0:00

Hey everyone, it's Tyler. If your

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love and minds of madness, you

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need to check out the new

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podcast, Crime House, True Crime Stories.

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Every Monday, you'll go on an

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in-depth journey through two of the

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most notorious true crime cases from

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that week in history, all connected

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by a common theme. From notorious

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serial killers to chilling disappearances and

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tragic murders. Crime House True Crime

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Stories is bringing you the defining

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events that shape true crime crime.

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Both past and present. Whether it's

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the Manson family murders, the kidnapping

0:32

of Patty Hurst, or the thrilling

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escape of a man known as,

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the last great train robber, these

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are stories you don't want to

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miss. And now, I'm excited to

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share an episode of Crime House

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True Crime stories with you now.

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Check out this episode. There

0:50

are some true crime stories

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out there that we can

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never forget. Whether it happened

0:56

yesterday or a century ago,

0:58

the details stay with us,

1:00

creating a lasting impression that

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never fades. On Crime House,

1:04

the show, Those are the

1:06

stories we're telling. Every Monday,

1:08

we'll tackle multiple true crime

1:10

cases from that week in

1:12

crime history, tied together by

1:14

a theme. Think of us

1:16

as your true crime calendar,

1:18

telling you stories that occurred

1:20

that week in true

1:22

crime history. The murder

1:25

of Gabby Petito, the

1:27

Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping, the

1:29

Heaven's Gate mass suicide.

1:31

These are just a

1:33

few of the unbelievable

1:35

events we'll be covering

1:37

on Crimehouse the show.

1:39

Crimehouse the show is

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a Crimehouse original powered

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by Pave Studios. New

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episodes drop every

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Monday. Follow wherever

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you get your

1:52

podcasts. Check out this

1:54

clip. During

1:57

the week of February 3rd,

2:00

19-year-old Patty Hurst was

2:02

taken from her home

2:04

by a violent group

2:07

of self-described revolutionaries. Almost

2:09

three decades later in

2:11

2003, another shocking abduction

2:13

haunted the nation when

2:15

the composite sketch of

2:18

14-year-old Elizabeth Smart's abductor

2:20

was released to the

2:22

public. Today, we'll dive

2:24

into both of these

2:26

notorious true crime cases,

2:29

making this week's theme?

2:31

Kidnapings. Welcome to Crime

2:33

House The Show. I'm

2:35

Vanessa Richardson. Every Monday,

2:37

we'll be revisiting notorious

2:39

crimes from this week

2:42

in history. from serial

2:44

killers to mysterious disappearances

2:46

or murders. Every episode

2:48

will explore two true

2:50

crime cases that share

2:53

a common theme. Here

2:55

at Crime House, we

2:57

know none of this

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would be possible without

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you, our community. Please

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support us by rating,

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reviewing, and following Crime

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House the show, wherever

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and for ad-free and

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early access to Crime

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House the show, plus

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exciting bonus content, subscribe

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to Crime House Plus

3:23

on Apple podcasts. Once

3:26

again, this week's theme

3:28

is notorious kidnapping cases.

3:30

We'll start today's episode

3:32

in 1974, when Patty

3:34

Hurst was ripped from

3:37

her life of privilege

3:39

and taken hostage by

3:41

a group of radical

3:43

militants. Then we'll skip

3:45

forward to 2003, when

3:47

Elizabeth Smart's parents turned

3:50

their 14-year-old daughter's kidnapping

3:52

case on its head

3:54

by publicly sharing information

3:56

the police had kept

3:58

to themselves. Both cases

4:01

made headlines around the

4:03

nation. Even the world.

4:05

They were stories of

4:07

fear, resilience, uncertainty, and

4:09

changed the way we

4:12

think about safety forever.

4:26

It was around 9 p.m.

4:28

on February 4th 1974. 19-year-old

4:30

college student Patty Hurst was

4:32

at her apartment in Berkeley,

4:34

California with her fiancé, 26-year-old

4:37

Stephen Weed. As they settled

4:39

in for the night, there

4:41

was an unexpected knock on

4:43

the door. Stephen and Patty

4:45

found it odd. It was

4:48

getting late and they weren't

4:50

expecting anyone. Berkeley was a

4:52

college town, though. It was

4:54

entirely possible that it was

4:56

just a friend dropping by.

4:59

So Stephen went to answer

5:01

the door, Patty following behind

5:03

him. They didn't have a

5:05

window or peephole to see

5:07

who it was, so Stephen

5:09

cracked the door. It was

5:12

a woman neither of them

5:14

knew. The stranger claimed she'd

5:16

accidentally backed her car into

5:18

theirs and asked if she

5:20

could use their phone. Patty

5:23

wasn't happy about that. She

5:25

turned and headed back towards

5:27

the living room, leaving Stephen

5:29

to figure it out. A

5:31

moment later, there was a

5:34

loud noise as the woman

5:36

and two men barged their

5:38

way into the apartment. They

5:40

were all carrying weapons. They

5:42

beat Stephen until he was

5:44

barely conscious, then tied Patty

5:47

up and carried her outside.

5:49

After a brief struggle, they

5:51

forced her into the trunk

5:53

of her car and sped

5:55

away. Patty had no idea

5:58

what they wanted or where

6:00

they were taking her, but

6:02

she was pretty sure she

6:04

knew why she'd been talking.

