Free Republic

An Austrian teenager recovering after spending eight years in an underground cell is grieving for her captor. Natascha Kampusch, 18, said Wolfgang Priklopil was "part of my life, that's why in a certain way I'm mourning him". He killed himself by jumping in front of a train after her escape last week. It is still unclear why he abducted her as she was on her way to school. "Give me time until I can tell my story myself," Ms Kampusch said in her first statement read by her psychiatrist. She said she understood the media "curiosity" about her life with...

NATASCHA KAMPUSCH, who was kidnapped at the age of 10 and held for eight years until she escaped her captor in Vienna this week, kept a diary throughout her ordeal, it was revealed yesterday. Rupert Leutgeb, a family spokesman, confirmed that Fräulein Kampusch had kept a record hundreds of pages long. He said that no details would be disclosed until Fräulein Kampusch decided what she wanted to do with the diary. The revelation came after police announced that DNA analysis had established beyond doubt that the young woman who was found distraught in a garden on Wednesday is Fräulein Kampusch....

Girl escapes after being held in cellar for 8 yearsBy Michael Leidig in Vienna     AN AUSTRIAN girl held prisoner in a cellar for eight years was reunited with her parents last night after making a dramatic dash for freedom. Police searching for a man suspected of kidnapping Natascha Kampusch and holding her prisoner said that the alleged kidnapper had committed suicide late last night by jumping in front of a train. Natascha vanished on March 2, 1998, while walking to school in Vienna. She was 10 years old at the time. She reappeared yesterday after leaping out...