In 1602 a Lutheran minister named István Magyari complained about atrocities both publicly and with the court in Vienna, after rumors had spread. Hungarian authorities stalled to respond to Magyari’s complaints. In 1610, King Matthias II assigned György Thurzó, the Palatine of Hungary, to investigate the accusations. Thurzó assigned two investigators to collect evidence and question the castle servants and commoners around the area. This went on for one year and in 1611 they had collected the testimony of over 300 people including the four accomplices,Helena Jo the childrens wet nurse, Dorotya Semtész, aka Dorka, a witch, Kataínka Benická a house servant and , János Újváry aka Ficko a crippled dwarf like man, as well as other castle employees and person’s of interest.

The trial of the four accomplices was swift and ended with Helena Jo and  Dorotya Semtész having their fingers ripped from their hands with hot pokers and then burned at the stake. Ficko, who was deemed not strong enough for the torcher was beheaded and then his body burned with the other women at the stake. Kataínka Benická was found to have been bullied by the other women and was sentenced to life in prison. Other accounts say that she was set free as she was newly employed at the castle and did not participate in the crimes.

Elizabeth herself was never tried nor convicted of any crimes. During the trial of the others a diary containing the accounts of 650 or more women were supposedly documented by Elizabeth’s own hand. This diary was never found. Some letters rumored to have been sent in correspondence between Elizabeth and Dorka and are kept in the Hungarian state archives in Budapest. This is also not proven.

At the time of the trials King Matthias II owed a great debt to Elizabeth’s husband Ferenc for a loan that was given for the wars that he could not pay back. Elizabeth had sold one of her castles to prevent bankruptcy and pressure was on the King for the repayment of the loans. By finding her guilty of these crimes, the king would absolve the loans and also take Elizabeth’s land and other holdings. It was in his best interests that Bathroy be guilty of the crimes weather they were actual or false allegations on the Countess.

However, to save face the Bathroy family stepped in and averted the humiliation against the family. Her son Paul and her two sons in law wanted to take her immediately to a nunnery but were prevented from doing this by the crown. It was at the request of the investigator György Thurzó that the king did not publicly try the Countess, although it is not known why.

In 1611 Elizabeth Bathroy was sentenced, without trial, to house arrest and walled up in her castle room with only slits for air and food. The king could not execute any member of nobility and doing so to a Bathroy would cause civil unrest among the other nobility and the Bathroy family.

Elizabeth lived for four more years before being discovered by a castle servant face down on the floor dead. Her death is recorded on August 21, 1614. This is also debated as there were some plates of food found in the room untouched. She was buried at Csejte on church grounds and later moved, due to villager’s uproar,  to her childhood home in Ecsed, where she is interred at the Báthory family crypt.