Natascha Kampusch

Wolfgang Přiklopil
Passport photograph of Přiklopil
Born	(1962-05-14)14 May 1962 Vienna, Austria
Died	23 August 2006(2006-08-23) (aged 44) Vienna, Austria
Cause of death	Suicide by jumping in front of train
Nationality	Austria
Occupation	Telecommunications technician
Criminal status	Deceased
Children	an anonymous daughter (alleged)
Parent(s)	Karl and Waltraud Přiklopil

Natascha Maria Kampusch (born 17 February 1988) is an Austrian woman notable for her abduction at the age of 10 on 2 March 1998. Kampusch was held in a secret cellar by her kidnapper Wolfgang Přiklopil for more than eight years, until she escaped on 23 August 2006. The media attention later led to her giving select interviews, writing an autobiography (3,096 Days, published September 2010) and also signing a contract with Austrian channel Puls 4 for her own talk show, which had its premiere on 1 June 2008, but only ran for three episodes.

Kampusch was raised by her mother, Brigitta Sirny (née Kampusch), and her father, Ludwig Koch, in Vienna, Austria. Her early life with her mother was reportedly not a happy one, according to Ludwig Adamovich, head of a special commission looking into possible police failures in the investigation of the kidnapping. He claimed that "the time Kampusch was imprisoned might have been better for her than what she experienced before", a statement absolutely denied by Brigitta Sirny, who threatened to sue the commission chief over his remarks.

Her family included two adult sisters, and five nieces and nephews. Sirny and Koch separated while Kampusch was still a child and divorced after her abduction. Kampusch spent time with both of them, and had returned to her mother's home from a holiday with Koch the day before her kidnapping.

The 10-year-old Kampusch left her family's residence in Vienna's Donaustadt district on the morning of 2 March 1998, but failed to arrive at school or come home. A 12-year-old witness reported having seen her being dragged into a white minibus by two men, although Kampusch did not report a second man being present. A massive police effort followed in which 776 minivans were examined, including that of her kidnapper, Přiklopil, who lived about half an hour from Vienna by car in the Lower Austrian town of Strasshof an der Nordbahn, near Gänserndorf. Although he stated that on the morning of the kidnapping he was alone at home, the police were satisfied with his explanation that he was using the minibus to transport rubble from the construction of his home.

Speculations of child pornography rings or organ theft were offered, leading officials to also investigate possible links to the crimes of the French serial killer Michel Fourniret. Because Kampusch had carried her passport with her when she left (she had been on a family trip to Hungary a few days before), the police extended the search abroad. Accusations against Kampusch's family complicated the issue even more; there have even been unsubstantiated allegations that Kampusch's mother was somehow involved in the abduction or its cover-up.