For eight years, Natascha Kampusch was held as a sex slave inside a purpose-built dungeon just outside Vienna, Austria, by her twisted captor Wolfgang Priklopil.
She was 18 when she escaped. Now, 10 years on, it has been revealed by German newspaper Bild that she lives part-time in the very same house where she suffered years of physical and psychological abuse.
The property was awarded to her as compensation for her tortuous ordeal, and she today spends weekends there but no explanation why.
Kampusch, 28, also shared with the publication details of her life; how she is still single but continues to carry a photograph of Priklopil in her handbag.
A haunting image released by Bild shows her standing in front of the house.
She also recalled the details of her escape, explaining how she ran through the front gate to freedom.
On that day she had been instructed by Priklopil to thoroughly clean his car because he wanted to sell it.
She said Priklopil usually kept watch over her. But when he was briefly distracted to answer a call away from the noise of the vacuum cleaner she was using, she took her chance and ran.
She said she then got the attention of a local woman by knocking on her window and whispering ‘help me’. The woman called the police.
Priklopil is widely understood to have thrown himself in front of a train on the day Kampusch fled in August 2006, however a new investigation is now underway into whether he was in fact murdered.
Kampusch has published a new book titled Ten Years of Freedom.
If you’re in an abusive situation or know someone who is, call 1800 RESPECT. If it's an emergency, call triple-0. You can also call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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