Nathalie Birli managed to placate the man by complimenting him on the many orchids growing in his home.
A young Austrian triathlete kidnapped while riding her bike talked her way to freedom by complimenting her captor's orchids, a police source said Saturday, confirming press reports.
Professional triathlete Nathalie Birli, 27, was struck by a car Tuesday and broke her arm while falling to the ground near Graz in southeastern Austria, the press reports said.
The driver then knocked her out with a piece of wood and took her to his isolated home.
"When I regained consciousness, I was naked and tied up in an armchair in an old house," Birli told the Kronen Zeitung newspaper.
The man forced her to drink alcohol and tried to suffocate her and drown her in a bathtub filled with cold water, Birli said.
However she managed to placate the man by complimenting him on the many orchids growing in his home.
Though he was initially "filled with hate," the man suddenly became "nice to me" and confided that gardening was his passion before opening up about his troubled childhood, she said.
Finally, he agreed to let her go and even took her home, along with her bicycle, which had a GPS system installed in it.
Police used the GPS record to track down the man and arrest him at his house, they said.
The police are now trying to determine if the 33-year-old man, who suffers from psychiatric problems, was involved in any previous kidnappings.
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TryCoserious on July 27th, 2019 at 20:47 UTC »
“That’s a nice pair of Bulbophyllums you’ve got there.”
“Oh. Yeah, uh... thanks. Most people don’t notice them.”
“That’s too bad, they’re lovely. Shall I go then?”
“Hmm. Nah, yeah, go on. Sorry about the attempted drowning.”
“No worries.”
Crowbarmagic on July 27th, 2019 at 19:48 UTC »
Holy shit. I can't imagine having that state of mind in such a situation. She woke up naked and tied up with a man trying to sedate/kill her, and she tries to be nice to him. That took balls and smarts.
Kinda reminds me of this one American serial killer who would abduct hitchhikers. He picked up this young girl, who enthusiastically talked about her life and school and future plans and whatnot, and the serial killer dropped her off without doing anything. IIRC his account was something along the lines of: 'because of what she told me I started to see her as a real person and not an object'.
Not that the stories are that comparable, but it reminded me of that one in the sense that communicating on a personal level saved people from being killed.
Zorops on July 27th, 2019 at 19:30 UTC »
That is fucked up. I cant imagine getting knocked out and waking up naked in a cabin in the wood.