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Natascha Kampusch: In Her Own Words | True Crime Documentary — Transcript

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0:17Strasshof
0:19a prosperous suburb of Vienna.
0:22Natasha Kampusch was imprisoned here for
0:248 and 1/2 years.
0:27This is her story.
0:30What I've learned about people is this.
0:33No one is infallible.
0:35And anyone can find themselves in a
0:38position where they lose control of
0:40their lives.
0:45That's true for the kidnapper and it's
0:47true for me.
0:50From the moment I was kidnapped, I still
0:53had control of my thoughts,
0:55but I couldn't do anything about the
0:57world outside.
1:03And the perpetrator had blown a couple
1:05of fuses in his head.
1:09And he couldn't control his life,
1:11either.
1:13Or he wouldn't have done what he did.
1:26I'm an outcast.
1:28I have a sign on my forehead that says
1:31"Crime victim."
1:36I think everyone has preconceptions
1:38about me.
1:40Maybe when I'm older, people will forget
1:43what happened to me.
1:50Since yesterday evening, a 10-year-old
1:52girl has been missing in Vienna's
1:54Donaustadt district. Natasha wears
1:56glasses. She's 1 m 45 tall, has light
1:59brown hair with a fringe and blue eyes.
2:02She's been missing for more than 34
2:04hours. All efforts to locate her have
2:06been unsuccessful and the police are
2:08widening their search.
2:12My mother always said,
2:14"Never part after an argument because
2:17something could happen to one of us
2:20and we'd never see each other again."
2:24And then it happened.
2:30She rarely went to school alone,
2:32but on that particular day she did.
2:35I watched her from the window as she
2:37left and walked towards the shopping
2:39center.
2:40Then she disappeared
2:42and that was it.
2:49I was almost halfway to school
2:52when I saw a man in the distance
2:54standing in front of a white van
2:58as though he were waiting for someone.
3:02I wanted to cross the street
3:06but then I decided
3:08to keep going straight.
3:15When I came nearer, he came towards me.
3:22Grabbed me and
3:25dragged me into his truck.
3:34I kind of knew the neighborhood from
3:36that angle cuz when I used to drive home
3:39with my mother, I'd see the treetops and
3:41telephone poles.
3:43So I knew roughly where we were headed.
3:50Then he drove the white truck up to his
3:52garage,
3:54wrapped me in a blue blanket and carried
3:56me into the house.
4:00He carried me downstairs
4:02and put me down for a moment.
4:07I didn't know it then,
4:09but he'd opened everything up.
4:12Then he dragged me
4:15and carried me in.
4:18Then he left me in the cellar
4:20on the floor
4:22in the dark.
4:32Natasha was always on time, so when she
4:34was 10 minutes late, I thought to
4:36myself, "Where is she? I'm going to call
4:39the childminder."
4:41But no one answered. I called half an
4:44hour later and they told me she'd never
4:46arrived.
4:48At that moment, I nearly fainted. I knew
4:51something had happened.
4:56That first day, he brought me a
4:57mattress.
4:59It was just 5 cm thick and made of foam
5:03rubber.
5:04I only had the same blue blanket to
5:06cover me
5:08and I had to use my jacket as a pillow.
5:12I wanted to keep my dress on day and
5:14night.
5:16I didn't want to give up anything
5:19or reveal anything about myself.
5:23He'd taken away my school bag
5:26and he burned my shoes in the first few
5:29days.
5:32He said I wouldn't need them.
5:38A massive search is launched by police
5:41starting at the housing estate where
5:42Natacha lives.
5:46Concerned citizens are calling in with
5:48information.
5:53Soon, the police have evidence of an
5:56abduction.
5:59Austrian police are investigating the
6:01disappearance of 10-year-old Natascha
6:03Kampusch, who was last seen walking to
6:05school on March the 2nd.
6:10She had about a 2-km walk to school,
6:12starting from her home on the Rennbahn
6:14estate.
6:17Halfway along, there's a roundabout on
6:19the Meidling Gasse.
6:22At approximately 7:20 a.m. that Monday
6:24morning, a girl standing at the
6:26roundabout says she saw another girl in
6:29a red anorak being forced into a white
6:31truck parked on the right side of the
6:33road.
6:40Years later, the entrance to Natascha's
6:42cell is discovered in the garage beneath
6:44a disguised trapdoor.
6:49Down below, a heavy cupboard and tires
6:52must be shoved aside.
6:58They reveal a safe, 70 cm high, screwed
7:01flush with the wall.
7:07Behind that, the half-meter-thick wall
7:09has been hollowed out.
7:14To get in, you had to crawl backwards
7:16through the hole.
7:19And then close a 150-kilo steel and
7:22concrete door behind you.
7:29Finally, you turned left to open the
7:31double wooden doors and step down into a
7:345-m² cell.
7:37The effort was enormous.
7:39Pushing everything aside and opening
7:42everything up.
7:43If anything had happened to him
7:46or he had been taken ill,
7:49he'd never
7:50have got it open.
