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Kampusch welcomes new investigations as jailer's pal suspected

By Thomas Hochwarter

Former kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch has said she "appreciates" new investigations into her case after it emerged one of her sick jailer�s pals was under investigation over her kidnapping.

Graz state prosecutor Thomas M�hlbacher this weekend confirmed newspaper reports that Ernst Holzapfel, a close friend of Wolfgang Priklopil, was under investigation.

M�hlbacher said: "His statements contained some contradictions."

He said prosecutors want to decide by the end of the year whether to press charges against the Holzapfel. But they added he would not be put in custody as they saw no risk he would go on the run or try to cover up possible crimes.

Kampusch�s lawyer Gerald Ganzger said today (Mon) his client would think it was "great" if the investigations produced new leads in the case.

Kampusch has always claimed she knew of only one person involved in her kidnap.

Graz prosecutors said they were awaiting potential evidence to arrive from Germany within few days.

Kampusch was snatched off the street on her way to school in Vienna in 1998. She was locked in a purpose-built cellar dungeon for eight years at Priklopil�s house in Strasshof, Lower Austria. Priklopil committed suicide by hurling himself in front of a train on the day Kampusch managed to escape from his clutches in August 2006.

Holzapfel held a press conference days later to say he had nothing to do with the crime.

"I was at his house now and then in the late 1990s for roofing work. I saw nothing suspicious on these occasions. He (Priklopil) was once accompanied by a young woman (Kampusch) when I came to borrow a trailer. He introduced her as a friend but didn�t give her name," he said at the time.

Kampusch, who recently returned to the house where she was held after she bought it to prevent it from "falling to the wrong hands", says he feels like a "hermit crab" and rarely leaves her home.

Neighbours claimed Kampusch has spent "a lot of time" at the Strasshof house and it has been confirmed she opened its doors to a German film team for a TV documentary to be broadcast next year.

A special commission checking into her case was set up last year after former Federal Crime Office chief Herwig Haidinger claimed authorities had tried to cover up botched investigations into her kidnapping as a general election was approaching.

The six-member body � headed by former Federal Constitutional Court chief Ludwig Adamovich � is continuing its investigations.

Adamovich in summer said he feared alleged accomplices of Priklopil may be plotting to kill her to stop her exposing them.

Austrian Times

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