Natascha Kampusch (born February 17, 1988) is an Austrian teenager who was abducted at the age of 10 in 1998, and remained in custody of her kidnapper for more than eight years, until she fled on August 23, 2006. It was widely reported in the media that she was held in a "dungeon" for the period of her confinement. This very small secret room was hidden 2½ meters underground with only 5 m² of space -- 2,78 in length x 1,81 in width x 2,37 in height (approximately 9' long, 6' wide, with a 7'9" ceiling). The chamber in which she lived was not an ordinary bedroom. It was closed, with two doors and great strong-room door made of steel. The area had no windows or daylight. Kampusch was not allowed to leave this hidden room in the first years. But this area was reconditioned - according to the desires of Natascha in last years. ^{[citation needed]} Only more recently in February 2006 did her kidnapper allow her to leave the house on occasion.^{[citation needed]} Since June 2005 she could walk in the garden.^{[citation needed]}

She left her family's residence in Vienna's Donaustadt district on March 2, 1998, for school, but failed to show up or to come home. A witness reported having seen her entering a white minibus with dark rear and side windows, and two other witnesses reported the letters G or GF (for Gänserndorf) on the license plate. A witness claimed she had seen Natasha as she was dragged into a white minibus where two men were.^[1][1][2] But Natascha Kampusch does not say a second man would have participated, how it is readable in secret police-report.^{[citation needed]} A massive search action followed, yielding no result. Seven hundred cars were examined, including the car of the kidnapper. Officials investigated possible links to the crimes of French serial killer Michel Fourniret.^{[citation needed]}

Her reappearance in August 2006 was widely publicized. She had been kidnapped by 44-year old communications engineer Wolfgang Priklopil. Kampusch used a moment of her kidnapper's inattentiveness to flee, and banged on the window of a 71-year old neighbor known as Inge T., saying, "I am Natascha Kampusch."^[3] The neighbor informed the police. Later Kampusch was taken to the police department in the town of Deutsch Wagram. She had previously had outings with her kidnapper but had not tried to escape.^{[citation needed]}

The police had already interviewed Priklopil nearby his house in Strasshof an der Nordbahn in Lower Austria, near Gänserndorf, about a thirty minute drive from Vienna,^[4] as part of a massive effort to interview owners of white minibuses. Although he stated that on the morning of March 2, 1998, he was alone at home, no further investigations were conducted as he could provide a plausible explanation of why he owned the minibus: to transport construction site rubble. Apparently, he was doing construction work in his own house. Furthermore, he had no criminal record at that time.^[5] Natascha Kampusch was identified by a scar on her body, a passport carrying her name found in the hidden room she had been kept in, as well as by DNA tests.^[6] Priklopil, having found out the police were after him, killed himself by jumping in front of a suburban train near the North Station in Vienna. He had apparently also predicted his suicide by telling Natascha that "they would not catch him alive."^[7]

Sabine Freudenberger, the first police officer to speak to Natascha Kampusch after her ordeal, said that she was astonished by her "intelligence, her vocabulary". Priklopil brought her books, newspapers and a radio, and some reports say he even taught her. According to Kampusch's official statement after her escape, she and Priklopil would get up early each morning to have breakfast together.

In her official statement she said "I don't want and will not answer any questions about personal or intimate details."^[8] Sabine Freudenberger expressed the opinion that Kampusch could have had "sexual contact" with her kidnapper.^[9] Purportedly, Kampusch even sometimes slept in the bed of Priklopil.^{[citation needed]}

There is speculation that Kampusch may have Stockholm syndrome as a result of her ordeal. She indicated she mourned the suicide of her captor, after having been in his captivity for eight years.^[10]

See also

References

• Washington Post. 24 August 2006. "Austrian girl's suspected kidnapper kills himself". Accessed 24 August 2006.
• ORF. 25 August 2006. "Hatte Entführer einen Komplizen?". Accessed 25 August 2006 (German)
• Kampusch's letter to the media, read and written by her psychiatrist at a news conference (English translation). He said he was told by Kampusch not to provide her statement in written form.

External links

• Video of her dungeon cabin by Bundeskriminalamt (Federal Criminal Police Office of Austria)
• English translation by International Herald-Tribune of open letter released by Kampusch on August 28, 2006
• Draft of the hidden room Kampusch lived in by APA
• Draft of the hidden room Kampusch lived in by Federal Criminal Police Office of Austria
• Natascha Kampusch passport-photo