On March 2, 1998, 10-year-old Natasha Campusch from Vienna, Austria, made her way to the school bus all by herself for the very first time.
Along her path was a clean-cut man standing by his white minivan watching as Natasha approached.
As soon as she was close enough, the man grabbed Natasha, threw her inside the van, and sped off.
This would be the last time anyone saw Natasha for the next 8 and a half years, or in her words, 3096 days.
Natasha's disappearance began one of the largest searches for a missing person in Austria's history.
Hi everyone, this is Deb from Dying to be Found.
Before we get started, I just wanted to say that episodes contain disturbing discussions on harmful acts and crimes against animals and or humankind.
Recordings are not intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content nature of this podcast.
Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Today's story starts out the very same way as our first episode of Dying to be Found the Dash,
where a small child was granted permission to head on over to the bus stop on the way to school all by themselves for the very first time.
Natasha Maria Campusch was born on February 17, 1988 in Vienna, Austria, and this story is no different.
I wanted to give you a little foreshadow of Natasha's life before she disappeared that day,
because while in captivity, she had some coping mechanisms resulting from her upbringing that really did work in her favor.
Unfortunately, life did not start off kind.
Natasha came from a broken home with two alcoholic parents who had divorced when she was young.
Natasha found herself growing up in a public housing project surrounded by socioeconomically challenged tenants.
She made the best of it, though, because Natasha made something of a game to her own living conditions.
She had a very active imagination and would constantly dream of making her escape into a beautiful world where,
one day, Natasha wanted what we all want, to have a satisfying job and live a plain and simple life happily ever after.
However, everything changed on March 2, 1998, when Natasha was just 10 years old.
This is the day that Natasha had convinced her mother that she could walk to Brioche-Wigg Primary School all by herself.
Natasha started out thinking to herself and looking around as she made her way through the streets of Austria.
Unfortunately, Natasha would not make it to the school that day, because this was the day where her life would take a terrible detour.
She disappeared without a trace.
The morning Natasha set out to make her very first journey to school alone, I had mentioned that she was paying attention to her surroundings.
Natasha was acutely aware of a man who was lingering outside a white minivan as she approached.
Even at the age of 10, Natasha's radar went up.
But, let's face it, we all ignore that nagging feeling from time to time.
Something we know as going with our gut, where in hindsight, we may have done something a little differently.
Natasha's initial thoughts when she first saw this man at the van was, hmm, that's odd.
Why is this guy lingering?
Natasha originally didn't want to continue walking towards the man or his minivan and even considered crossing the street to continue her journey on the other side of the road.
But she dismissed any negative feelings because this man, in Natasha's words, appeared to be clean cut.
Nothing to worry about, eh?
Well, Natasha talked herself into walking past that stranger, which was a very, very big mistake.
Little did Natasha know that a man named Wolfgang Pricklipil, a 36-year-old communications technician, would be watching her as she approached as well.
Pricklipil would later be described as a loner who did not socialize and maintained a private life with very little interaction amongst his neighbors or coworkers.
Once she got close enough, Pricklipil simply dragged Natasha off the busy streets of Vienna, where she would go missing for the next 3,096 days.
This is equivalent to eight and a half years, and Natasha would spend that time locked in a dark cellar below the garage of Pricklipil's home.
It's not clear how long Natasha's disappearance was before she was reported missing, but this became one of the largest manhunts in Austria's history.
Police originally interviewed Natasha's mother and went so far as to place her as the primary suspect in Natasha's disappearance.
Investigators originally speculated that Natasha's mother had killed her own daughter based on information provided by a private investigator.
The information provided suggested that Natasha had been killed and then disposed of in a lake or sold off for cash.
However, witnesses at the time of Natasha's abduction came forward to say that they saw two men dragging a young girl inside a white minivan before speeding off.
You heard that right. Not one, but two abductors were reported as abducting Natasha off the streets of Vienna, which actually hindered the case for quite some time.
Police immediately began investigating hundreds of white minivans, one of which included the name of Wolfgang Pricklipil.
Wolfgang's demeanor was very soft and even tempered, which led police to dismiss him as a suspect after conducting an interview of one man who owned a vehicle matching the description by eyewitnesses.
Police did not realize at the time that they had their kidnapper directly in front of them and they had just let him walk free.
