. Also, you're going to be hearing from neighbors, from police, from an expert on the criminally-insane and from many others, who are intricate to this particular story.
We're also going to walk you through the Fritzl house. I'm going to show you that house that you're looking right there, how you go in, where he went, where the dungeon was, how he hid it, all these years. And a lot more. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We've been telling you about the politics, now the intrigue. Taking you back to our extensive coverage of a father accused of holding his daughter hostage in the cellar of his own Austrian home for 24 years. Police say that Josef Fritzl fathered seven children with his daughter.
What I want to do now is I've brought the telestrator out. As hard as it is to imagine what this man did, it's a little easier when you start to look at the house itself.
All right. That's the house. And remember, this house is a 10- minute walk from the center of the town. So, it's not like it was out there in the hills or anything like that. All right. Stop it right there, if you would, Roger.
This is where he could come down the stairs from his house, going into this area, into here. Now, in this area here he's just in the basement. There's nothing really particularly secret about where he is.
Now, you see that bookcase right there. All right. That's important because by moving that bookcase over to the side, like I just showed you with that arrow, you go through that opening that you see right there.
He would then go through the opening, through this hallway and that right there is a chamber that's sound-proof and vacuum-locked. So, nobody would be able to hear noises coming from that direction.
All right. Continue the animation now, Roger, and we'll show the rest of the house. All right. Now, you come down through that vacuum chamber and you coming back the other way. Once you get to there, stop it, there, Roger, perfect. All right. Now, we're coming back up, that vacuum chamber. He's coming into this area here. All right? This is the area where they lived and this, right here, would be the sleeping quarters. So, he would be able to come back here, meet with his daughter or daughters or sons and they, in this area, lived in a very claustrophobic environment, where the ceilings were no more than five feet in some places.
So, that's the situation that Josef Fritzl had created in this makeshift dungeon. So, you get a better sense of how he was able to pull this off, without anybody knowing that it was there. And as we speak, they're looking for secret chambers tonight that they say they may also find.
He allegedly goes to tremendous links to build this secret fortress. He imprisons his own family and then his granddaughter. He fathered with his daughter, gets sick and he becomes a humanitarian and rushes her to an emergency room and that's when his double life finally begins to crumble.
My colleague, Frederik Pleitgen, who's tracking the story, he's in Austria now, joining us with the very latest.
Bring us up-to-date again, Fred, on what officials are saying about this man tonight.
PLEITGEN: Well, what they are saying is that initially Josef Fritzl did confess to doing all of these, all these terrible things that we've been talking about. At this moment in time, he has basically quieted down. He's not talking anymore. He has legal representation as we have seen.
Still, the police say they consider this whole case solved. But nevertheless, many questions remain to be answered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. FRANZ PRUCHER, SECURITUY DIR. FOR LOWER AUSTRIA: The missing person case Elizabeth Fritzl can now be deemed as solved. Nevertheless, police investigations will be continued. It is necessary to certainly check the entire life of the suspect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: And still, Rick, one thing that many people in Amstetten in Austria are asking is, how could all of this go on for such a long time. How come none of the neighbors noticed anything and how come none of the authorities noticed anything?
Remember, this man legally adopted three of those kids that he fathered with his own daughter through incestuous rape, and people just never asked any question and now people are asking how could that be?
SANCHEZ: Specifically, how could the wife not know? Because I can understand him keeping it from other family members, but she lived in that house. He would obviously have to be gone for long periods of time. Didn't she ask herself, where is he when she called out and he didn't show up? It just seems very curious, Fred.
PLEITGEN: Yes, that's something that we've talked to a lot of people out there in Amstetten about. And they say -- many people say, they just can't imagine that you could live with someone for 24 years and just not notice what's going on basically right underneath your nose.
But on the other hand, the authorities are saying that Josef Fritzl was a very oppressive figure, that he did tend to be violent and that she was sort of the weaker part of that whole relationship.
