( CNN ) -- Josef Fritzl , the Austrian man accused of keeping his daughter in a cellar for decades and fathering her seven children , will go on trial March 16 on six charges including murder and incest . Josef Fritzl admitted fathering seven children by his daughter during her 24-year captivity . The Austrian Press Agency reported Thursday the trial was expected to last about five days and be held behind closed doors . Further details about the case would be announced Friday , it said . Fritzl , 73 , was charged in November with incest and the repeated rape of his daughter , Elisabeth , for 24 years . But he was also charged with the murder of one of the children he fathered with her , an infant who died soon after birth . State Prosecutor Gerhard Sedlacek said Michael Fritzl died from lack of medical care . In all , Fritzl faces six charges at trial : murder , involvement in slave trade ( slavery ) , rape , incest , assault , and deprivation of liberty , Sedlacek 's office said . If convicted , he could face life in prison . The case first came to light in April 2008 when Elisabeth 's then-19-year-old daughter , Kerstin , became seriously ill with convulsions . Elisabeth persuaded her father to allow Kerstin to be taken to a hospital for treatment . Hospital staff became suspicious of the case and alerted police , who discovered the family members in the cellar . Fritzl confessed to police that he raped his daughter , kept her and their children in captivity , and burned the body of the dead infant in an oven in the house . Elisabeth told police the infant was one of twins who died a few days after birth . When Elisabeth gained her freedom , she told police her father began sexually abusing her at age 11 . On August 8 , 1984 , her father enticed her into the basement , where he drugged her , put her in handcuffs and locked her in a room , she told police . Fritzl explained Elisabeth 's disappearance in 1984 by saying the 18-year-old girl had run away from home . He backed up the story with letters he forced Elisabeth to write . Elisabeth Fritzl and all but three of her children lived in the specially designed cellar beneath her father 's home in Amstetten , Austria , west of Vienna . The other three children lived upstairs with Fritzl and his wife ; Fritzl had left them on his own doorstep , pretending his `` missing '' daughter Elisabeth had dropped them off . Under Austrian law , if Fritzl is convicted on several offenses , he will be given the sentence linked to the worst crime . In addition to murder , he will face the following charges : .
Fritzl accused of keeping daughter captive for decades , on trial decades . Josef Fritzl faces murder charge as 7 of one children he fathered by daughter died . Other charges include incest , rape , assault and involvement in slave trade .