"Expert on Evil"

Marchtrenk: Fritzl’s Expert Witness for the Horrific Husband

In the Fritzl case, Adelheid Kastner (small photo) prepared the psychiatric report. Now she is speaking with the Marchtrenk torturer in his cell.(Bild: Krone-Collage/FOTOKERSCHI / WERNER KERSCHBAUMM, APA/Helmut Fohringer, , Krone KREATIV)

She is considered one of the most renowned forensic psychiatrists—now Adelheid Kastner is once again peering into the depths of the human psyche. She is analyzing the abusive husband in the Marchtrenk abuse case, which ended with the gruesome death of a 39-year-old woman. 

Evil is practically an everyday occurrence for her; she knows the local courtrooms like the back of her hand. Adelheid Kastner has made headlines beyond Austria’s borders with her psychiatric expert opinions in high-profile cases. The 64-year-old determines whether the defendant was mentally incompetent or, conversely, mentally competent—and thus criminally responsible—at the time of the alleged offense

Decision on Commitment
Her expertise ensures that, in cases of particular danger due to a serious mental disorder—regardless of the prison sentence—the defendant is committed to an “institution for mentally abnormal offenders.” This applies even in cases of life imprisonment. Only when a panel of experts at the forensic-therapeutic center—as it is now called—determined that the individual no longer poses a risk to others is the inmate released.

Among her most famous cases are the “incest monster” Josef Fritzl and the “Ice Lady” Estibaliz C., who shot two of her partners, dismembered them with a chainsaw, and encased the bodies in concrete in the basement beneath her “Schleckeria.”

Expert Report in a Horrific Abuse Case
Adelheid Kastner has now been commissioned by the Wels Regional Court to peer into the psychological depths of the “horror father” from Marchtrenk (Upper Austria). Her expert opinion is eagerly awaited. The fate of the 51-year-old man, who is alleged to have tortured his wife (the presumption of innocence applies) to death, thus also lies in her hands...