Kampusch team visits Strasshof

Barbara Miller

Lawyer "shocked” after visiting room.
Probe into possible book connection.

Strasshof. A team of officials dealing with the Natascha Kampusch case visited the house on Friday in Strasshof, near Vienna, where she was kept captive for eight years in order to familiarise themselves with it. The party included the public prosecutor HansPeter Kronawetter, Major General Gerhard Lang from the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation and Gerald Ganzger from Kampusch’s legal team. Ganzger said although he had seen the pictures of the small room under the garage where she was kept, it was still "shocking” to be faced with the reality of it. The lawyer described discussions so far with Kampusch about her time in captivity as "open”.

One of the key questions investigators are looking into is whether a second person was involved in the kidnapping in 1998, as alleged by a then 12 year-old girl who saw Natascha being bundled into a white van by Wolfgang Priklopil while on her way to school. Major Lang said although Kampusch had spoken only of one abductor, the existence of an accomplice was not yet being ruled out. Priklopil, who was 44, committed suicide following Kampusch’s escape last week.

Lang also confirmed reports that one line of investigation was whether Priklopil could have modelled his crime on a kidnapping story in a 1963 book by the British author John Fowles entitled "The Collector”. Lang said neither the book nor a copy of the film version of it had been found in the house, but said inquiries into a possible connection were continuing.

Printausgabe vom 02.09.2006