Natascha's Struggle: 20 Years After Escape

0:00On March 14, Natasha Kampush was 10 years old when she was abducted on March 2, 1998, while walking to school alone in Austria for the first time. A man named Wolfgang Pichiklopil, a technician in his thirties, dragged her into a van and locked her in a small, windowless basement cell under his. Mother's garage and a Vienna suburb, he held her there for 8 years, subjecting her to abuse and isolation. She escaped on August 23, 2006, when Pichiklopil stepped away to take a phone call. She ran to a neighbor's house and got help. He confessed to a friend and then killed himself by jumping in front of a train. Natasha later wrote a memoir about her ordeal titled 3,096 Days, which became a movie and she even bought the house where she was held to keep it from turning into a tourist spot. Years after, she faced intense public scrutiny, conspiracy theories accusing her of faking the kidnapping, hate mail and harassment from strangers.

1:02Her family came under suspicion too, with her mother sued over wild claims. Officials investigated multiple times, even involving the FBI, but cleared everyone close to her. Recently, her family's share than Natasha, now 38, is struggling with severe health issues that have doctors overwhelmed. Her mental state has regressed to how it was right after her escape, with her speech and behavior changed. As the 20th anniversary of her freedom nears, her sister describes her living in her own isolated world, almost like another kind of confinement, while her support team steps in once more to help her through.