Austrian Incest Dad's Wife Seeks Divorce

PASSAU, Germany, July 30, 2008 — -- Rosemarie Fritzl, 69, the wife of the man who had imprisoned his own daughter Elisabeth for 24 years in the basement of the family home in Amstetten, Austria, seems to be getting ready for a new life.

She was reportedly seen by next-door neighbors last weekend picking up some personal belongings, such as clothes, a mattress and a few pieces of furniture, when she returned to the infamous Ybbsstraße 40 address.

Relatives accompanied her to help her clear out the top floor apartment in the home she shared for more than a half century with her husband, Josef Fitzl, until his horrific crime came to light in April.

She did not spend much time at the house and she only briefly nodded her head at her former neighbors, reportedly saying, "I'm fine, thanks, I'm fine."

Rosemarie Fritzl, her daughter Elisabeth, 42, and Elisabeth's six surviving children had initially moved into an apartment inside the Amstetten-Mauer hospital, where they all received special care and treatment by a group of physicians and psychiatrists in the weeks following the crime's discovery.

While Elisabeth and her kids are still in seclusion at their apartment inside the facility, Rosemarie is said to have left them after the two women had a row.

Austrian newspapers claim that Elisabeth was devastated that the three children, who were raised by her mother as "foundlings" upstairs, still call Rosemarie "Mom." Elisabeth also was upset that her mother never stood up to her father, who began to rape her when she was 11 years old, according to her statement to the police.

Austrian papers report that Elisabeth is not convinced that her mother knew nothing of the abuse she suffered before her father locked her up for most of her life.

Austrian newspaper Oesterreich claims she has now told her mother to stay away from the family's apartment at the psychiatric clinic. Rosemarie Fritzl was said to be "shattered" by her daughter's request and has since moved in with one of her other children.

Rosemarie has now reportedly said she plans to divorce her husband, who is in jail awaiting his trial later this year facing potential charges of rape, incarceration, incest and possibly manslaughter.