Natascha Kampusch decided not to hide anymore and showed her face in an interview with the ORF. Photo by ORF
Christoph Feurstein, the ORF journalist who landed a career-deciding interview with Austrian abduction escapee Natascha Kampusch said to the BBC that talking to her gave him the creeps.
Kampusch claimed she had made eye-contact with people trying to ask them for help, but no one got her signals. This and other moments in the interview shocked the journalist, and the effect of Kampusch's words was increased by the fact that she was not disguised or hidden in any way.
However, the 18-year-old, who spent eight years locked by her abductor in a tiny windowless room, still has time to decide whether she wants the image digitally concealed before the intervire airs tonight.
ORF will be airing the interview at 20:15 local time, also streaming it live over the Internet and airing it on the radio. Millions of Austrians are expected to gather before their TVs to watch the exclusive footage taped in a "secret location".
"There were no tears, there was no interruption. She went through this one-hour interview in a very straightforward way," ORF's chief editor, Brigette Handlos told the BBC, calling Kampusch "very tough, very strong, very outspoken".
Without a doubt audience's biggest thrill would be to actually see how the girl looks now, since the latest photos of hers date eight years back, before her kidnapping when she was 10 years old.
A Bulgarian, who lived next to abductor Wolfgang Priklopil has told local 24 Hours daily that Kampusch looked nothing like the digital portrait of how she should look in present days, based on her pictures as a child.
Priklopil killed himself shortly after his victim managed to escape as he left her unattended to take a phone call while she was vacuuming his car.