Police have announced that Priklopil, who killed himself within
hours of Kampusch's escape, had as his only computer a Commodore
64. The communications technician appears to have no other computer
at home, posing a problem for investigators.
Major General Gerhard Lang of the Federal Criminal
Investigations Bureau told reporters in Austria that the computer
would cause complications and that it would be difficult to
transmit all the data from the computer "without loss".
While modern computers can run emulators of Commodore software
and operating systems, the problems foreseen by Lang involve data
transmission. Commodores did not have hard drives, instead relying
on floppy discs and cassette tapes for the storage of
information.
Kampusch was kidnapped in 1998 when 10 years old and managed to
escape two weeks ago. She had been kept for almost all the time in
a small, windowless room under the garage at his house.
When Priklopil discovered her escape he killed himself by
throwing himself under a train. Police are investigating the
possibility that he had an accomplice in the original kidnap. One
eye witness report at the time told of two men in a van conducting
the kidnap. Computer files could provide vital evidence of the
existence and identity of any accomplice.
