Leading a Double Life
Elisabeth's family began to believe the theory that she really had run away to join a sect, and they learned what life was like without her. Josef started living a sick and evil double life, as the father to the Fritzl family upstairs and keeping his daughter prisoner downstairs.
As far as the rest of the family was concerned, Josef would head down to the basement workshop every morning at 9 a.m. to draw up plans for the machinery he sold. Sometimes, he'd be there all day and even spend the night, but Rosemarie never worried. She had no reason not to believe that her husband was just committed to his work.