Kerstin Fritzl, the eldest of Josef Fritzl’s “downstairs family,” has slipped into a coma from which she is unlikely to recover, the Daily Telegraph reports. “She is suffering from multiple organ failure,” said a hospital spokesman. “That means her chances of survival are very low.” Police say they will consider bringing murder charges against Fritzl if the girl dies.
Kerstin, 19, had spent her entire life locked in her father’s underground dungeon, until she became violently ill and needed to be hospitalized. It was her sickness that brought the rest of her family out of the cellar, and Frtizl’s misdeeds to light. Police could tack “murder through negligence” onto the rape charges Fritzl already faces. (More Josef Fritzl stories.)