A man (44) suspected of having kidnapped and imprisoned a girl for the past eight years has committed suicide after his victim managed to break free yesterday, Austrian police said today.
The man, identified as Wolfgang P, had thrown himself in front of an night express train in Vienna after running away from police, according to Austrian news agency APA.
The communications technician is suspected of having imprisoned Natascha Kampusch for the past eight years in a small cellar in his house in Strasshof, a hamlet on the outskirts of Vienna.
Following her eight-year ordeal, the now 18-year old woman showed up last night in a garden close to the house where she had been kept and identified herself to a neighbour as the girl who went missing nearly a decade ago.
Kampusch's disappearance on her way to school had sent shockwaves through Austria.
Her reappearance sparked a major manhunt for her captor yesterday. Neighbourhood witnesses said they had seen a car speeding away shortly after the girl re-emerged.
Police said they later found the red BMW sports car abandoned in a parking lot in Vienna and the key in Wolfgang P.'s pocket after his suicide. Police said they were still awaiting a final DNA test.
Police said Kampusch was in good physical health, although she looked pale and shaken when she was discovered. She bore no indications of having suffered sexual abuse.
The woman had been allowed occasional outings with her captor, yet had not fled because she apparently suffered from "Stockholm Syndrome" - a psychological condition in which long-held captives begin to identify with their kidnappers.