Natascha Kampusch

On 12 August 2016 Natascha Kampusch released her second book titled 10 Years of Freedom.

Kampusch now owns the house in which she was imprisoned, saying, "I know it's grotesque – I must now pay for electricity, water and taxes on a house I never wanted to live in". It was reported that she claimed the house from Přiklopil's estate because she wanted to protect it from vandals and being torn down; she also noted that she has visited it since her escape. When the third anniversary of her escape approached, it was revealed she had become a regular visitor at the property and was cleaning it out possibly to move in herself.

On 15 April 2012, a German newspaper reported that a film based on her autobiography with the same name was to be made, featuring Antonia Campbell-Hughes as Kampusch and Thure Lindhardt as Přiklopil. The film 3096 Days (3096 Tage) was directed by Sherry Hormann and was released on 28 February 2013.

In 2011, the Austrian film Michael, which has a plot that resembles the Natascha Kampusch case, was released.

On 17 February 2010, the British TV channel Five broadcast an hour-long documentary about the case, including an exclusive interview with Kampusch: Natascha: the Girl in the Cellar.

On 17 June 2010, German film-maker and director Bernd Eichinger announced that he was making a film based on Kampusch's captivity and wanted Kate Winslet to star in the film. Bernd Eichinger died on 24 January 2011; Kampusch attended his funeral.

In January 2010, Kampusch said she had retained the house because it was such a big part of her formative years, also stating that she would fill in the cellar if it is ever sold, adamant that it will never become a macabre museum to her lost adolescence. In 2011 the cellar was indeed filled in, though as of 2013, Kampusch still owned the house.

In 2009, Kampusch became the new face of animal rights group PETA in Austria.

New developments in Kampusch's case challenged the Austrian government in February 2008. Politicians of the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) threatened to break up the newly formed SPÖ–ÖVP ("red–black") coalition government in April and May 2008. Kampusch said that she had lost confidence in Austrian justice. Revelations of mistakes in the interior ministry's investigation of her kidnapping came to light, as well as statements of a policeman which were repeatedly ignored in 1998.

On 16 June 2008, the newspaper The Times published an in-depth interview with Kampusch by Bojan Pancevski and Stefanie Marsh.

Together with two journalists, Kampusch's mother Brigitta Sirny wrote a book about the ordeal, Verzweifelte Jahre ("Desperate Years"). Kampusch appeared at the initial presentation of the book in August 2007, but did not want to be photographed or interviewed. Sirny writes that she did not have much contact with Kampusch after the escape because Kampusch was shielded from the outside world.

Kampusch established her own website containing personal information including pictures of herself on 5 December 2007. She had her own talk show on the new Austria TV channel, PULS 4, starting on 1 June 2008. The show had the working title of In Conversation with…Natascha Kampusch and eventually premiered as Natascha Kampusch trifft (Natascha Kampusch meets...). It ran for only three shows.

The 18-year-old Kampusch reappeared on 23 August 2006. At 12:53 pm, she was cleaning and vacuuming her kidnapper's automobile in the garden when Přiklopil got a call on his mobile phone. Because of the vacuum's loud noise, he walked away to take the call. Kampusch left the vacuum cleaner running and ran away, unseen by Přiklopil, who completed the phone call without any sign of being disturbed or distracted. Kampusch ran for some 200 metres through gardens and a street, jumping fences, and asking passers-by to call the police, but they paid her no attention. After about five minutes, she knocked on the window of a 71-year-old neighbour known as Inge T, saying, "I am Natascha Kampusch". The neighbour called the police, who arrived at 1:04 pm. Later, Kampusch was taken to the police station in the town of Deutsch-Wagram.

After reportedly "hundreds of requests for an interview" with the teenager, "with media outlets offering vast sums of money", Kampusch was interviewed by Austrian public broadcaster ORF. The interview was broadcast on 6 September 2006 with her approval. ORF did not pay for its interview, and said any proceeds from selling the interview to other channels would be forwarded to Kampusch. The interview was sold to more than 120 countries at a fee of 290 euros per minute. This money, estimated to some hundred thousand euros, was to be donated to women in Africa and Mexico by Kampusch. Likewise she was planning projects to help these women. Interest was enormous.

The newspaper Kronen Zeitung and news magazine NEWS also interviewed Kampusch. The interview was published on 6 September 2006. Both press interviews were given in return for a package including housing support, a long-term job offer, and help with her education.

The book Girl in the Cellar: the Natascha Kampusch Story by Allan Hall and Michael Leidig appeared in November 2006, written in English. Kampusch's lawyer described the book as being both speculative and premature, and therefore planned to take legal action against it.

The 10-year-old Kampusch left her family's residence in Vienna's Donaustadt district on the morning of 2 March 1998 but failed to arrive at school or come home. A 12-year-old witness reported having seen her being dragged into a white minibus by two men, although Kampusch did not report a second man being present. A massive police effort followed in which 776 minivans were examined, including that of kidnapper Přiklopil, who lived about half an hour from Vienna by car in the Lower Austrian town of Strasshof an der Nordbahn near Gänserndorf. He stated that he was alone at home on the morning of the kidnapping, and the police were satisfied with his explanation that he was using the minibus to transport rubble from the construction of his home.

Natascha Maria Kampusch (born 17 February 1988) is an Austrian woman who was abducted at the age of 10 on 2 March 1998 and held in a secret cellar by her kidnapper Wolfgang Přiklopil for more than eight years, until she escaped on 23 August 2006. She has written a book about her ordeal, 3,096 Days (2010), upon which the 2013 German film 3096 Days is based.

The house where Kampusch was imprisoned was built by Přiklopil's grandfather, Oskar Přiklopil, after World War II. During the Cold War period, Oskar and his son Karl built a bomb shelter, thought to be the origin of Kampusch's dungeon. Přiklopil took over the house in 1984 following his grandmother's death.

Evidence recovery was complicated, as Přiklopil's only computer was a 1980s Commodore 64 which is incompatible with modern-day data recovery programs. Before Kampusch escaped, Přiklopil was trying to procure false papers as a Czech citizen in order to "begin a new life" with Kampusch.

Wolfgang Přiklopil (14 May 1962 – 23 August 2006) was an Austrian communications technician of Czech origin. He was born to Karl and Waltraud Přiklopil in Vienna, and was an only child. His father was a cognac salesman and his mother was a shoe saleswoman. Přiklopil worked for a time at Siemens as a communications technician.