Kidnapped triathlete sweet talks her way to freedom by complimenting abductor’s orchids after being snatched, bound and beaten
A TRIATHLETE who was kidnapped and forced into a van, then driven to a rundown house on the outskirts of town, complimented her abductor’s orchids in a bid for freedom.
Nathalie Birli, 27, a cycling champion, was knocked off her bike and snatched by man driving a red delivery van while she was training near her home in Austria.
“A man got out and hit me in the head with a length of wood. He bound my hands with electrical insulation tape and threw me on to the back seat. I must have been unconscious for a while.
“When I came to, I was naked and tied to a chair in an old house. The man said: ‘If you do what I want, you’ll be free tomorrow.’
He bound my hands with electrical insulation tape and threw me on to the back seat
Nathalie Birli
"I had the feeling that I was in a house far away from help and I was sure that no one would find me there.”
Ms Birli said she was blindfolded and forced at knife point to drink schnapps amid threats he would drown her in his bath.
"He forced my mouth and nose shut and tried to suffocate me. He let go of me but then he forced me to get into a bathtub full of cold water and wanted to drown me.”
Her partner, who was caring for their baby at home, called police at around 9pm when she failed to come return.
A search involving dozens of her fellow triathletes failed to find her.
However, Ms Birli managed to talk her way to freedom by thinking quickly and noticing that his house was full of orchids.
I had the feeling that I was in a house far away from help and I was sure that no one would find me there
Nathalie Birli
She said she began to build rapport with her captor by complimenting him on his orchids.
The exchange prompted him to confide in her and agree to her release.
“All of a sudden the culprit was nice to me," the young mum said.
She added: "He said he was a gardener and he told me all about his messed-up life — that his father had died, that his mother had become an alcoholic and that his girlfriend had cheated on him.
“I made him a suggestion: ‘Let’s just say it was an accident and you can let me go now.’ He accepted the deal and cut the tape. I was allowed to get dressed and then he drove me all the way to my front door.”
After escaping from the ordeal, Ms Birli returned home.
The following day she wrote over Facebook: "Thank God I was able to free myself and I am well except for a broken arm and a head injury."
Police reportedly used the GPS data on her racing bicycle to locate the man at his house where he was later arrested.
It is not clear whether the 33-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was known to Ms Birli before the attack.
Ms Birli has won titles in the under-23 category, including the triathlon and short-distance duathlon.
Local newspapers reported that she won the national women’s cycling league.
She became the youngest licensed triathlon trainer in Austria and started work at the Institute for Sports Nutrition Research in Graz.
A British woman has also recently spoken of the moment she fought off a gang of four men who tried to force her into a car after a night out in Clapham, southwest London.
Sarah Murphy, then 25, was walking home when a car pulled up beside her.
After a fierce struggle, she kicked and screamed until the men gave up and dumped her on the street before driving off.
And earlier this year, a 12-year-old girl was grabbed by the waist and carried to a secluded woodland in Leeds.
The girl was walking to school when she was approached by the man near to the M621 flyover.
She bravely managed to fight back and the suspect fled after being disturbed by a passer-by who called police.
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