And people I've talked to say they just cannot imagine that she would have known anything about it and that if she did then she would have been afraid to say so. So, people really are asking what was going on there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (voice-over): An apartment building with a dungeon in the basement. A daughter locked up for 24 years. Seven children born from incestuous rape. And apparently no one in this Austrian town noticed anything.
When we confronted Amstetten residents, some of them broke down.
ROBERT GASSLDORFER, FRIEND OF JOSEF FRITZL (through translator): It's just awful. It's insane. I can't believe this happened here.
PLEITGEN: But were there signs something was wrong? One former tenant in Fritzl's apartment building says, maybe there were.
ALFRED DUBANOVSKY, FMR. TENANT IN FRITZL'S HOUSE (through translator): Under my apartment was the atelier. The part went all the way from the top to the cellar and I heard knocking and very strong banging and scratching from there many times.
PLEITGEN: Investigators say there was nothing they could have done.
FRANZ POLZER, AUSTRIAN POLICE (through translator): Hearing a sound is far from being evidence that people are being held prisoner in the basement.
PLEITGEN: Police believe Fritzl did it all on his own. Keeping his daughter Elizabeth and three of the children locked up. Four people in all, feeding them, clothing them, providing them with at least some medical care, without ever arousing suspicion.
Josef Leitner lived in Fritzl's house in the 1990s.
JOSEF LEITNER, FORMER TENANT IN FRITZL'S HOUSE (through translator): Of course, he sometimes carried things inside, plastic bags for instance. Maybe he had been shopping. But at the time, I thought nothing of it. But I saw him do that several times. I'm sure of that.
PLEITGEN: Fritzl seems to have had a scam to cover everything up. He provided letters in Elizabeth's handwriting, saying she had run away from home. The district mayor showed me those letters.
HANS-HEINZ LENZE, DISTRICT MAYOR: Please don't look for me because it is useless and would increase my pains and the pains for my children.
PLEITGEN: It's pretty shocking, isn't it, now that you know?
LENZE: It's really shocking. If you know all the facts from today, it's shocking.
PLEITGEN: Those facts are only now coming to light, 24 years after Josef Fritzl lured his daughter Elizabeth into the dungeon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: And, Rick, in this next week they are going to interrogate Fritzl again. They don't know if he's going to talk but they do believe that a lot more facts are still going to surface as this investigation goes on.
SANCHEZ: All right. Here's one of the big points that we're going to have to talk about tonight. What's going on with these children? What's it like to spend so many years without ever seeing sunlight? What's their health concern? Can they speak? Do they have a language? And if so, what kind of language?
There's new details on a lot of this information from the hospital where they're being kept. And we'll share that with you on the other side. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. Let's get back into this. And joining us now to explore the mind of the -- is this guy criminally insane? I don't know. I'll let Candice Delong to say it. She's a former FBI agent and profiler.
You and I have had a lot of conversations over the years about a lot of strange people. But I got the tell you, I think this guy takes the cake.
CANDICE DELONG, FORMER. FBI AGENT: This guy takes the cake.
SANCHEZ: My words exactly. How would you categorize this guy as a profiler?
DELONG: Well, he's not insane. Insanity is a legal term, not a clinical term. But basically it means that the person did not know what they were doing was wrong. I would say by all means, this man knew what he was doing was wrong. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to hide it for as long as he did. People that don't know what they're doing is wrong, that are delusional or hearing voices, don't usually attempt to hide their crimes, like Andrea Yates.
SANCHEZ: What do you make of the fact that nobody knew anything, or if they knew, they didn't say anything? What does that say about him?
DELONG: Well, let's talk about the average person, the neighbors and the co-workers. The last thing from a normal, decent person's mind is what actually turned out to be true.
So you don't -- if you recall the kidnapped boy, who has recovered after five years. People heard all kinds of strange things coming from his captor's apartment and saw things and they don't think, gee, maybe that's the kid who's been kidnapped.
