Austria searches soul in sex dungeon aftermath

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Yet Austria's obsession with secrecy and privacy apparently extends to its law enforcement and judicial systems.

Legal experts say postwar Austria distanced itself from the Nazi legacy by enacting laws — some of which still form the backbone of the nation's modern criminal code — which effectively stripped police of much of their past authority to keep close tabs on citizens.

Both Franz Polzer, the regional police official leading the investigation, and prosecutor Gerhard Sedlacek confirmed an unusual practice: Austria, they say, destroys criminal records after a certain period — generally 15 years — when the statute of limitations is deemed to have erased old offenses.

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"When such a crime has been atoned for, it's been atoned for," Polzer told the German weekly Der Spiegel this week.

Later, pressed by reporters about how the local authorities could have missed clues that might have alerted them to Fritzl's hidden chamber of horrors many years ago, Polzer became defensive.

"If you don't want to believe that a man is capable of this," he said, "then you can't believe there is deception on our Earth."