Feb. 7, 2026

"THE HEIRESS AND THE ARMY: HOW PATTY HEARST WENT FROM KIDNAP VICTIM TO AMERICA'S MOST WANTED - PART 1"

Show Notes
Transcript

Reid Carter examines how a 19-year-old newspaper heiress became a machine gun-wielding bank robber in one of the strangest cases in FBI history. February 4, 1974: Three armed radicals burst into Patty Hearst's Berkeley apartment, beat her fiancé, threw her in a trunk. The Symbionese Liberation Army demanded millions in food for the poor. Her father complied. Didn't matter. Two months later, surveillance cameras captured Hearst wielding an M1 carbine during a San Francisco bank robbery, screaming "I'm Tania!" Was she brainwashed or radicalized? Victim or revolutionary? Part one of the kidnapping that redefined Stockholm Syndrome.

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Calaroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Reed Carter, Saturday, February seventh,

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twenty twenty six. This past week brought us the troubling

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case of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance in Arizona, a reminder that

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when you're connected to someone famous, that fame creates visibility,

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and visibility creates vulnerability. Celebrity kidnappings have haunted America for

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nearly a century, but no case is stranger, more disturbing,

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or more debated than what happened to Patricia Campbell Hurst.

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February fourth, nineteen seventy four, Berkeley, California. Around nine pm,

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Nineteen year old Patty Hurst is home with her fiance,

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Stephen Wed at their apartment on Benvenue Street, quiet evening,

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two college kids, normal night. Then a knock at the door.

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Patty opens it. Three are strangers burst in, two men,

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one woman, guns drawn. They beat Weed with a wine bottle,

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tied him up. A neighbor who heard the commotion tried

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to help. They beat him too, tied him up. They

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grabbed Patty, screaming, kicking, threw her in the trunk of

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their car, fired gunshots to scatter anyone watching. Cyanide tipped

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bullets and drove away. Within hours, the Hurst family was

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in chaos. Patty's father, Randolph Hurst, chairman of the Hearst

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media Empire, grandson of William Randolph Hurst, one of the

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most powerful families in America. Their daughter had been taken

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by people with cyanide tipped bullets. Three days later, a

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Berkeley radio station received a letter the Symbionese Liberation Army

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never heard of them, small violent, radical left wing group

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led by an escaped convict who called himself General Field

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Marshal Chinkway. They declared Paddy Hurst a prisoner of war.

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What happened next would consume America for nineteen months. A

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kidnapped heiress, a ransom in food instead of cash, audiotapes

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from captivity, brainwashing or radicalization, depending on who you believe.

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And then the photograph Patty Hurst standing in front of

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the SLA's seven headed cobra flag beret on her head,

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m won carbine in her hands, not a hostage anymore,

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a soldier calling herself Tanya. Two months later, surveillance cameras

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captured her robbing a bank victim or revolutionary? Brainwashed or willing?

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The question that consumed America in nineteen seventy four. Still

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doesn't have a clear answer. Fifty one years later, I'm

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read Carter, this is celebrity trials today. The kidnapping of

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Patty Hurst, the Symbionese Liberation Army, the closet, the bank robbery,

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and the photograph that changed everything. Part one of two.

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Let's set the stage. Patricia Campbell Hurst born February twentieth,

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nineteen fifty four, San Francisco, third of five daughters. Her

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grandfather was William Randolph Hurst, the newspaper magnate. Citizen Kane

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was inspired by his life. The family wielded immense political

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influence and unimaginable wealth. Patty grew up in Hillsboro, an

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affluent suburb. Private schools Crystal Springs School for Girls, Santa

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Catalina School in Monterey, then Menlo College in Atherton. Eventually

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transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, art history major,

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living with her fiancee, Stephen Weed, a former math teacher

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at her high school who became her boyfriend. They were

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engaged planning a wedding, living a quiet life in a

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college apartment. Then the SLA chose her. The Symbionese Liberation

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army self proclaimed revolutionary group founded in the fall of

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nineteen seventy three, no more than a dozen members, mostly

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white college educator, middle class kids, who adopted a seven

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headed cobra as their symbol and an escaped black convict

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as their leader. Their stated goals close all prisons, end monogamy,

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eliminate capitalism, Unite all oppressed people. Their leader, Donald de

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Fries born in Cleveland, Ohio, criminal record from age fourteen,

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escaped from Solidad prison in March nineteen seventy three, renamed

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himself General Field Marshal Chinkwe. Only black member of this

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supposedly revolutionary army fighting for racial justice. The SLA's first

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act of revolution assassinating Marcus Foster, the African American superintendent

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of schools in Oakland, in November nineteen seventy three. Shot

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him with cyanide tipped bullets. Their reason they believed he

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supported a student ID card program. He didn't. They killed

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him based on a newspaper report that was wrong. Make

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it make sense a group dedicated to ending racism a

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black educator based on bad information. Welcome to revolutionary logic.

