ThibesLOS ANGELES – Is there a more disturbed part of the male psyche than that which could rape, imprison and impregnate one’s own daughter? A mass murderer, perhaps, but the impersonal nature of that crime seems to put it in another category of psychosis. The premeditated sexual enslavement of offspring seems so pathological, however, so utterly looney tunes, that most probably assume it is very rare, indeed.

It ain’t all that rare, apparently.


The April 17 Los Angeles Times article about a man sentenced to 108 years in prison for the sexual assault of his daughter that spanned two decades and resulted in three children, is disturbingly similar to the case of Josef Fritzl, who imprisoned his daughter for 24 years, fathering seven children with her.

Italy also had its Fritzl, one Michele Mongelli. And now there is Lindolfo Thibes (pictured), referred to by a police detective as “probably the sickest suspect I ever had.”

The details are unnerving, to say the least. Is this natural in homo sapiens? Are we programmed in some dark place of the brain to do this? Sustaining the crime over so many years, fooling so many people, including the authorities, is hardly the behavior of a raving lunatic. Are we really that sick or are we just not paying attention?

Photo: Lindolfo Thibes in court today at his sentencing. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times