Fritzl Told Victims He'd Gas Them

Josef Fritzl threatened to gas his captive daughter and their children if they tried to escape, the Guardian reports, claiming he had rigged a toxic-gas system in the basement. Meanwhile, the possibility of an accomplice arose for the first time today, when a 12-year lodger at the house said he had seen another man, identified as a “plumber,” go into the basement, reports the BBC.

The lodger said he and others staying at the house were forbidden to enter the basement. Fritzl’s sister-in-law, who called him a “despot,” said he often spent whole nights in the basement, and went down “every morning at seven, supposedly to develop plans for machines that would sell to businesses.” A letter he forced his daughter to write suggests he may have planned to release her eventually. (More Josef Fritzl stories.)