Girl escapes after being held in cellar for 8 years

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2326540,00.html#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=World

AN AUSTRIAN girl held prisoner in a cellar for eight years was reunited with her parents last night after making a dramatic dash for freedom.

Police searching for a man suspected of kidnapping Natascha Kampusch and holding her prisoner said that the alleged kidnapper had committed suicide late last night by jumping in front of a train.

Natascha vanished on March 2, 1998, while walking to school in Vienna. She was 10 years old at the time. She reappeared yesterday after leaping out of a black BMW when it was stopped in a routine police roadcheck.

The BMW was caught in traffic in the Deutsch Wagram suburb of the Austrian capital. The delay had been caused by a police routine roadside check a short distance ahead.

Austrian television said that other motorists had raised the alarm when a girl ran from the car and was then seen apparently in some distress in the garden of a house where officers who came to investigate had found her.

Last night Erich Zwettler, a spokesman for Vienna police, confirmed that the teenage girl was “with 98 per cent certainty” Natascha Kampusch, although a DNA test was being carried out. He said that the tests had included an “age progression test” that had been used on pictures of the girl to show how she would look today, and she also been asked questions that only the real Natascha would be able to answer.

Her father, Ludwig Koch, said that he was “overcome” after being told that his daughter had been found. “I can’t believe that after eight desperate years my daughter is finally coming home. If it is true it will be the greatest thing that could possibly be,” he said.

Herr Koch and Natascha’s mother were at the secure location where the teenager was being kept.

Herr Zwettler said that police had chased the BMW across the city but had lost it. It was later found abandoned in a Vienna wood, and the numberplate had been traced to a house in the Donaustadt area of Vienna, which was found abandoned after a police raid.

Last night the house was surrounded by police, and neighbouring homes were evacuated after the teenage girl said that the man had told her that it would explode if he was ever caught. She said that he had not wanted any evidence left to incriminate him.

Bomb disposal squad experts were reported to be at the scene as well as dogs trained to detect explosives. Border control points had also been placed on alert for the 44-year-old man — known only as Wolfgang P. — who is from Lower Austria. It was also revealed that the suspect was someone “who was known to police”.

Police sources said that the alleged kidnapper committed suicide late last night by jumping in front of a train in Vienna, Austrian television said.

The teenager said that she had occasionally been allowed out of the cellar and had been receiving schooling from her captor, and was able to read and write.

Asked why Natascha had not tried to escape in the past, Herr Zwettler said she appeared to have had “Stockholm Syndrome” — a psychological condition in which long-held captives begin to identify with their captors.

Another police source said: “She is white, pale-looking, as if she had been out of the light of day for a long time, but she articulated well.”

Adolf Brenner, the chief of police in Deutsch Wagram, where the teenager was taken after being found, said that she seemed to be in good spirits despite her ordeal but repeatedly said how happy she was to have been freed.
“He seems to have made great efforts to keep her away from the outside world,” he said. “She was allowed limited access to the television and radio, and sometimes she was given videos.”

Austrian media reported that the girl had told police that she had been sexually abused and police were investigating her claims, but the motive for the kidnapping remained unclear.

MISSING NO LONGER

In 1996 Sabine Dardenne, 12, was abducted by the Belgian paedophile Marc Dutroux. Confined to a cellar, she suffered continual abuse until her rescue 80 days later. Her testimony was key in his conviction

Natasha Ryan, 14, ran away from home in Australia in 1998. After a huge police search a man was charged with her murder. Five years later, she was discovered living with her boyfriend

In 2003 Matthew Scott, a British student, was among eight tourists taken hostage by kidnappers in Colombia. He escaped by jumping into a river and trekking through the jungle for two days