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© Getty Images
0 / 29 Fotos
Patty Hearst
- Patricia Campbell Hearst was born on February 20, 1954, in San Francisco, California. She is the daughter of Randolph Apperson Hearst and Catherine Wood Campbell.
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Heiress
- Patty Hearst’s most famous family member was her grandfather, media mogul William Randolph Hearst, the man behind the Hearst empire.
© Getty Images
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Student life
- In 1974, 19-year-old Hearst was studying at the University of California, Berkeley. She lived with her fiancé, Steven Weed, in apartment 4 at 2603 Benvenue Street in Berkeley. All seemed perfect, but her life was about to change.
© Getty Images
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Kidnapping
- On February 4, 1974, there was a knock on Hearst’s apartment door. Shortly after, a group of armed men and women stormed in.
© Getty Images
4 / 29 Fotos
Kidnapping
- The group beat up Patty Hearst’s fiancé, grabbed her, and put her in the trunk of a car and drove off.
© Getty Images
5 / 29 Fotos
Abduction
- Hearst had just been kidnapped by a left-wing extremist group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA).
© Getty Images
6 / 29 Fotos
Symbionese Liberation Army
- The abduction was claimed by the SLA. Led by Donald DeFreeze (aka Cinque), the militant group’s mission was to incite a guerrilla war against America’s capitalist government.
© Public Domain
7 / 29 Fotos
Motive
- The SLA planned the kidnapping to gain advantage of Hearst family's political influence. The goal was to free two SLA members, Russ Little and Joe Remiro, who had been arrested for murder. The SLA wanted to make headlines and grab the country’s attention, and they got it.
© Getty Images
8 / 29 Fotos
Request
- The SLA didn’t get their men released, but they did get Hearst's family to make a food donation worth US$2 million to poor people in the Bay Area, through a program called People in Need.
© Getty Images
9 / 29 Fotos
People in Need
- But the food giveaway was a disaster at the distribution stage, leading to riots, injured people, and arrests. The SLA then refused to release Hearst, though their plan seemed to be even more sinister.
© Getty Images
10 / 29 Fotos
Abduction
- According to Hearst, the left-wing radicals kept her in a closet for a week, where her hands were tied and she was blindfolded. She was allowed to get out for meals, and later was given a flashlight to read SLA material in what was believed to be a brainwashing strategy.
© Getty Images
11 / 29 Fotos
Patty Hearst joins the SLA
- "DeFreeze told me that the war council had decided or was thinking about killing me or me staying with them, and that I better start thinking about that as a possibility. I accommodated my thoughts to coincide with theirs," Hearst said.
© Getty Images
12 / 29 Fotos
Patty Hearst joins the SLA
- The SLA made their demands through audiotapes, and 59 days after the kidnapping a new audiotape was released. This time, it was Patty Hearst saying, "I have been given the choice of being released...or joining the forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army and fighting for my freedom and the freedom of all oppressed people. I have chosen to stay and fight."
© Getty Images
13 / 29 Fotos
Nom de guerre
- Patty Hearst also announced that she changed her name to Tania, after a "comrade who fought alongside Che in Bolivia." Hearst was making reference to communist guerrilla fighter Tamara Bunke, better known as Tania (pictured).
© Getty Images
14 / 29 Fotos
Hibernia Bank robbery
- On April 15, 1974, Hearst and other SLA members robbed Hibernia Bank. Surveillance video footage showed Hearst wielding an M1 carbine rifle while carrying out the robbery.
© Getty Images
15 / 29 Fotos
Hibernia Bank robbery
- In the surveillance footage, Patty Hearst can be heard saying "I am Tania" and "We are not fooling around," ordering customers to lay on the floor.
© Getty Images
16 / 29 Fotos
Hibernia Bank robbery
- Two people were shot by the SLA, one fatally, during the robbery. The group took around US$10,000 in cash.
© Getty Images
17 / 29 Fotos
Post-robbery tape
- After the robbery, another audiotape was released. Hearst’s message was as follows: "Greetings to the people, this is Tania. Our actions of April 15 forced the Corporate State to help finance the revolution. As for being brainwashed, the idea is ridiculous beyond belief. I am a soldier in the People's Army."