7:54I would have been sealed up like an
7:56Egyptian pharaoh, buried alive, dead and
8:00mummified.
8:04The statement by the young witness
8:05triggers an enormous investigation.
8:09Police question 1,520
8:11owners of white trucks and 650 other
8:14people,
8:16including a man from Strasshof, half an
8:18hour from the center of Vienna,
8:21a township with one main street,
8:24no real center,
8:26and 8,000 inhabitants.
8:35The man's name is Wolfgang Priklopil, an
8:38unmarried 35-year-old communications
8:40technician with no criminal record.
8:45Priklopil lives in his mother's house,
8:48where two investigators question him.
8:51His truck is full of rubble from a
8:52building site.
8:54He claims to have been at home on the
8:55day of the crime, but has no one to
8:57confirm his story.
8:59Police have no probable cause to search
9:01his house.
9:02They take Polaroids of his truck, write
9:05a report, and file it.
9:10I met Herr Priklopil at Siemens.
9:14We did our vocational training there in
9:17the early 1980s.
9:19And we both worked there.
9:22Later, I set up a company renovating
9:25apartments, and I hired Herr Priklopil
9:29because I knew he was a reliable person.
9:39Later on, installed a timer.
9:42The lights went on at a particular time
9:45and then it went dark like in a prison
9:49where the lights go off at 8:00 p.m.
9:55Every drop of water meant more mold.
9:59It was humid and wet in the little room.
10:02And there were all kinds of insects
10:04there.
10:05It smelled musty.
10:10It was
10:11very cold and damp.
10:14Really disgusting.
10:22And the ventilator was a kind of
10:25torture.
10:28It was very loud.
10:36And when it rotated for a long time and
10:38became hot
10:40the blades began to melt and then it
10:42didn't just make that droning noise
10:46but another annoying sound.
10:57That went on until the fan was broken.
11:01Special investigators in Vienna receive
11:03a second tip-off about Wolfgang
11:05Priklopil 8 days after his initial
11:07questioning.
11:09The informant is a police dog handler
11:11who lives in Strasshof.
11:13He reports on a neighbor, a reclusive
11:15man who owns a white truck.
11:18He's a shy loner and protects his house
11:20with electronic surveillance systems.
11:24He may store weapons there
11:25and he's thought to have a sexual
11:27interest in children.
11:29The officer has never learned his name
11:31but provides a description.
11:33The special task force immediately
11:35orders local police in Strasshof to
11:37check the man's address.
11:43Then a fax arrives.
11:45Wolfgang Priklopil isn't registered as
11:47living at the house. His mother is.
11:49Priklopil is only staying there.
11:52His truck was checked on the 6th of
11:54April.
11:56The tip-off is filed and forgotten.
12:02Sometimes when I was giving her pictures
12:04a dust in the living room,
12:07I would hold them to my chest or kiss
12:09them and I said,
12:12"Don't give up. You're a strong, strong
12:14child."
12:24At first, I didn't have to help him with
12:26his work because he was afraid that if I
12:30came upstairs, I might attack him with
12:33the tools.
12:36But when he was sure I was too scared of
12:39him to run away,
12:43he let me up. He always made sure I
12:45couldn't run away. He threatened me and
12:48kept everything locked.
12:52It must have been incredibly gratifying
12:55for him to keep someone captive, someone
12:59who was there for him alone, someone not
13:01even his mother or grandmother knew
13:03about.
13:04Seit dem Zeitpunkt,
13:06From the time that Natascha Kampusch was
13:09kidnapped, I visited his house about
13:12twice a year,
13:13but never noticed anything unusual.
13:19Herr Priklopil was very concerned with
13:22hygiene and cleanliness.
13:28He was obsessed with
13:30and of course he was constantly wiping
13:32off things that I might have touched.
13:35I wasn't really supposed to touch
13:37anything because of course fingerprints
13:39leave ugly greasy marks.
13:43He would punish me if he found a
13:45fingerprint anywhere.
13:47Not only because it was potentially
13:49dangerous to find my fingerprints in his
13:52house
13:53but because he hated the look of
13:55fingerprints on his household surfaces.
14:03There were times when the torture and
14:06the humiliation were so bad
14:08that I ran to the window
14:11and shouted for the police. Then he
14:13grabbed me really roughly and choked me
14:16and hit me.
14:20Going hungry was dreadful.
14:23You almost feel like a drug addict
14:25and ask yourself
14:28why am I hungry? Why do I even feel
14:30hunger?
14:31Why can't I manage without food?
14:40He would show me all the food that was
14:43before he gave me anything to eat. But
14:45then he'd only cut off a tiny piece for
14:48me.
14:49He decided exactly how much I got to
14:51eat.
14:53He never let me have what I wanted or as
14:55much as I wanted because he said
14:59I moved around so little in the cell
15:01I didn't need it.
15:08He always forced me to look him straight
15:11in the eye or look down at the ground in
15:14a very submissive way.
15:16Of course I couldn't do that for long
15:19because I won't be forced to do anything
15:21against my will.
15:27He just liked having someone to
15:29dominate.