As for the wife, Rick, men that do these kinds of things tend to not marry and choose partners -- women who are intelligent, curious, challenging. A lot of women, if a man said before he left to work, don't you go near that basement door. Me, I've got a crowbar at that door.
SANCHEZ: Yes, exactly. Well, that's the next question. And we're down to 15 seconds so give us a quick answer on this. Why didn't his daughter, who's now 42 or something like that, at one point overcome him and just get out of there, escape?
DELONG: Well, I thought about that, too. But he's already admitted beating her and he raped her the first time when she was 11. She was probably terrified of him. Oh, and make no mistake, he didn't take the 19-year-old to the hospital because he turned into a humanitarian. He was afraid if she died on the property, he'd have trouble getting rid of her body.
SANCHEZ: Wow. Candice Delong, breaking it down for us. We thank you, Candice, as usual.
Next week, we turn to -- or next, I should say, we turn to the victims. Reports that the children are not able to cope and they may need a closed environment. So now at the hospital, they're actually building them something that looks like the place where they lived because that's the only way they can survive. Can you imagine that?
Also, what does that do to the body and the mind, years and years without any light? We'll talk about the medical aspect. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: This is an incredible story about a man who's turned his own children and grandchildren into the victims of a dungeon that he built. Joining us now, Dr. Paul Ragan. He's associate professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University.
Doctor, let me just first of all tell you some of the tidbits that we know about this. This is really interesting. The children apparently didn't speak any language. They just kind of muttered strange sounds.
They were light sensitive because they've been down there for so long. They have no pigmentation and we understand that the hospital has now had to build them something that looks like where they lived underground because that's the only place that they're comfortable.
What does all of this say to you?
DR. PAUL RAGAN, ASSOCIATE PROF OF PSYCHIATRY: What it tells me is that the children are suffering from something we call psychosocial dwarfism. With all the deprivation, nutritional, environmental, the lack of ability to exercise, vitamin D deficiency from the sunlight deprivation that they have very stunted the development, both physically and, unfortunately, intellectually.
There's a critical --
SANCHEZ: Getting over the sexual abuse part of this, which is also a very important part of it.
RAGAN: Oh, yes.
SANCHEZ: Let's go beyond that. Do they just need to be completely socially reprogrammed?
RAGAN: Well, let's start, for example you mentioned the language and the way they grunt. It turns out there's a critical time period of development that you have to be exposed to language instructive prior to puberty.
So, the 19-year-old girl that's now in a coma and the 18-year-old boy are probably, unless they learned enough language from the mom and the television that was down there, their language acquisition is going to be impaired for the rest of their lives.
The 5-year-old boy is young enough that he's got a chance with intensive treatment. But they have medical needs. They have very basic needs of socializing. It's not a matter of reprogramming. It's a matter of years and years of therapy and exposure and protecting them.
And yes indeed, they do need a place that they can hide in this thing that they've built them where they can go inside at night or when they're scared.
SANCHEZ: Down to 10 seconds.
RAGAN: Yes, sir.
SANCHEZ: Will they be able to come out of this at some point? What is your best guess?
RAGAN: The children that suffered this degree of social deprivation, abuse, physical abuse, the older they are that when they're freed, the less good is their prognosis.
SANCHEZ: Sounds like you're saying it might be a long haul.
RAGAN: Very long.
SANCHEZ: Doctor, thank you for sharing your expertise with us on this.
RAGAN: Thank you.
This story may have thoroughly exhausted you at this point. Just listening to it, as it has much of our time. But before we go tonight, some final thoughts about the so-called monster in the basement and the story that we've been following for quite some time.
A story that has made us all realize that maybe in the end, we need to be a little careful about what's going on around us, as maybe some of those neighbors that lived by this man are probably asking themselves tonight.
Thanks so much for being with us. Again, Barack Obama the winner in Guam. More news tomorrow here at 10 p.m. I'm Rick Sanchez. Good night, everybody.
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