© Getty Images
18 / 29 Fotos
One month later…
- On May 16, 1974, following the Hibernia Bank robbery, Patty Hearst and SLA couple William and Emily Harris (pictured) tried to rob an ammunition belt from Mel's Sporting Goods Store in Englewood, California. Shots were fired by Patty Hearst.
© Getty Images
19 / 29 Fotos
SLA hideout bust
- The runaway van was later discovered by authorities parked outside the SLA safe house in LA. It was game over for the radical group.
© Getty Images
20 / 29 Fotos
SLA hideout bust
- There was a shootout, and six SLA members who were inside the hideout died after the building went up in flames (including DeFreeze).
© Getty Images
21 / 29 Fotos
Arrest
- Patty Hearst, however, was nowhere to be found in the safe house. Hearst, as well as Emily and William Harris, was eventually captured in San Francisco on September 18, 1975.
© Getty Images
22 / 29 Fotos
Trial
- Despite claiming that she was brainwashed by the SLA, on March 20, 1976, the jury found Hearst guilty of armed robbery and use of a firearm to commit a felony.
© Getty Images
23 / 29 Fotos
Sentence
- Patty Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison, but only served two, as President Jimmy Carter then commuted her sentence.
© Getty Images
24 / 29 Fotos
Saved by the presidents
- Not only did President Carter reduce her sentence, but on January 20, 2001, President Bill Clinton granted Patty Hearst a full pardon.
© Getty Images
25 / 29 Fotos
What happened to the SLA?
- The last two members of the SLA were arrested by the FBI in 1999 and 2002, respectively.
© Getty Images
26 / 29 Fotos
Life after prison
- Patty Hearst has since starred in a number of John Waters’ films, including ‘Cry-Baby’ (1990).
© Getty Images
27 / 29 Fotos
Other projects
- Hearst has also written the book ‘Every Secret Thing’ and participated in a number of dog shows. Sources: (FBI) (Britannica) (Biography) (PBS) (Famous Trials) (History)
© Getty Images
28 / 29 Fotos
© Getty Images
0 / 29 Fotos
Patty Hearst
- Patricia Campbell Hearst was born on February 20, 1954, in San Francisco, California. She is the daughter of Randolph Apperson Hearst and Catherine Wood Campbell.
© Getty Images
1 / 29 Fotos
Heiress
- Patty Hearst’s most famous family member was her grandfather, media mogul William Randolph Hearst, the man behind the Hearst empire.
© Getty Images
2 / 29 Fotos
Student life
- In 1974, 19-year-old Hearst was studying at the University of California, Berkeley. She lived with her fiancé, Steven Weed, in apartment 4 at 2603 Benvenue Street in Berkeley. All seemed perfect, but her life was about to change.
© Getty Images
3 / 29 Fotos
Kidnapping
- On February 4, 1974, there was a knock on Hearst’s apartment door. Shortly after, a group of armed men and women stormed in.
© Getty Images
4 / 29 Fotos
Kidnapping
- The group beat up Patty Hearst’s fiancé, grabbed her, and put her in the trunk of a car and drove off.
© Getty Images
5 / 29 Fotos
Abduction
- Hearst had just been kidnapped by a left-wing extremist group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA).
© Getty Images
6 / 29 Fotos
Symbionese Liberation Army
- The abduction was claimed by the SLA. Led by Donald DeFreeze (aka Cinque), the militant group’s mission was to incite a guerrilla war against America’s capitalist government.
© Public Domain
7 / 29 Fotos
Motive
- The SLA planned the kidnapping to gain advantage of Hearst family's political influence. The goal was to free two SLA members, Russ Little and Joe Remiro, who had been arrested for murder. The SLA wanted to make headlines and grab the country’s attention, and they got it.
© Getty Images
8 / 29 Fotos
Request
- The SLA didn’t get their men released, but they did get Hearst's family to make a food donation worth US$2 million to poor people in the Bay Area, through a program called People in Need.
© Getty Images
9 / 29 Fotos
People in Need
- But the food giveaway was a disaster at the distribution stage, leading to riots, injured people, and arrests. The SLA then refused to release Hearst, though their plan seemed to be even more sinister.
© Getty Images
10 / 29 Fotos
Abduction
- According to Hearst, the left-wing radicals kept her in a closet for a week, where her hands were tied and she was blindfolded. She was allowed to get out for meals, and later was given a flashlight to read SLA material in what was believed to be a brainwashing strategy.
