Nathalie Birli Survives Kidnapping After Convincing Man To Free Her

Austrian triathlete, Nathalie Birli, 27, was training on her bicycle in in Southern Austria when she was kidnapped. The kidnapper, whose name was not released given Austrian privacy laws, was arrested on Wednesday.

The kidnapper struck Birli on her bicycle to knock her over, where she broker her left arm in the fall and was then beaten with a stick by the kidnapper. Following the attack, she was thrown into the backset of the vehicle.

Losing consciousness for awhile, she awoke naked and tied to an armchair. "He was full of hatred," Birli said. "He blindfolded me, forced me to drink wine and schnapps and he always held a knife in his hand.”

As the attack was going on, Birli began making comments on the orchids she saw in the house and the situation began to change.

"All of a sudden the attacker was nice to me," Birli told Krone. He told her that he was a gardener and started talking about his horrible life - "a dead father, a mother addicted to alcohol and girlfriends who betrayed him," Birli said

Birli said that was the moment when she suggested a "deal" to the man.

She told the man to make it appear as an accident and to let her go. He drove her all the way home and Birli went right into the house, locked the door and called her partner.

Police managed to track down the suspect and he was arrested early Wednesday by Austria's Cobra special forces.