BILL HARRIS, THE MAN WHO HELPED KIDNAP PATTY HEARST, DIES AT 81 — HIS ROLE IN ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST BIZARRE CRIME CASES

William “Bill” Harris, a key member of the radical Symbionese Liberation Army who helped kidnap newspaper heiress Patricia “Patty” Hearst in 1974, has died at the age of 81.

Harris died on September 10 at a San Francisco hospital after suffering a heart attack, according to his wife, Rebecca Young, who confirmed his death to The New York Times.

His death marks the end of another chapter in one of the most extraordinary and controversial criminal cases in American history — a kidnapping that shocked the nation and became even more sensational when the victim appeared to join the very group that had abducted her.

On February 4, 1974, Harris and other SLA members stormed the Berkeley apartment where 19-year-old Patty Hearst was living with her fiancé, Steven Weed.

During the attack, Hearst was beaten and dragged from the apartment. Harris helped force her into the trunk of a Chevrolet Impala before the group drove away.

The SLA, a small revolutionary organization, viewed Hearst as a symbolic target because she was the granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst.

Rather than simply demanding a traditional ransom, the group initially declared Hearst a “prisoner of war” and demanded that her wealthy family help distribute millions of dollars worth of food to people in need.

But what happened next transformed the kidnapping into an international sensation.

Nearly two months after Hearst disappeared, the SLA released a photograph showing her holding a weapon in front of the group’s flag.

In an accompanying recording, the young heiress announced that she had adopted the name “Tania” and appeared to renounce her family and her previous life.

Then came an even more shocking development.

On April 15, 1974, Hearst participated in the armed robbery of a Hibernia Bank branch in San Francisco alongside SLA members.

The image of a kidnapped heiress apparently carrying a weapon during a bank robbery became one of the defining images of the 1970s.

But whether Hearst had truly joined the organization or was acting under extreme coercion became one of the central questions of the case.

Hearst later maintained that she had been forced to cooperate with her captors and feared she would be killed if she resisted. Her defense argued that she had been psychologically manipulated during her captivity.

Harris disputed that explanation for decades and maintained that Hearst had willingly embraced the SLA’s cause.

The saga became even more violent.

In 1975, members of the SLA were involved in a Sacramento bank robbery during which Myrna Opsahl, a 42-year-old mother of four, was killed. Harris was later convicted in connection with the killing and served additional prison time.

Harris had already served roughly eight years in prison for the crimes connected to Hearst’s kidnapping.

After his release, however, he built a life that looked dramatically different from his years as a fugitive and revolutionary.

He worked as a private investigator in San Francisco, married Rebecca Young in 1988 and raised two sons.

Yet his connection to the SLA and the Patty Hearst case never disappeared.

The kidnapping became one of the most closely followed criminal stories of its era, raising questions that continue to fascinate Americans more than five decades later: Could a kidnapping victim really become a willing participant in her captors’ crimes? How much control did Hearst have over her actions? And where did coercion end and choice begin?

Hearst was eventually captured in 1975 and convicted of armed bank robbery. She was sentenced to seven years in prison but served about 22 months before President Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence. In 2001, President Bill Clinton granted her a full pardon.

Today, the Patty Hearst kidnapping remains one of the strangest episodes in American criminal history — a case involving radical politics, kidnapping, psychological coercion, bank robbery and a young woman whose transformation in captivity captivated the entire country.

With Bill Harris’ death at 81, another major figure from that extraordinary chapter of American history is gone.

But the questions surrounding what happened to Patty Hearst during those terrifying months remain part of the case’s enduring mystery.

Source: PEOPLE