t/w kidnapping (duh), rape

a photo of Rose, taken by her mother, four days before her disappearance
Born January 17th, 1980
Missing July 22nd, 1993 - October 13th, 2005

SOLVED

Rose Jessica Henderson is a Canadian child safety activist, author and former missing person.

Rose was born in Vancouver, Canada, to Eden and Oliver Henderson, the fourth of six children. She, by all accounts, had a happy childhood. She never had any major behavioral issues and loved writing, often writing short stories for her children. In 1990, the family moved to Calgary, Canada, due to Eden and Oliver being offered jobs there. For the next three years, things carried on as normal. When she was twelve, Rose got a job babysitting for the Fritzl family, on the street over, babysitting their two toddlers. For the next year, things were fine for the family, until July 22nd, 1993.

The morning of July 22nd, 1993, Rose left to go to the Fritzl house. The Fritzl parents arrived home around seven that night and as such, Rose left, but she never arrived home. Eden called the Fritzl home, and the father, Anderson, said that he had offered to walk Rose home, but she declined, and that was that.

In a 2001 news segment, Anderson Fritzl would say; "I really wish I had insisted. Hindsight is 20/20, after all."

Rose was reported missing right after.

For the next twelve years, there were several tips and reported sightings of Rose all throughout Calgary. There were also a few in some surrounding cities. A few reported her as being seen with children.

In 2002, a body was discovered on a highway outside of Calgary. For a bit of time, this Jane Doe was believed to be Rose, but after DNA tests from the Henderson parents, that was ruled out. She was identified in 2010 as Catherine Jamie Fellows.

Finally, on October 13th, 2005, a man, named Felix Svensson, came into Rockyview General Hospital with a sick five year old boy. The boy, who was able to speak, had exaggerated his symptoms and the man seemed angry at this when the boy, who named himself as being named Ollie, suddenly stopped coughing and acted fine and smiled at the staff. He then said, "My mommy is named Rose Henderson. She told me to tell you her address is-" He then listed the address, which has not been released to the public.

Felix was detained and police were sent to the address. Two hours later, Rose, and five other children, arrived at Rockyview. Here's what happened;

On July 22nd, 1993, when Rose was walking home, she was approached by Felix, who tried talking to her, but she didn't talk to him, so he then grabbed her arm and placed a hand over her mouth, telling her that if she spoke, he would kill her right then and there. He then led her to his car and drove to his home, which was still in Calgary. Immediately, Rose says her brain went into survival mode.

She started talking to Felix, as she said in her book, as if he were her uncle. He trapped her in his basement, yet he was strangely kind to her. If she was 'behaved', he would be kind to her. If she 'behaved poorly', he would beat her. Felix would occasionally take her out when he ran errands, but he would make sure to keep her as concealed as possible. In 1994, Rose fell pregnant, and, in February of 1995, she gave birth to a baby boy, whom she named Mason. In total, she had six children with her captor; Mason (born February 19th, 1995), Christopher (born June 12th, 1997), Harper (born May 1st, 1998), Oliver "Ollie" (born March 17th, 2000), Emmy (born December 1st, 2001) and Lissy (born January 28th, 2003).

Today, all the kids are living normal lives, to the extent that they are able.

They all were taken out once a week by Felix, who once took them to Washington D.C. to see the Smithsonian museums. Rose says she was always too scared to try and escape. She had thought about it several times, had concocted multiple plans, but never went through with it due to the fear.

Felix often had Rose perform household chores for him, as well as the children as they got older. He built a playground in the backyard, which he often let the children play in. Felix never hit or in any way physically hurt the kids, according to all testimonies given.

On October 12th, 2005, Ollie started coughing, and he ran a fever, so Rose finally saw her chance. She made him exaggerate his symptoms, and coached him on what to say. The following afternoon, when Felix came to check on them, Rose begged him to take Ollie to the hospital, which he finally relented.

October 14th, shortly after midnight, Rose reunited with her parents, who had divorced in 1997. There was massive police coverage. The trial began in April of 2006 and Felix would be sentenced to life in prison. He died in 2018.

Rose spent two years avoiding the media until 2007, when she released a book, detailing her years of captivity, entitled Thirteen, Six, Twelve, Twenty-five. Thirteen was her age when she was kidnapped, six was the number of children she had, Twelve was how many years she was held captive, and twenty-five was her age when she was freed. When asked why she spent two years avoiding the media, she stated, quote;

"I needed time to heal. I had twelve years of my life stolen from me. I don't see how that's so hard to understand."

Since then, Rose has become an advocate for child safety. She has met with several other kidnapping survivors and released a book in 2021, detailing the last sixteen years of freedom. Her children, who are able to remember being in captivity, have also spoken to media, and they've described Rose as a wonderful mother.

Rose circa 2023