Austrian Girl Abducted as a Child Escapes 8 Years Later

A young woman who had been kidnapped at age 10 escaped a cellar where she was imprisoned for eight years, and her suspected abductor killed himself by jumping in front of a train soon afterward, authorities said Thursday.

Natascha Kampusch, last seen walking to school in Vienna in 1998, was found Wednesday in a yard in Strasshof, northeast of Vienna. She was identified by a scar on her arm from a childhood operation, Austrian authorities said.

Relatives also identified her, and DNA tests were underway.

“We are quite sure it’s her,” said Armin Halm, a federal police spokesman.

The alleged kidnapper was identified by Austrian media as 44-year-old Wolfgang Priklopil. A DNA analysis was underway to confirm the identity of the man hit by the train, Austrian television reported.

Kampusch’s father, Ludwig Koch, told the Austrian newspaper Kurier about being reunited with his daughter.

“She said, ‘Dad, I love you.’ And the next question was, ‘Is my toy car still there?’ It was Natascha’s favorite toy; I never gave it away in all those years.”

Kampusch escaped Wednesday while her kidnapper was distracted, officers said.

Police photos showed the windowless cellar where Kampusch had been kept: a small room underneath a house’s garage, reachable only through a hatch of fortified steel.

The room, equipped with running water and a toilet, was stacked with books, toys, a radio and a television.

Officer Sabine Freudenberger, one of the first to speak to Kampusch, said, “Natascha was pale and extremely thin ... trembling the whole time.”

“She took my hand and didn’t let go of it all afternoon,” Freudenberger said.

Freudenberger described how the young woman told her that she had spent nearly every day with her captor, had breakfast with him, and helped him with gardening and housekeeping.

The Austria Press Agency quoted Erich Zwettler of the federal police as saying the woman appeared to have a severe case of Stockholm syndrome, in which a hostage empathized with a captor.

The television network ORF reported that an 80-year-old man found the victim. The man, who was not identified, said she was running and screaming.

Investigators said the woman had been examined by a doctor and had no injuries. Police are investigating whether she was beaten or sexually abused.

Kampusch’s mother, Brigitta Sirny, said she had always been sure her daughter was alive.

“She threw her arms around me; I embraced her,” Sirny told ORF, tears streaming down her face. “I’m so proud she made it.”