Case closed
January 8, 2010
The director of the Viennese public prosecution office, Werner Pleischl, officially closed the file on the kidnapping of Natascha Kampusch on Friday, concluding that no-one else conspired in the crime.
The investigation was re-opened in October 2008 after speculation grew that Priklopil had had accomplices, with particular suspicion falling on a former friend identified as Ernst H.
The investigation found that Ernst H. had been in contact with Priklopil on the day of his suicide, but there was no evidence linking him to the kidnapping. H. had not come forward earlier for fear that illegal business transactions he had made with Priklopil would be revealed. H. could now face an investigation for tax fraud.
Investigators interviewed 110 people in the course of the new investigation, but no concrete evidence emerged that any accomplices had been involved, or that anyone else knew of the crime.
Kampusch was kidnapped by Priklopil at the age of ten in 1998 and kept captive for eight and a half years in a cellar in Priklopil's house in the town of Strasshof. She escaped in August 2006, after which Priklopil committed suicide. Kampusch has consistently insisted that Priklopil was her only captor. She is said to be relieved that the case is now considered closed.
Poor investigation
The new investigation was made necessary partly because of inconsistencies and errors made in police records during initial enquiries.
Ernst Geiger, head of the police department responsible for the investigation, admitted that the police had also made mistakes in the investigation into the kidnapping itself. Evidence that would have led to Priklopil earlier had not been pursued, Geiger said.
There was also no evidence to back up widespread speculation about connections to international child porn rings.
Grooming a bride
The police have now concluded that Priklopil's motivation for the kidnapping was a personal crisis that happened in the late 1990's. Believing that he would never find a wife, the repressed loner decided to kidnap a young girl and groom her to become his partner for life.
During the years of captivity, Priklopil apparently become more and more convinced that Kampusch would forget the kidnapping and that they would grow old together in a "normal" relationship.
bk/APD/dpa
Editor: Susan Houlton