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Two SLA members, Joe Ramiro and Russell Little, were arrested

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in January nineteen seventy four for Foster's murder. The remaining

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members wanted leverage to free them. They needed a hostage,

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someone famous, someone whose kidnapping would make front page news

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across the country. A November nineteen seventy three San Francisco

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Chronicle article had announced the engagement of Patricia Hurst and

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Stephen Weed published their address. The SLA had their target.

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The FBI later found documents at an abandoned SLA safe

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house revealing a planned action for the full moon of

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January seventh. The FBI didn't act on it, didn't take precautions,

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didn't warn the Hurst family. The SLA delayed a month,

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then struck on February fourth. Three members forced their way

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into apartment four at two six to oh three Benvenue Street,

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beat Weed on, conscious with a wine bottle, assaulted the neighbor,

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dragged Paddy out, screaming into the trunk of a car gone.

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The Hurst family mobilized immediately. Randolph Hurst flew back from Washington.

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Media descended on the family's mansion in Hillsborough. The FBI

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launched what would become one of the most massive, agent

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intensive searches in its history. Two days after the kidnapping,

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the SLA confirmed they had Patty, called her a prisoner

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of war, issued a communicate warning that any rescue attempt

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would result in the prisoner being executed, ended with capital

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letters death to the fascist insect that praise upon the

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life of the people. Eight days later, another tape Defreese

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demanding that Randolph Hearst fund a multimillion dollar food giveaway

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as a good faith gesture. The tape included the frightened

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voice of Paddy Hurst, proof of life, proof she was terrified.

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Randolph Hurst created the People in Need program, donated about

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two million dollars in food distribution, was chaotic rioting at

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some locations, dozens of injuries and arrests at a site

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in West Oakland, Fraud and disorder everywhere. Then a march

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audio tape Patty's voice criticizing her own father. So far,

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it sounds like you and your advisors managed to turn

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it into a real disaster. The SLA demanded six million more.

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The Hurst Corporation said it would donate the additional sum

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if Patty was released unharmed. The SLA rejected the offer,

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but the food was never really the point. The SLA

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didn't want money or food. They wanted attention. They wanted

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to prove they could take the granddaughter of the most

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powerful media family in America and the entire government couldn't

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stop them. And they were right. Nobody could find them.

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Nobody could find Patty. The FBI had hundreds of agents

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on the case and not a single lead. Here's what

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was happening to Patty Hurst. While her family was distributing

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food and the FBI was searching, she was locked in

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a closet. For the first two months of her captivity.

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Hurst was bound, blindfolded and confined to a small, dark closet.

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Couldn't see, couldn't move freely, couldn't leave except for meals,

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and even then she was blindfolded. Defrieze repeatedly threatened her

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with death, told her the War Council had decided they

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were thinking about killing her or she could stay with them.

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Better start thinking about that as a possibility. She was

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sexually assaulted. At trial, she testified that Defrieze and another

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SLA member named Willie Wolf raped her while she was

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in captivity, bound blindfolded, helpless, while locked in that closet,

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The SLA gave her political tracts to memorize a flashlight

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to read by. They began including her in their political

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discussions during meals, indoctrination day after day, week after week,

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alone in the dark with nothing but SLA propaganda, and

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the constant threat of execution. This is classic coercive persuasion, isolation,

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sensory deprivation, physical abuse, sexual abuse, constant threat of death,

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total dependency on captors for food, water, survival, and then

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the offer of acceptance, join us and live, refuse and die.

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Psychologists would later compare it to techniques used by Chinese

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communists on American prisoners of war during Korea. Break them down,

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rebuild them, create loyalty through terror and dependency. Hirst later

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told psychiatrists, I accommodated my thoughts to coincide with theirs.

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That sentence is the heart of the entire case. Did

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she accommodate her thoughts because she was brainwashed, because she

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was terrorized into compliance, or because she genuinely came to

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believe what they were telling her? Fifty nine days after

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her kidnapping, America got its answer, or thought it did.

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April third, nineteen seventy four, the SLA released a new

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audio tape this one was different. No frightened voice, no

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please for help. Patty Hurst sounded confident, strong, resolved. I

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have been given the choice of being released in a

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safe area or joining the forces of the Symbionese Liberation

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Army and fighting for my freedom and the freedom of

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all oppressed people. I have chosen to stay and fight.

