A woman places a candle at main square of Amstetten, Austria, during a vigil for members of the Fritzl family, 29 April 2008

Hundreds of residents of the small town of Amstetten, Austria held a candlelight vigil Tuesday night for the 42-year-old woman whose father has admitted holding her captive in a cellar for 24 years and having seven children with her.

Town citizens say they want to show the world that Amstetten is not a terrible place where no one cares for people.

Earlier Tuesday, a judge ordered 73-year-old Josef Fritzl to stay in jail while the investigation continues.

Handout photo of Josef Fritzl

Police say DNA tests confirm that he fathered his daughter's six surviving children. A seventh child died shortly after birth. Fritzl said he burned the body in a furnace.

Police say he admitted drugging his 19-year-old daughter in 1984 and locking her in the cellar.  The basement prison could only be entered through a hidden door with an electric code.

Authorities say they only discovered the situation when one of the children was hospitalized last week for an unspecified illness.

Police describe Fritzl's daughter, now 42, as greatly disturbed and under psychiatric care. Authorities are trying to figure out how Fritzl's wife could have lived with her husband for more than 20 years and not know what was going on under her house.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.