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THE SLA |
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Fall 1973 |
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The Symbionese Liberation Army is formed. Initially a disorganized group of Berkeley student radicals led by ex-convict Donald DeFreeze, it soon develops into a paramilitary organization. Its motto is "Death to the fascist insect that preys upon the life of the people." |
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Nov. 6, 1974 |
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The SLA kills Oakland schools superintendent Marcus Foster with cyanide bullets. |
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Feb. 4, 1974 |
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SLA kidnaps newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst from her Berkeley apartment. The group demanded that her parents, newspaper executive Randolph Hearst and Catherine Hearst, give $70 in food to every poor person in California. |
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April 1974 |
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Hearst sends an audiotape to her parents saying she has decided to join the SLA and adopted the name "Tania." During a San Francisco bank robbery, captured on surveillance tape, Hearst wields a carbine. |
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May 17, 1974 |
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Six members of the SLA are killed in a police shootout and fire at the group's Los Angeles safehouse. Hearst and SLA soldiers Bill and Emily Harris are away from the house and escape. The gun battle is televised live. |
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June 2, 1974 |
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Kathleen Soliah, distraught over the death of good friend and SLA soldier Angela Atwood, organizes a rally in Berkeley's Ho Chi Minh Park. Her emotional eulogy attracts the attention of the FBI and the three surviving SLA members. |
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April 21, 1975 |
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A group of masked SLA members holds up the Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, Calif. Myrna Lee Opsahl, a 42-year-old bank customer, is killed. Years later, Hearst claims in a book that Soliah participated in the fatal bank robbery. |
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THE CRIME |
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August 1975 |
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Police discover pipe bombs planted under two Los Angeles Police Department cars. The bombs, packed with approximately 100 heavy-duty construction nails, fails to explode. Prosecutors say Soliah and James Kilgore planted the bombs in retaliation for the shootout that claimed Soliah's best friend. |
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Sept. 18, 1975 |
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Police searching for Soliah in two separate San Francisco apartments find Patricia Hearst instead. Police raid one apartment expecting to find Soliah but found Hearst, Soliah's brother Steven, and three other SLA members. Hearst is arrested for her involvement in an SLA bank robbery and is eventually convicted and sentenced to a seven-year prison term. Around this time, Kathleen Soliah apparently begins her 24-year run from authorities. She adopts a pseudonym, Sara Jane Olson, met her husband, Dr. Fred Peterson, moves to Zimbabwe and teaches English. |
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Feb. 26, 1976 |
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A Los Angeles County grand jury indicts Soliah on murder conspiracy and explosives charges. |
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THE AFTERMATH |
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1979 |
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Then-President Jimmy Carter commutes Hearst's sentence.
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1986 |
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Soliah, now called Olson, reportedly tries to negotiate a surrender to the FBI through her lawyer. The agency says no deal was made because Soliah requested complete immunity. |
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THE CAPTURE |
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1989
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After living two years in Zimbabwe and a brief stint in Baltimore, Olson and her husband move to St. Paul, Minn., where the two raise three daughters. Soliah leads an active life as an upper-middle class housewife, amateur actor and gourmet cook. She volunteers at Minnesota State Services for the Blind and helps her husband campaign in an unsuccessful bid for mayor. |
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May 15, 1999 |
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In a segment marking the 25th anniversary of a 1974 shootout with police, "America's Most Wanted" airs pictures of Olson and SLA fugitive James Kilgore. The FBI offers a $20,000 reward for information leading to her capture. |
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June 16, 1999 |
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Olson, now 52, surrenders without incident after police pull over her 1998 Plymouth minivan a few blocks from her house in St. Paul, Minn. |
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THE CASE |
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June 18, 1999 |
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At her arraignment in Minnesota, a judge denies Olson bail while awaiting her extradition to California. Friends crowd the courtroom as Olson, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, waves kisses to her family.
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July 14, 1999 |
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A Los Angeles judge sets Olson's bail at $1 million. |
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July 20, 1999 |
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Olson's bail is posted after numerous friends donate money and a Los Angeles judge orders her release. Olson agrees to be monitored by video. |
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October 1999 |
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Hearst is ordered to testify for the prosecution. |
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Oct. 29, 1999 |
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A judge rules that past crimes attributed to the SLA can be used by prosecutors in Olson's case. |
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Nov. 18, 1999 |
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Olson asks court to dismiss the charges against her, but the judge refuses. |
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January 2001 |
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Then-President Bill Clinton pardons Hearst just before his term of office is about to expire.
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Oct. 31, 2001 |
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On the eve of her trial, Olson pleads guilty to attempting to bomb two police cars. She is sentenced to at least five years in prison. |
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Dec. 3, 2001 |
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Judge Larry Fidler refuses to let Olson withdraw her plea. |
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Jan. 16, 2002 |
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Five former members of the SLA, including former fugitive Sara Jane Olson, are charged Wednesday with killing Opsahl during the Carmichael robbery. |
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