Natascha Kampusch

Natascha Kampusch

Natascha Kampusch (born 17 February 1988) is an Austrian teenager who was abducted at the age of 10 on 2 March 1998, and remained in custody of her kidnapper, Wolfgang Priklopil, for more than eight years, until she escaped on 23 August 2006.

Early years and family

Kampusch was born to Brigitta Sirny, and raised by Sirny and her life partner Ludwig Koch in Vienna, Austria. Her family included two adult sisters, and four nieces and nephews. Sirny and Kampusch's father Koch separated while Kampusch was still a child. Kampusch spent time with both of them, having returned to her mother's home from a vacation with Koch the day before her kidnapping.

Kidnapping

Kampusch left her family's residence in Vienna's Donaustadt district on 2 March 1998 for school, but failed to arrive at school or 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. The witness claimed also she had seen Kampusch being dragged into the white minibus, with another person at the wheel. Kampusch, however, does not report that a second man was present. A massive search followed, yielding no success. Seven hundred cars were examined, including that of the kidnapper, Priklopil, who lived in Strasshof an der Nordbahn in Lower Austria, near Gänserndorf, about half an hour from Vienna by car, as part of a massive effort to interview owners of white minibuses. Although he stated that on the morning of 2 March 1998 he was alone at home, no further investigation was undertaken. The police were satisfied with his explanation of why he owned the minibus: to transport construction site rubble, since Priklopil was doing construction work in his house. Furthermore, he had no criminal record at that time.

Officials investigated possible links to the crimes of the French serial killer Michel Fourniret.

Captivity

Kampusch was held in a very small, secret room for the period of her confinement. It was hidden 2.5 metres underground with only 5 m² of space -- 2.78 m length x 1.81 m width x 2.37 m height (approximately 9 ft long, 6 ft wide, with a 7 ft 9 in ceiling). The chamber was not an ordinary bedroom. It was closed, with two doors and a strong-room door made of steel. The entrance was hidden behind a cupboard in Priklopil's garage. The room had no windows or daylight. Kampusch was not allowed to leave the tiny space at night in the first years of her imprisonment. For the first six months of her captivity she was confined to the small chamber day and night. Afterwards, she spent increasing amounts of time upstairs in the rest of the house, but each night was sent back to the chamber for sleeping, and also while Priklopil was working. In later years, the room was remodelled according to Kampusch's specifications. When the police found the room, it contained a ladder leading to a bed over a nightstand with a drawer, a unit of shelves and small cupboards, a TV, a desk and chair, a toilet and sink, hooks for clothes, a bulletin board and a ventilator that pumped air into the cell. The room was cluttered with papers, books, clothes, boxes, games and water bottles. From June 2005, she had been allowed to walk in the garden. Only after 17 February 2006 had her kidnapper allowed her to leave the house on occasion. He later took her on a two-week skiing trip though she initially denied this in interview and only admitted to lying after conclusive evidence was provided.

According to Kampusch's official statement after her escape, she and Priklopil would get up early each morning to have breakfast together. Priklopil gave her books, so she educated herself, and according to a colleague of his, she appeared happy. Later, when explaining that in general she did not feel she had missed anything during her imprisonment, she noted, "I spared myself many things, I did not start smoking or drinking and I did not hang out in bad company." But she said also: "I always had the thought: Surely I didn't come into the world so I could be locked up and my life completely ruined. I give up in despair about this unfairness. I always felt like a poor chicken in a hen house. You saw my dungeon on television and in the media. Thus you know, how small it was. It was a place to despair." Kampusch's media advisor has also said Kampush told him Priklopil " would beat her so badly she could hardly walk. When she was beaten black and blue, he tried to smarten her up. Then he would take his camera and photograph her."

Priklopil had warned Natascha that the doors and windows of the house were booby-trapped with high explosives. He also claimed to be carrying a gun, and that he would kill her if she attempted to escape. Nevertheless, Kampusch on one occasion fantasized about chopping his head off with an axe, although she quickly dismissed the idea. She also attempted to make noise during her early years of captivity by throwing bottles of water against the walls.

