Bill Harris, one of the men involved in the infamous kidnapping of Patty Hearst, has died at 81.
Harris died September 10 in San Francisco, according to The New York Times.
Harris became nationally known in 1974 as a prominent member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the radical left-wing group that abducted Hearst from her Berkeley, California, apartment.
Hearst, then a 19-year-old newspaper heiress, was held captive by the group and forced to record a message criticizing her family. She later appeared to embrace the SLA’s ideology and became involved with the organization.
One of the most notorious moments of the saga came when Hearst participated in the SLA’s robbery of a San Francisco bank while still associated with the group.
Hearst was arrested in 1975 and subsequently convicted of bank robbery. She was sentenced to seven years in prison but spent roughly two years behind bars before President Jimmy Carter commuted the remainder of her sentence.
Years later, President Bill Clinton granted Hearst a full pardon in 2001.
The case remained one of the most closely followed kidnapping stories of the 1970s, in part because of Hearst’s transformation from kidnapping victim to an apparent participant in the activities of her captors.
Harris, meanwhile, remained associated with the SLA’s violent and politically radical history. His death closes another chapter in one of the most unusual criminal cases in modern American history.
Bill Harris was 81.