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She announced she had taken a new name, Tanya, a

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tribute to Tamara Bunka Chae Gavara's comrade. She denounced her family,

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called her father a corporate liar, said the SLA were

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not combating the people, but fighting for them. Then the

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photograph Patty Hurst standing in front of the SLA's seven

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headed cobra flag, beret tilted on her head, m one

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carbine rifle in her hands, legs spread in a fighting stance,

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eyes cold, not a hostage. A soldier America was stunned.

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How does a nineteen year old art history major from

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one of the wealthiest families in the country become a

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revolutionary in two months? How does a kidnap victim join

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her kidnappers? The answer depends on who you ask. Psychiatrists

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would later testify that Hurst was a text bookcase of

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what would become known as Stockholm syndrome, a term coined

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just the year before, in nineteen seventy three, after a

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bank robbery hostage crisis in Sweden, the captive bonds with

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the captor as a survival mechanism. The victim identifies with

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the aggressor to stay alive. Others said Hurst was a

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willing convert, a bored rich girl who found excitement and

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purpose in revolution, a rebel looking for a cause who

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found one in the most extreme way possible. The truth

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is probably somewhere in between, and that gray area is

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what makes this case still debated fifty one years later.

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But twelve days after that tape, the debate became academic

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because Patty Hurst robbed a bank. We'll be right back with.

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April fifteenth, nineteen seventy four, Surveillance cameras capture a newspaper

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heiress screaming profanity and wielding an assault rifle during a

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San Francisco bank robbery and the LAPD shootout that killed

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six SLA members on live television, while Patty Hurst watched

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from a motel room near Disneyland. April fifteenth, nineteen seventy four,

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San Francisco, The sunset District branch of the Hibernia Bank

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fourteen fifty Noriega Street. Midday, five SLA members entered the bank,

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among them Patty Hurst, or rather Tanya, wielding an M

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one carbine rifle. The bank's surveillance cameras captured everything. Hurst

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was filmed pointing the rifle at customers and employees. The

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group took approximately ten thousand dollars. Two bystanders who entered

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during the robbery were shot and wounded by SLA members.

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On the surveillance tape, Hurst can be seen shouting commands,

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identifying herself as Tanya, barking orders. First person puts up

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his head. I'll blow his mother ing head off. Not

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the behavior of a terrified hostage being forced at gunpoint,

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at least that's how prosecutors would later frame it. But

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here's the detail that complicates the narrative. An FBI agent

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heading the investigation noted that SLA members were photographed pointing

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guns at Hurst during the robbery. Were they aiming at

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bystanders or at her ensuring she performed keeping their hostage

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in line even during the crime. Attorney General William Saxby

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declared Hurst a common criminal and not a reluctant and participant.

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A grand jury indicted her in June nineteen seventy four.

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She was now a wanted fugitive. After the robbery, the

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SLA released another tape, the so called Tanya Interview. Hearst

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spoke of her conversion to the SLA, denied being brainwashed,

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said she was acting of her own free will, called

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the idea of brainwashing ridiculous. One month later, the sporting

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goods store incident that would haunt her at trial. May sixteenth,

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nineteen seventy four, Mel's Sporting Goods in Inglewood, California. SLA

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members William and Emily Harris were inside shopping. Hurst was

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waiting in a van across the street. William Harris was

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caught shoplifting. Store manager and an employee confronted him. Outside

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a scuffle, a gun fell from Harris's waistband. Patty Hurst

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grabbed an automatic carbine from the van and opened fire

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on the storefront. Emptied the entire magazine into the overhead.

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Nobody hit, but the spray of bullets gave the Harris

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time to escape. This moment became critical evidence at trial.

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If Hurst was a hostage, this was her chance to escape.

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Her captors were detained across the street. She was alone

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in a van. She could have driven away, called police run. Instead,

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she opened fire to rescue them. Victim or revolutionary, That

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question just got a lot harder to answer. But here's

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what happened twenty four hours later that turned the SLA

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Saga into something even more extraordinary. May seventeenth, nineteen seventy four,

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South Los Angeles, one thousand, four hundred sixty six East

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fifty fourth Street, a small yellow stucco bungalow. A neighbor

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had called police suspicious people an arsenal of automatic weapons

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in the living room. The Los Angeles Police Department surrounded

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the house approximately five hundred officers swat teams FBI, the

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biggest police operation in LAPD history at that point. They

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demanded surrender. The SLA opened fire. What followed was broadcast

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live on national television for nearly two hours, the first

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live broadcast police shootout in American history. New minicam technology

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brought it into living rooms across the country in real time.

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Nine thousand rounds of ammunition exchanged, five thousand from police,

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four thousand from the SLA. Tear Gas canisters launched through

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windows started fires, the house began to burn, SLA members

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continued firing, even as smoke and flames seared their lungs.