© Getty Images
11 / 29 Fotos
Patty Hearst joins the SLA
- "DeFreeze told me that the war council had decided or was thinking about killing me or me staying with them, and that I better start thinking about that as a possibility. I accommodated my thoughts to coincide with theirs," Hearst said.
© Getty Images
12 / 29 Fotos
Patty Hearst joins the SLA
- The SLA made their demands through audiotapes, and 59 days after the kidnapping a new audiotape was released. This time, it was Patty Hearst saying, "I have been given the choice of being released...or joining the forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army and fighting for my freedom and the freedom of all oppressed people. I have chosen to stay and fight."
© Getty Images
13 / 29 Fotos
Nom de guerre
- Patty Hearst also announced that she changed her name to Tania, after a "comrade who fought alongside Che in Bolivia." Hearst was making reference to communist guerrilla fighter Tamara Bunke, better known as Tania (pictured).
© Getty Images
14 / 29 Fotos
Hibernia Bank robbery
- On April 15, 1974, Hearst and other SLA members robbed Hibernia Bank. Surveillance video footage showed Hearst wielding an M1 carbine rifle while carrying out the robbery.
© Getty Images
15 / 29 Fotos
Hibernia Bank robbery
- In the surveillance footage, Patty Hearst can be heard saying "I am Tania" and "We are not fooling around," ordering customers to lay on the floor.
© Getty Images
16 / 29 Fotos
Hibernia Bank robbery
- Two people were shot by the SLA, one fatally, during the robbery. The group took around US$10,000 in cash.
© Getty Images
17 / 29 Fotos
Post-robbery tape
- After the robbery, another audiotape was released. Hearst’s message was as follows: "Greetings to the people, this is Tania. Our actions of April 15 forced the Corporate State to help finance the revolution. As for being brainwashed, the idea is ridiculous beyond belief. I am a soldier in the People's Army."
© Getty Images
18 / 29 Fotos
One month later…
- On May 16, 1974, following the Hibernia Bank robbery, Patty Hearst and SLA couple William and Emily Harris (pictured) tried to rob an ammunition belt from Mel's Sporting Goods Store in Englewood, California. Shots were fired by Patty Hearst.
© Getty Images
19 / 29 Fotos
SLA hideout bust
- The runaway van was later discovered by authorities parked outside the SLA safe house in LA. It was game over for the radical group.
© Getty Images
20 / 29 Fotos
SLA hideout bust
- There was a shootout, and six SLA members who were inside the hideout died after the building went up in flames (including DeFreeze).
© Getty Images
21 / 29 Fotos
Arrest
- Patty Hearst, however, was nowhere to be found in the safe house. Hearst, as well as Emily and William Harris, was eventually captured in San Francisco on September 18, 1975.
© Getty Images
22 / 29 Fotos
Trial
- Despite claiming that she was brainwashed by the SLA, on March 20, 1976, the jury found Hearst guilty of armed robbery and use of a firearm to commit a felony.
© Getty Images
23 / 29 Fotos
Sentence
- Patty Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison, but only served two, as President Jimmy Carter then commuted her sentence.
© Getty Images
24 / 29 Fotos
Saved by the presidents
- Not only did President Carter reduce her sentence, but on January 20, 2001, President Bill Clinton granted Patty Hearst a full pardon.
© Getty Images
25 / 29 Fotos
What happened to the SLA?
- The last two members of the SLA were arrested by the FBI in 1999 and 2002, respectively.
© Getty Images
26 / 29 Fotos
Life after prison
- Patty Hearst has since starred in a number of John Waters’ films, including ‘Cry-Baby’ (1990).
© Getty Images
27 / 29 Fotos
Other projects
- Hearst has also written the book ‘Every Secret Thing’ and participated in a number of dog shows. Sources: (FBI) (Britannica) (Biography) (PBS) (Famous Trials) (History)
© Getty Images
28 / 29 Fotos
How a California rich girl joined the radical group that kidnapped her
The wild story of Patty Hearst
© Getty Images
Patricia Hearst, better known as Patty Hearst, made headlines in the 1970s when she was kidnapped from her California apartment by a far-left militant group. Heiress of a media empire, America was shocked to learn that Hearst later joined her kidnappers and robbed a bank. Was she brainwashed? Or was she not the victim she continues to claim to be?
Intrigued? Click through and get to know all the details of this fascinating true crime case.
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