As Natasha found herself being dragged into Pricklipil's van, her initial instincts were to struggle to get herself free from her abductor.
Obviously, this man was bigger than her, which proved to be difficult, and it didn't take long before Natasha found herself locked in the back of this man's white Mercedes minivan.
Moments after Natasha was taken, she began questioning Pricklipil as he drove through Austria.
This may be what we consider odd behavior because under stressful circumstances, victims don't always immediately challenge their abductor.
However, it was Natasha's natural instinct that kicked into gear the moment she was abducted.
Natasha had a keen interest in a crime show equivalent to the UK show Crime Watch.
She knew that she had to get as much information out of her abductor as possible.
Natasha's first question for the man was if he had planned to kill her or bury her in the woods.
He told her to be quiet.
She immediately began asking this man matter-of-fact questions like what was his shoe size?
How old was he? Was he married? Did he have children?
Not much is known on how Pricklipil responded to Natasha's questions, but once they arrived home in Strassow, approximately 15 miles or 24 kilometers outside of Vienna,
he clearly acted on a plan he had already put in place.
Pricklipil carried Natasha into a hidden, soundproof dungeon with no windows that was constructed below his garage.
The entranceway was inside the garage, beneath the trap door, down some stairs, and tucked away behind a hollowed-out concrete wall.
Pricklipil was quick to tell Natasha that all doors and windows within the house were booby-trapped with high explosives.
He even threatened to shoot Natasha and his neighbors if she ever tried to escape.
Natasha was locked in Pricklipil's hidden cellar and would go days without daylight.
Unfortunately, Natasha was not only sexually abused, but she also received daily abuse and physical torture,
not so that she was scared into submission, but to minimize Pricklipil's risk of any attempts that Natasha would run away.
Natasha eventually took control of her own situation by journaling on toilet paper that she kept hidden in the cellar.
According to Sky News, one entry read, quote,
At least 60 blows to the face, 10 to 15 nausea-inducing fist blows to the head, one strike with a fist and full weight to my right ear, unquote.
Pricklipil often displayed a fascination with Adolf Hitler and proceeded to make attempts to force Natasha
to feel that she was being held captive in a Nazi camp.
Pricklipil told Natasha that the Jews were responsible for 9-11.
He barely allowed her to eat, kept her scantily dressed, continuously humiliated her, and even shaved her head.
One thing that Pricklipil did not know about Natasha was that she was enduring some of her own mental health issues as a child,
likely due to the onset of her own living environment growing up.
Natasha was lonely, a compulsive eater, and suffered from depression at an early age.
Before she was even 10 years old, Natasha had fantasized about suicide.
In fact, she even attempted suicide under Pricklipil's captivity, which was likely due to his harsh treatment towards her.
In the span of 8 and a half years, Pricklipil portrayed a dark side that included sexual abuse, hard labor, torture, verbal abuse, and starvation.
As I researched Natasha's case, I couldn't help but think about how strong and intelligent she was even at the age of 10.
So it's not surprising to know that as she got older, Natasha began to rebel.
Unfortunately, Pricklipil responded to Natasha's rebellion by continuing his beatings, withholding food, and yelling insults at her for nights on end through an intercom that he had connected between the cellar and the upstairs.
At this point, it didn't matter because Natasha's defense mechanisms were to disconnect and simply fantasize in order to survive.
By the age of 12, Natasha had promised herself that she would find a way to escape.
She initially told herself that she was still too small, but when the time was right, she would overpower the kidnapper and free herself from this prison.
Clearly, Pricklipil had ongoing issues, which Natasha caught on with rather quickly.
Over the next 8 and a half years, Pricklipil demanded that Natasha address him as Maestro or My Lord, which even beginning at the age of 12, Natasha considered odd, and in her words, her coping mechanisms were to respond through fantasy and make belief.
Pricklipil often went to bathe Natasha, and when this occurred, she imagined she was at the spa.
When he wasn't starving her, Natasha imagined that he was a gentleman who was there to serve her.
In contrast, Pricklipil provided Natasha with gifts such as Barbie dolls and train sets.
Things turned odd, though, when he began giving her mouthwash, scotch tape, and orange juice.
Whatever the effort, Natasha felt grateful to receive anything at all to pass her time during her days in captivity.
As time went on, Pricklipil conceded to taking Natasha out on 13 different outings.
These places were nothing special, just errands.