15:30And the more I resisted and answered
15:32back,
15:34the more satisfying it was for him to
15:36put me down and dominate me
15:38to boost his own self-esteem.
15:44He despised people.
15:46He hated his neighbors.
15:49Although he was nice to them.
15:51He hated his surroundings and society.
15:55So he pretended to be a conformist.
16:04I appreciated the fact that he was
16:07always polite and very reliable.
16:10On the other hand, he was rather shy and
16:13a bit introverted.
16:18He always tried not to offend anyone.
16:20And I'm sure he was a very obliging
16:23person, neighbor, son, and grandson.
16:31After a few years, I could go out into
16:33the garden with him.
16:35Sometimes at night for 5 or 10 minutes.
16:39I was so happy I could touch the trees
16:42and the hedge, and I could feel the
16:44grass and the wind on my skin.
16:46Because of course
16:48there's no wind in the house.
16:51And it was so good.
16:53I asked him if I could take a twig from
16:56the hedge back down to my cell
16:59so I could always think about it
17:02as a kind of memento.
17:04Who takes something from the garden into
17:07the house
17:08to remember it by?
17:16The first few years I baked a cake for
17:19Natasha on few years I baked a cake for
17:21Natasha on her birthday
17:23and chucked it away after a couple of
17:25weeks.
17:27But I always tried to keep Natasha alive
17:29in my mind to include her wherever she
17:32was.
17:33I tried to let her know somehow, maybe
17:36by telepathy,
17:37that I was thinking of her.
17:42And on my birthday I always remembered
17:45all the birthdays I had celebrated with
17:48lots of other kids and with a special
17:51cake.
17:57And how different it is now
17:59all alone in the cell.
18:04The kind of crime he committed
18:07is usually the result of some illness or
18:10injury.
18:12And the person can't usually do anything
18:14about an illness.
18:20But this criminal had a conscience.
18:23He still had a conscience.
18:26He was aware on some level of what he
18:29was doing.
18:31You could see that he was weak and
18:34unstable
18:35because of some kind of illness or
18:37injury.
18:40He had become so unstable
18:43that he saw the kidnapping as a solution
18:46to his problems.
18:49It didn't matter what the problems
18:51really were
18:52or how he thought this could help. But
18:55he did see it as a solution.
19:02And
19:04that actually made me feel
19:06pity and compassion for him.
19:10Because many people are looking for the
19:12meaning of their
19:14Some commit suicide.
19:17Others take a wrong turning.
19:20I could have committed suicide.
19:23Thought it was much better to be dead
19:25than locked up for good.
19:27But that day, thank heavens, I found the
19:29courage and just ran away.
19:41At 1:04 p.m. today, a confused young
19:43girl was discovered in a garden in the
19:45town of Strasshof.
19:47When police arrived, the young woman
19:49claimed to be Natascha Kampusch.
19:54He was talking on his cell phone.
19:56And he'd told me to vacuum the van.
20:00Which I was doing.
20:07The noise was so loud that he walked
20:09over to the swimming pool.
20:11Maybe 11 m away.
20:14He'd left the garden gate open.
20:16Unlocked.
20:20So I grabbed the opportunity.
20:22I left the vacuum cleaner on.
20:25And ran away.
20:26Really, really fast.
20:28As fast as my legs could carry me.
20:32When they searched the house, police
20:34found a prison cell in the garage.
20:37It has just been reported that the
20:39alleged kidnapper has committed suicide.
20:44Then apparently he drove to the train
20:46station.
20:47And he laid down on the tracks.
20:49Then the train ran over his head. Then
20:52he was dead.
21:00Natascha Kampusch becomes a media star
21:02overnight. Darling of the world's press.
21:05The missed tip-off from the police dog
21:07handler causes a political storm.
21:10There's talk of cover-ups, mistakes,
21:12half-truths. Austria's scandal-wracked
21:15government resigns 2 years later. The
21:17papers spread rumors of sadomasochism,
21:20child pornography rings, and possible
21:23accomplices.
21:25The press asked me straight out whether
21:27I was raped or sexually abused, and that
21:30kind of thing.
21:32But in my eyes, the way the media
21:34treated me after my escape is a form of
21:37abuse, too.
21:39And they should be punished for it.
21:45In many people, I trigger some kind of
21:48unconscious aggression.
21:50Maybe the whole crime and what happened
21:52to me triggers aggression.
21:55And I'm the only one they can still
21:57reach, and so it all lands on me.
22:03As I took right from the start,
22:06I said, "I'm not a victim."
22:08Because I knew that if I present myself
22:11as a victim, and show everyone how
22:13terrible it was, they'd never accept me
22:16as a normal person again.
22:18They'd say,
22:19"You,
22:20you've debased yourself so far. What do
22:23you think you're doing here?
22:25Go back where you came from. Go back
22:28down to your filthy swamp."
22:30That's how most people are. That's how
22:33they think.
22:38I just want people to treat me normally.
22:43I deserve a chance like anyone else. I
22:47think people should be glad I halfway
22:49survived all this.
23:09>> Mhm.

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