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They chose death over surrender. When it was over, six

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SLA members were dead. Donald de Fries, the self proclaimed general,

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shot himself as the house burned around him. Five others

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died from gunfire and smoke inhalation. Not a single police

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officer was hit, not one bystander injured. Patty Hurst was

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not inside. She was watching from a motel room near

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Disneyland and Annaeim with Bill and Emily Harris. The three of

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them watched their comrades die on live television. Randolph Hurst,

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Patty's father, responded to the massive police assault, they've turned

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dingbats into martyrs. The SLA was effectively destroyed, six of

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its members dead in a burning house on live TV,

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but Patty Hurst and the Harrises survived, and they weren't done.

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After the shootout, Hurst released another tape, eulogized her fallen comrades,

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vowed to continue their fight, called the dead SLA members beautiful,

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and mourned Willie Wolf, specifically, the man she would later

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testify had raped her. That contradiction would devastate her a trial.

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If wolf raped you, why mourn him publicly? Prosecutors would

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argue it proved her conversion was genuine. Defense would argue

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it proved how thoroughly her mind had been broken. The

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three survivors recruited new members from Berkeley's radical student movements,

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allied themselves with the New World Liberation Front, kept moving

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California to Pennsylvania, a rural farmhouse in Scranton, then back

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to the Bay Area. April twenty first, nineteen seventy five,

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four SLA members robbed the Crocker National Bank and Carmichael

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near Sacramento. During the robbery, a forty two year old

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woman named Myrna Opsol was shot and killed, an innocent customer,

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wrong place, wrong time, murdered by revolutionaries robbing a bank.

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The Hurst family eventually withdrew their fifty thousand dollars reward

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for Patty's safe return, having heard nothing from their daughter

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since June, hoping was becoming too painful. For seventeen months

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after the LA shootout, Patty Hurst was a few fugitive

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on the FBI's most wanted list, one of the most

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recognizable faces in America, and nobody could find her. Then

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September eighteenth, nineteen seventy five, San Francisco FBI agents following

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the trail of SLA member Kathleen Solia, were led to

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an apartment in the Outer Mission District inside Emily and

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William Harris and Patricia Hurst, nineteen months after her kidnapping,

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arrested booked. When authorities asked her occupation, Hurst replied urban gorilla,

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not kidnapping victim, not student, urban gorilla. Her mother, Katherine

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expressed confidence, I don't believe Patty's legal problems are that serious.

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After all, she's primarily a kidnap victim. She never went

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off and did anything of her own free will. Catherine

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Hurst was wrong. Her daughter's legal problems were about to

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become the trial of the decade. Patty Hurst was charged

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with armed res robbery and use of a firearm in

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the commission of a felony. The bank robbery caught on camera,

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the M one carbine in her hands, the surveillance footage

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the entire world had seen. Her family hired f Lee Bailey,

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one of the most famous defense attorneys in America, the

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man who'd defended the alleged Boston strangler, the man who'd

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won acquittal for accused wife murderer doctor Sam Shephard. If

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anyone could convince a jury that Patty Hurst was a

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brainwashed victim, it was Bailey. The trial was set for

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February fourth, nineteen seventy six, exactly two years to the

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day after her kidnapping. Tomorrow the trial f lee Bailey's

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brainwashing defense, the Fifth Amendment, disaster, the verdict, prison two presidents,

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and how a bank robbing revolutionary became a suburban dog

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show champion married to her bodyguard. Make it make sense?

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That's Part one of our Patty Hurst Special. February fourth,

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nineteen seventy four, a nineteen year old college student dragged

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screaming from her apartment by armed radicals. Locked in a

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closet for two months, bound blindfolded, sexually assaulted, threatened with execution.

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Two months later, she emerged holding a rifle, calling herself

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Tanya robbing a bank. The Symbionese Liberation Army was a

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handful of college educated idealists led by an escaped convict.

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They murdered an innocent school superintendent, kidnapped an heiress, robbed banks,

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and died in a burning house on live television, while

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five hundred cops fired five thousand rounds. But the question

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that America couldn't answer in nineteen seventy four and still

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can't answer today, what happened in that closet? Was paddy

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Hurst broken, brainwashed, terrorized into compliance? Or did she find

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something in the SLA's ideology that resonated. Did the girl

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from Hillsboro see something real in the revolution? The surveillance,

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these cameras don't lie. She was holding that rifle, she

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was shouting those commands, She opened fire at a sporting

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goods store to rescue her captors when she could have escaped.

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But the closet doesn't lie either. Two months in the dark,

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sexual assault, death threats, total isolation, total dependency. The human

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mind breaks under those conditions. That's not opinion, that's neuroscience. Tomorrow,

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the trial that tried to answer the unanswerable, and the

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extraordinary life that followed. I'm read Carter, see you tomorrow

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for part two. This is celebrity Trials