Kampusch has said that of her relationship with Priklopil that 'I always felt that I was the stronger one.' She has recalled that she had a bell in her room which Prikopil told her to ring if she needed anything, she rang it so often he switched it off. She would also send him to the supermarket to buy the food to cook for dinner and forced him to celebrate Christmas and buy her presents. [1]

Escape

In an article in The Mail on Sunday on 17 September 2006 it was reported that Kampusch has said she had several opportunities to escape. She has admitted that Priklopil would even 'suggest' ways for her to escape. Several reports from neighbours to journalist Ruth Elkins report that he would be eating in a restaurant while she apparently waited in the car outside. [2]

When she finally decided to escape she reappeared on 23rd August 2006. She was cleaning and vacuuming her kidnapper's BMW 850i in the garden. At 12:53pm, someone called Priklopil on his mobile phone, and he walked away to take the call because of the vacuuming noise. Kampusch left the vacuum cleaner running and ran away, unseen by Priklopil, who, according to the caller, completed the phone call without any sign of being disturbed or distracted. Kampusch ran through gardens and a street for some 200 metres, jumping fences, and asking passers-by to call the police, yet they paid her no attention. After some five minutes, she knocked on the window of a 71-year old neighbour known as Inge T., saying, "I am Natascha Kampusch." The neighbour called the police at 1.04pm. Later Kampusch was taken to the police station in the town of Deutsch Wagram.

She had previously been allowed on outings with Priklopil, and tried at least once to escape.

Kampusch was identified by a scar on her body, her passport (which was found in the room where she had been held), and by DNA tests. The young woman was in good physical health, although she looked pale and shaken and weighed only 48 kg (approximately 106 lb), the same weight (45 kg) as eight years earlier when she disappeared. She had grown only 15 centimeters (approximately 6 in).

Sabine Freudenberger, the first police officer to speak to Kampusch after her ordeal, said that she was astonished by her "intelligence, her vocabulary." After two years Priklopil brought her books, newspapers, and a radio, tuned mainly to Ö1, an ORF station that is known for promoting education. She also states that she constantly had a feeling that she lacked something: A deficit. So I wanted to make that better and I tried to educate myself, to teach myself skills. I have learned to knit for an example. Priklopil, having found that the police were after him, killed himself by jumping in front of a suburban train near the Wien Nord station in Vienna. He had apparently predicted his suicide by telling Kampusch that "they would not catch him alive."

After escape

In her official statement she said "I don't want and will not answer any questions about personal or intimate details." Sabine Freudenberger expressed the opinion that Kampusch could have had "sexual contact" with her kidnapper.

There is speculation that Kampusch may have Stockholm syndrome as a result of her ordeal. She indicated that she felt grief over Priklopil's suicide, in spite of having been held captive for eight years by him, and according to police she lit a candle for him at the morgue. She has, however, denied the allegation of Stockholm syndrome and referred to her captor as a "criminal."

She also reported in interview that she had a 'terrible relationship' with her biological parents though she has recently been pictured hugging her mother. [3]

Interviews

After reportedly hundreds of requests for an interview with the teenager, with media outlets offering vast sums of money, Kampusch was interviewed by Austrian public broadcaster ORF. The interview was broadcast on 6 September 2006 after her approval. ORF did not pay for its interview , but said any proceeds from selling the interview to other channels would be forwarded to Kampusch. The interview was sold to more than 120 countries at a fee of €290 per minute. This money - estimates say some hundred thousand euro - will be donated to women in Africa and Mexico by Kampusch. Likewise she plans projects to help these women. As of 6 September interest has been enormous.

The newspaper Kronen Zeitung and news magazine NEWS have also interviewed Kampusch. The interview was published on 6 September 2006. Both press interviews were given in return for a package including housing support, a long-term job offer, and help with her education.

The journalist Ruth Elkins who has studied the case from the start has described her as 'stubborn, pedantic, even arrogant in a way' during interviews. 'She likes to control her environment and the people around her.' On her first interview Christoph Feuerstein asked her if she had been lonely during captivity. Kampusch snapped 'what a ridiculous question' and left the room, returning after a brief pause. Prior to the interview, which was edited to her approval, she had spent four hours with her media adviser Dietmar Ecker doing a trial run. She has announced that she 'chose' her advisers during captivity because she had been impressed by what she heard of them on the radio. Alfred Wurm, editor-in-chief of Austrian magazine News, who conducted one of the only two print interviews she has given, stated that 'she commands her advisors as if they were slaves.' [4]

Similar incidents

• Steven Stayner, a boy from Merced, California, USA kidnapped at age 7 and held captive for a little over 7 years from late 1972 to early 1980. His ordeal was turned into a Made-for-TV movie.
• Sano Fusako, a girl in Japan kidnapped at age 10 and held captive for 9 years from 1990 to 2000
• Tanya Kach, a girl in Pennsylvania held at the home of Thomas Hose from 1996 to 2006
• Colleen Stan, a.k.a. "Carol Smith" was held captive in a box under a bed, off and on, from 1977 until 1984.[5]
• Lena Simakhina, 17 and Katya Martynova, 14 abducted by factory worker Viktor Mokhov, 53. He kept the girls as sex slaves in the underground cellar for 3.5 years from 2001 until 2004.[6]

Movie

Apparently Hollywood has offered Kampusch £1 million for her story. She has stated that she wants Scarlett Johansson to play her.

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 28 August 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