Pricklipil took Natasha to places like hardware stores, but mostly to properties that he owned where Natasha was ordered to help get ready to rent out.
Pricklipil continued to keep Natasha under lock and key until he gradually began giving her privileges to roam the house under strict supervision.
Natasha was forced to do all the cooking and cleaning, and was eventually given a radio and books so that she could continue on with her own education.
By age 15, Natasha was able to convince Pricklipil to take her on holiday.
He eventually conceded and allowed her to accompany him on a ski trip, but as always, she was constantly kept under strict supervision.
Never once did Natasha ever stop looking for an opportunity to run away, but in a later interview, she did say she was afraid to tell anyone who she was.
By the time Natasha turned 18, she began telling Pricklipil that it was time to let her go free.
In her words, Natasha said,
Quote, You have brought a situation upon us in which only one of us can make it through alive. I'm very grateful to you for not killing me and for taking such good care of me. That's very nice of you, but you can't force me to stay with you. I'm my own person with my own needs. This situation must come to an end.
Unquote.
Pricklipil responded by telling Natasha that the authorities would never catch him alive.
On August 23rd, 2006, Pricklipil gave 18-year-old Natasha permission to vacuum his car. As she did so, he stood over Natasha as usual, keeping a close eye on what she was doing when his cell phone rang.
Pricklipil turned his back and walked around the corner of the house to take the call, which was the opportunity that Natasha had looked for over the past eight and a half years.
With the vacuum cleaner still going, Natasha crept to the gate in the yard. As she reached it, she realized it was unlocked.
She immediately bolted out of the yard and ran to a nearby neighbor's house, who immediately called the police.
After realizing what had just happened, Pricklipil, then 44, made his own break and fled the scene.
Hours later, he was found decapitated after jumping in front of a train at the local train station.
Let's not forget about Brigada, Natasha's mother, who had first been accused of her daughter's death.
Brigada discovered that Natasha was alive eight and a half years after her disappearance when police came to her while on holiday.
Brigada remembered screaming so loudly that the entire countryside came to see what might have just happened.
Brigada and Natasha were reunited shortly thereafter, and Natasha's first words to her mother were, quote, You're still as pretty as ever, unquote.
Natasha's release from captivity became an overnight sensation.
She was praised for her bravery after her escape, although there were indications that she suffered from Stockholm syndrome,
because on one or more occasions after her release, Natasha made comments about feeling sorry for Pricklipil.
In later interviews, Natasha was quoted as having mourned for her captor after he completed suicide.
Natasha's mother later said that Natasha carried a photograph around of Pricklipil laying in his coffin.
Natasha received a lot of public backlash from people who believed that she, quote, did not behave like a victim, unquote.
I do want to make a comment here because it's easy to look at the situation as an outsider and easily become a couchside commentator.
Until we're faced with a traumatic situation like Natasha experienced,
it's not our place to judge her or any other victim in their responses, behaviors, or actions while being held against their will by a psychotic sociopath.
It doesn't matter if it's for one day, 17 days, or eight and a half years, we can't judge.
Everyone has their own way of coping.
Natasha happened to display a strong personality which seemed to help her in her own situation.
In fact, after eight and a half years in captivity, Natasha showed a great deal of resilience.
She has gone on television to participate in several interviews and even became a television host herself.
Natasha states that while she was imprisoned, she listened to the radio Pricklipil had given her and learned how to engage with people through broadcast interviews,
plus having years of one-on-one conversations with her captor.
Natasha is an activist and an author and would like one day to learn the trades as a goldsmith and a shoemaker.
She has written two books, the first in 2010 called 3096 Days, which was later turned into a movie in 2013.
The second book called 10 Years of Freedom was released for publication in August of 2016.
A documentary called The Girl in the Cellar, 8 Years Underground, was released in January 2023 and can be found on YouTube.
Natasha was ordered by the courts to receive possession of Pricklipil's home.
She's chosen not to reside there but continues to maintain the property as her own in the hopes of keeping it from becoming a shrine to crazy onlookers
who take an interest in this case. In her words, Natasha accepted the property to deter onlookers or for it to become an odd sensation associated to the crimes that had occurred there.
She wished Pricklipil could still be alive to have the chance to tell his side of the story.
And that's where we'll end here. That is the story of Natasha Campush and her story of survival.
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