Bill Harris, a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), who helped kidnap 19-year-old newspaper heiress and socialite Patricia “Patty” Hearst during a violent storming of her Berkeley apartment in 1974, has died at age 81.
Kidnapping of Patty Hearst
Harris assisted the SLA, which is a left-wing urban guerrilla group, in kidnapping and stuffing Hearst into the trunk of a car on February 4, 1974. There was an apparent struggle, but the three members managed to get her inside the Chevrolet Impala they drove to her apartment, which she shared with her fiancé, Steven Weed.
Hearst spent weeks with her captors in confinement, specifically in a closet at the group’s safe house in Daly City, and underwent psychological torture before joining them in their mission. Two months later, the group posted a photo of her appearing with an assault weapon in front of the SLA flag.
The kidnapping was believed to have been a result of an inadequate donation made by the Hearst family. The SLA formed in 1973 and initiated a food giveaway to the needy, demanding the Hearst family finance it. What was expected to amount to $400 million in food and services, the Hearsts pledged only $2 million, which the revolutionary group found to be insufficient.
They kidnapped Hearst, declaring her a “prisoner of war.” When she finally succumbed to her brainwashing, the group posted the photograph of her holding a sawed-off M1 carbine and a recording of her stating that she was joining the organization and would be going by the name “Tania.”
1970s Bank Robberies
She participated in the group’s armed robbery of a Hibernia Bank branch in San Francisco on April 15, 1974. It took them another year before they hit their second bank because after a botched shoplifting attempt in May 1974, the group got into one of the most violent and largest police standoffs in American history, where they lost many SLA members.
The robbery at Guild Savings Bank in Sacramento on February 25, 1975, occurred after the group resurfaced. They took about $3,000 and suffered no casualties. However, because of the success of that robbery and the low net profit, they decided to hit their third bank, which would be their last.
On April 21, 2025, the group hit up Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, California. Hearst drove one of the getaway cars and left with about $15,000. Unfortunately, bank customer Myrna Lee Opsahl died as a result of the robbery.
Among the bills stolen was a $1 “bait bill,” which played a pivotal role in ending Hearst’s 19 months with the group. That bill had a pre-recorded serial number, and police found it inside one of the SLA’s safe-house refrigerators during raids in September 1975. Since Hearst was inside one of the houses raided, she was arrested and linked to the armed robbery.
Prison Sentence
Hearst did not serve time in prison for the fatal bank robbery, but was sentenced to seven years in prison for her role in the Hibernia Bank robbery. Her high-profile trial concluded in 1976, and she spent 22 months in federal prison before President Jimmy Carter granted her executive clemency in 1979.
She received a full pardon on President Bill Clinton’s final day in office in 2001. Her record and legal rights were restored, and she was able to fully move on with her life and continue the treatment she needed.
Why Hearst Was a Prime Target
Hearst was considered a target to the SLA group because of what her family represented to them, according to Harris. “Patricia Hearst was a symbolic target,” he said. “Her family was in control of a media empire that we viewed as an arm of propaganda for the United States government.”
Member of The SLA Dies
Harris was married to Emily Schwartz, and the two became involved with the SLA in its opening year. They became notorious for killing Oakland schools superintendent Marcus Foster with cyanide-laced bullets.
The two planned Hearst’s kidnapping and participated in various crimes, including all three of the bank robberies, random shoplifting, and murder. They remained on the run for nearly two years before authorities captured them. After their prison sentence was served, Harris and his then-wife divorced, and he married his current wife in 1988.
Harris served time in prison for his crimes in connection with the SLA, including the fatal robbery in 1975 at Crocker National Bank. Five decades after marking himself and the SLA as notorious for the most sensational crimes of the 1970s, he died of a heart attack at a hospital in San Francisco on September 10, 2026.
Up until his death, he continued to dispute Hearst’s claims that her only options as part of the SLA were to carry out their agenda or to be killed.
