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Wolfgang Přiklopil (14 May 1962 - 23 August 2006) was an Austrian man who abducted 10-year-old Natascha Kampusch in 1998 and held her as a slave for eight years. The case was the subject of the 2013 film 3096 Days.
Biography edit
Přiklopil was born in Vienna in 1962 to Czech parents. At the time of Kampusch's abduction he was working as a communications technician for the multinational company Siemens AG.
On 2 March 1998, 10-year-old Natascha Kampusch left her home in Vienna to go to school. On the way, she encountered Přiklopil, who grabbed her and dragged her into his minivan before driving to his home in Strasshof an der Nordbahn half a mile away. During the investigation into Kampusch's disappearence, Přiklopil's minivan was examined but he gave police the explanation that he had been using it to transport rubble from construction on his home and the police accepted his story. The investigation was hampered by media speculation of child pornography and organ theft and the possible involvement of serial killer Michel Fourniret, and the fact that Kampusch had been carrying her passport, making it possible she had been taken abroad.
Přiklopil kept Kampusch imprisoned in a windowless soundproof room beneath his garage, reinforced with steel and with the entrance concealed beneath a cupboard. She was banned from leaving for the first six months, and even after that was forced to stay in the room at night and when Přiklopil was at work. Kampusch later described her relationship with Přiklopil as being complex; he was often kind to her, giving her books with which to educate herself and allowing her to watch TV and listen to the radio, but also abused her regularly. He starved her to make her too weak to escape, and would beat her up and rape her. He used her as a slave and made her do housework for him. After her 18th birthday Kampusch was allowed to leave the house under Přiklopil's supervision, but was banned from making any noise under threat of death. Přiklopil used Kampusch's passport to take her on holiday with him to a ski resort, but made sure she was never out of sight.
After eight years of captivity, Kampusch finally escaped when she was 18. On 23 August 2006, Kampusch was vacuuming Přiklopil's car when he was distracted by a phone call and had to go inside to take it due to the noise of the vacuum. Kampusch took the opportunity to run away and reached a neighbour's house before telling her to call the police. Kampusch's identity was confirmed by a distinctive scar on her body and DNA testing.
Upon noticing Kampusch had escaped, Přiklopil realized his arrest was imminent and fled in his car. The car was found abandoned in a park later that day. Přiklopil managed to evade the police until he reached the Wien Nord station in Vienna, where he killed himself by jumping under a train.