The SLA came to an end on Sept. 18, 1975. The FBI had placed several of the group's new associates, including Bortin, Kilgore and the Soliahs, under surveillance in hopes they would lead agents to Hearst and the Harrises.

They followed the Soliahs from house painting jobs in Pacifica to a pair of San Francisco apartments. On the afternoon of September 18, after the siblings had left for work, agents surrounded one apartment. When the Harrises exited for a noontime jog, they were arrested. A short time later, agents closed in on a second apartment and arrested Hearst and Yoshimura.

Initially, Hearst maintained her allegiance to the SLA, raising a clinched fist for cameras and listing her occupation as "urban guerilla." But later, when she went on trial for bank robbery, she claimed the SLA had brainwashed her into believing the FBI would kill her if she tried to return to her parents. A jury rejected Hearst's claim and she spent two years in prison before President Carter commuted her sentence.

The Harrises served six years in prison for the Hearst kidnapping and other SLA crimes. Other SLA associates were also tried. Steven Soliah, the only person to be tried for the fatal Carmichael robbery, was acquitted. Bortin served 18 months in prison for parole violations. Yoshimura served six months for weapons possession. Kathleen Soliah, now known as Sara Jane Olson, was arrested in 1999 after 23 years as a fugitive.

After two years of maintaining her innocence, she struck a plea deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Two days before her sentencing, Sacramento prosecutors issued arrest warrants for her, the Harrises, Kilgore, and Bortin in the fatal Carmichael bank robbery.

On Nov. 7, 2002, the Harrises, Bortin and Olson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Myrna Opsahl. Emily Harris, known now as Emily Montague, tearfully admitted accidentally shooting Opsahl and received an eight-year sentence. Her former husband, Bill Harris, got a six-to-seven-year term. Sara Jane Olson and Michael Bortin got six years. All apologized to the Opsahl family and signed pledges not to profit through movies or book deals about the case.

The next day, James Kilgore, the last SLA fugitive, was captured in Cape Town, South Africa where he has built a life as a married English professor living under an assumed name. Kilgore, 55, previously one of the FBI’s most wanted, was in the process of working out his surrender when taken into custody. He is to be returned to California to face the Sacramento charges as well as explosive possession counts in San Francisco.