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Kidnapped girl found alive after eight years
Vienna – An 18-year-old girl, who turned up alive after she had been held captive for eight years, was identified as the missing Natascha Kampusch on Thursday.
Police said a medical examination showed a scar on the same place on her body as Natascha had had when she vanished aged 10 in March 1998.
The police statement came after a drama on Wednesday in which Natascha escaped from a car driven by her kidnapper. The 44-year-old man abandoned the car, and hours later committed suicide by throwing himself under a train.
On Thursday morning, after medical checks, a police spokesperson said: “As far as can be humanly certain, it’s Natascha Kampuch.” The 18-year-old had already been identified by her parents beforehand. Results of DNA testing were expected later on Thursday.
The kidnapper had allowed her to listen to radio, and watch TV
She had apparently been held the entire eight years in a car service pit in a private garage in the village of Strasshof, about 30 kilometres east of Vienna. Investigators described the site as a “dungeon”. Natascha’s passport was also found there.
On Wednesday night and early on Thursday, details emerged of modern Austria’s most sensational kidnapping case.
Natascha’s disappearance happened at a time when Europe was staggering under the impression of the notorious Belgian Dutroux case two years previously of child abduction and murder.
In 1998, she vanished on her way to school in Vienna. A nationwide search was immediately launched. Hundreds of police scoured the whole of eastern Austria and parts of neighbouring Hungary. Helicopters were brought in, and rivers dragged. No trace of her was ever found.
On Wednesday afternoon, a young woman suddenly appeared at Deutsch Wagram in eastern Austria. First reports said she was thrown out or had jumped out of a car. Austrian ORF television reported she had been seen “staggering around” in a garden.
The woman told police her name was Natascha Kampusch. Comparative DNA tests were immediately started.
Overnight on Thursday, police spokesperson Gerhard Rischer said Natascha’s captor had been a 44-year-old unmarried technician.
In the first four years of her captivity, she had probably never been outside his house. She had presumably been a victim of physical violence and sexual abuse.
Other reports said the kidnapper had allowed her to listen to radio, and watch TV programmes which he selected and recorded. The garage was secured with electronic devices built by the kidnapper.
In later years, Natascha had apparently been allowed out of the garage at times. But she had never appealed to passers-by for help.
Federal criminal police spokesperson Erich Zwettler said the young woman was suffering from so-called Stockholm Syndrome.
In long kidnapping and hostage affairs, the victims in a psychological protection mechanism may react to life-threatening and seemingly hopeless situations by sympathising with their captors and their aims.
On Thursday, Natascha was screened from the media “in a safe place,” according to police. She and her parents were in psychological care.
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