On March 2, 1998, 10-year-old Natascha Kampusch left for school angrily after arguing with her mother, Brigitta. Brigitta watched as her daughter disappeared out of view. She wouldn’t see her again for 8 long years.
When Natascha failed to return home, Brigitta contacted the school and discovered she had never arrived. Brigitta recalled in the documentary 3,096 Days, “It was like the earth had just opened up and swallowed her.”
In reality, Natascha was trapped, in a cold, dark, basement dungeon.
Natascha had been abducted by 35-year-old Wolfgang Přiklopil while walking to school. He took her to his house 30 minutes away and locked her in a tiny soundproof cellar with a 330-pound steel door.
Brigitta called the police and a massive search was initiated. A photo of Natascha aired on the news, resulting in several tips. A 12-year-old girl told the police that she saw two men drag Natascha into a white truck.
Investigators discovered that there were 1,520 white trucks registered in the area, and they spoke to every owner including Wolfgang. He insisted that he was home alone the morning of the kidnapping, and they simply took his word for it, letting Natascha slip right through their fingers.
It was the first time the police failed Natascha. Sadly, it wouldn’t be the last.
8 days later, a man heard about the kidnapping and called the police. He stated that his neighbor was a loner who owned a white truck and appeared to have an interest in young children. That neighbor was Wolfgang.
Since the police had already ruled out Wolfgang, they ignored the tip.
Natascha slept on a dingy mattress with a thin, blue blanket. The cold, damp room smelled like mold and there was a dirty toilet in the corner.
It took an hour to access the dungeon of horrors. It was hidden below a trap door in the garage, down a flight of stairs, behind a heavy cupboard, and on the other side of a safe, which could only be accessed by unscrewing it and crawling backward through a small hole.
Wolfgang starved Natascha, told her she was worthless, and sexually abused her. He claimed that the home was booby-trapped with explosives and threatened to kill both her and the neighbors if she tried to escape.
Eventually, Wolfgang released Natascha from the cellar in the daytime, forcing her to cook and clean for him. If he found a single fingerprint, he beat and choked Natascha. At night, he locked her back in the cellar.
One day, Wolfgang took an emaciated Natascha out with him to run an errand. They were stuck in traffic when she noticed a police officer in another car. Natascha made eye contact with him to let him know something was wrong, but he simply ignored her and looked away.
Natascha realized that it would be up to her to rescue herself.
On August 23, 2006, Wolfgang ordered Natascha to vacuum his red BMW. A few minutes later, he walked away to answer a phone call, leaving the gate to the garden unlocked. Natascha realized it was now or never. She left the vacuum on and ran until she reached the home of a 71-year-old neighbor, who gave her refuge and called the police. Natascha was finally free.
Although Natascha was now 18 years old, she weighed only 106lbs — just 7lbs more than she weighed at age 10 when she was kidnapped.
When Wolfgang realized that Natascha had escaped, the 44-year-old lay on a set of railway tracks until a train ran over his head. The police searched his home and discovered that he had been trying to procure fake Czech documents to start a new life with Natascha — as his wife.
Natascha received Wolfgang’s house as compensation for his crime. It was built after World War II and the cellar was originally a bomb shelter. Natascha refused to sell the house, afraid it would be turned into a macabre museum. Instead, she filled the cellar with cement and moved in. Though many found her decision odd, Natascha found it therapeutic.
After her escape, Natascha Kampusch took up horse riding, graduated from university, established a children’s hospital in Sri Lanka, and published three memoirs. With unwavering strength and courage, the brave woman survived the unthinkable and lived to tell her tale.
“It is up to you whether social, intelligent and wonderful creatures are to be freed from their chains and cages where ruthless people keep them. The animals would, if they could, flee as I did, because a life in captivity is a life full of deprivation.” — Natascha Kampusch, 3,096 Days