Her ordeal of being kidnapped began on February 4th 1974 when she was a 19 year old college student. During the same year she was caught on a security camera actively taking part in a robbery at a San Francisco bank.

Her kidnappers at first wanted two of their members be released from prison where they were being held on murder charges, the request for their release was denied. The ransom demand was changed to donate millions of dollars to help feed the poor. Her family eventually established a program and donated $2 million called People in Need. The group then demanded additional funding of more millions of dollars and negotiations deteriorated.

During the period of her being held captive Patricia Hearst claimed she was locked inside a closet for two months and subjected to physical and mental abuse. She also claimed she was brainwashed into becoming a member of the group, renouncing her family and adopting the name Tania.

In April of 1974, just two months after her abduction the group robbed a bank in San Francisco and security cameras captured Hearst clearly holding a gun and taking part in the robbery. In May of the same year 6 members of the group including its leader were killed when the house they were living in was involved in a fire during a shootout with police in Los Angeles. The leader of the group was Donald DeFreeze, he called himself Field Marshall Cinque Mtume. Hearst and several others were not at the house at the time of the shooting and fire and remained on the run for a further year.

She was finally caught in September 1975 in San Francisco and arrested and charged with armed robbery. When asked her occupation she replied ‘Urban Guerilla.’ Her trial was widely publicized and her defense attorney made the claim she had been brainwashed and would be killed if she did not follow the orders given by her captors. She was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison. She was released on bail pending an appeal, the appeal was denied and she returned to prison to serve her sentence.

She remained behind bars for almost two years before President Jimmy Carter had her sentence commuted. Shortly after her release she married her former bodyguard and they went on to raise a family. In 2001 President Bill Clinton granted her a presidential pardon.