Kampusch dad skint and behind bars, paper claims

The father of a young woman who was kidnapped at the age of 10 in 1998 and locked up by her pervert captor for eight years has been arrested, according to a report.

Daily Heute claimed yesterday (Thurs) that Ludwig Koch, the dad of Natascha Kampusch, was put behind bars on Wednesday. The Viennese newspaper reported that Koch was arrested for failing to pay a fine. He reportedly failed to cough of 480 Euros he was ordered to transfer for physically attacking a man he had accused of being involved in the kidnapping of Kampusch. Heute did not disclose for how long Koch would be kept behind bars. Law enforcement institutions refused to comment the article.

Koch is allegedly struggling to make ends meet after having invested a lot of time and money in trying to find his daughter long after investigators stopped investigating the case. He assigned a private detective to check potential leads in the case but also travelled Europe to look for her himself.

Meanwhile, Kampusch opened a children’s ward in Sri Lanka. The resident of Vienna – who once said she was living the “life of a hermit crab” after escaping her torturer Wolfgang Priklopil – explained that the construction of the hospital’s new department cost 50,000 Euros.

Kampusch told the Kronen Zeitung on Sunday that she came up for half the amount herself. The rest was paid for by donations people gave to her charity foundation. Kampusch, whose kidnapper committed suicide only hours after she had run away from his house in Strasshof an der Nordbahn near Vienna, previously financially supported the victims of incest offender Josef Fritzl.