Natascha Kampusch
Ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped on her way to school in Vienna and held captive by Wolfgang Priklopil for over eight years in a basement dungeon. She escaped in 2006.
- Status
- Solved
- Type
- Abduction
- Date
- March 2, 1998
- Location
- Vienna, Austria
- Age
- 10
- Gender
- Female
- Decade
- 1990s
- Open
- Partly resolved
- Charges or trial
- ClosedSolved
The case was resolved, for example through a posthumous DNA identification of the perpetrator or the person being found.
Case background and investigation
On March 2, 1998, ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was abducted on her way to school in Vienna, Austria. Her kidnapper, Wolfgang Přiklopil, imprisoned her in a purpose-built dungeon beneath his house in Strasshof an der Nordbahn.
For over eight years, Natascha was held in a 54-square-foot cell. As she grew older, Přiklopil allowed her more freedom within the house during the day but continued to abuse her.
On August 23, 2006, while Přiklopil was distracted by a phone call as Natascha cleaned his car in the garden, she ran away and alerted a neighbor. She was 18 years old.
Přiklopil fled when he realized Natascha had escaped and killed himself by jumping in front of a train that same evening. Natascha has since become an author and media personality, though she has expressed complicated feelings about her captor.
Timeline
-
March 2, 1998Natascha Kampusch kidnapped at age 10.
-
August 23, 2006Natascha escapes after 8.5 years; Přiklopil dies by suicide.
Sources
References used for this entry. ColdCaseIndex is an index of public information. To report an error, email info@coldcaseindex.com.
About this entry
This case is recorded as solved and is kept in the index for its historical and investigative significance. The case was resolved, for example through a posthumous DNA identification of the perpetrator or the person being found.
To report an error on this page, email info@coldcaseindex.com.
Entry last updated September 29, 2026.
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