6:06

targeted. Her name. Patty belonged

6:09

to one of the world's

6:11

richest and most powerful families.

6:13

Her grandfather, William Randolph Hurst,

6:15

was the founder of a

6:17

vast media empire. The company

6:20

is still wildly successful today,

6:22

generating billions of dollars every

6:24

year. Patty had been raised

6:26

accordingly. growing up in a

6:28

mansion outside of San Francisco

6:30

with her parents and four

6:33

sisters. But even though being

6:35

a hearse came with a

6:37

lot of perks, it also

6:39

came with a lot of

6:41

expectations. And Patty wasn't all

6:44

that interested in following the

6:46

blueprint her family set out

6:48

for her. She was a

6:50

bit of a rebel, pushing

6:52

against the high society behavior

6:55

and expectations demanded by her

6:57

mother Catherine. and although Patty's

6:59

father Randolph appreciated his daughter's

7:01

verve, her teachers weren't as

7:03

amused. Patty quickly wore out

7:05

her welcome at the various

7:08

upper-class schools she went to,

7:10

and by the time she

7:12

graduated high school, she'd gone

7:14

to five different institutions. Her

7:16

final one proved to have

7:19

the biggest impact on her.

7:21

It was there that she

7:23

met her soon-to-be fiancé, Steve.

7:25

Like the rest of Patty's

7:27

life so far, the match

7:30

wasn't without controversy. Steve wasn't

7:32

a fellow student. He was

7:34

Patty's math teacher and seven

7:36

years her elder. Safe to

7:38

say, Patty's parents didn't approve

7:41

of their relationship, but she

7:43

didn't seem to care what

7:45

her parents thought, because she

7:47

and Steve moved in together

7:49

and enrolled at nearby UC

7:51

Berkeley. And then... They got

7:54

engaged in December 1973 when

7:56

Patti was 19. Even though

7:58

Randolph and Catherine weren't rilled,

8:00

they still printed an engagement

8:02

announcement in the San Francisco

8:05

papers. That's where 29-year-old Bill

8:07

Harris first saw the name,

8:09

Hattie Hurst. Bill was a

8:11

postal worker and member of

8:13

a Bay Area militant group

8:16

called the Simbianese Liberation Army,

8:18

or S. They considered themselves

8:20

guerrilla warriors and wanted to

8:22

get rid of capitalism and

8:24

start a war with the

8:26

government. Their motto was, quote,

8:29

quote, death to the fascist

8:31

insect that prays upon the

8:33

life of the people. After

8:35

Bill saw the engagement announcement,

8:37

he had an idea. Two

8:40

members of the SLA had

8:42

recently been arrested for a

8:44

shooting in Oakland. Bill thought

8:46

the group could use a

8:48

high-profile captive like Patti to

8:51

negotiate a prisoner swap. As

8:53

an added bonus, Patty would

8:55

be a great metaphor for

8:57

their cause. An absurdly wealthy

8:59

family like the Hursts were

9:02

the epitome of capitalism. By

9:04

kidnapping one of their daughters,

9:06

the SLA would make headlines

9:08

and, presumably, a lot of

9:10

money. After reading the engagement

9:12

announcement, Bill went to the

9:15

Berkeley campus and was able

9:17

to find Patty's address over

9:19

the next month or two.

9:21

Bill and the SLA found

9:23

out that despite being from

9:26

an important well-known family, Patty

9:28

didn't have any security. So

9:30

on the night of February

9:32

4th, 1974, Bill and two

9:34

other SLA members abducted Patty

9:37

from her apartment. After shoving

9:39

her in their car, they

9:41

drove to their safe house

9:43

and locked her in a

9:45

closet. Like Bill

9:47

predicted, the kidnapping made headlines

9:50

immediately, along with Steve, multiple

9:52

people around the apartment complex

9:54

had witnessed the kidnapping. They

9:57

went to the authorities and

9:59

it wasn't long before the

10:02

media found out about it.

10:04

The next day, February 5th,

10:06

the media converged on the

10:09

hearsts sprawling home outside San

10:11

Francisco, trying to get a

10:13

soundbite from her panic-stricken parents.

10:16

But the hearsts were in

10:18

the dark too. Thankfully, they

10:20

only had to wait one

10:23

more day to find out

10:25

what happened to their daughter.

10:27

On February 6th, the SLA

10:30

contacted a Berkeley radio station

10:32

by mail. In their letter,

10:34

which was written in the

10:37

style of an arrest warrant

10:39

for Patty, the SLA took

10:42

responsibility for the kidnapping. However,

10:44

they didn't make a ransom

10:46

demand. That came six days

10:49

later on February 12th, but

10:51

the SLA didn't ask for

10:53

a prisoner swap, like they'd

10:56

initially intended to. They didn't

10:58

ask for money either, at

11:00

least not for them. In

11:03

exchange for Patty's safe return,

11:05

the SLA wanted the Hearst

11:07

family to invest millions of

11:10

dollars into a food program

11:12

for Americans living in poverty.

11:14

To prove Patty was safe,

11:17

the SLA also included a

11:19

voice message from her via

11:22

tape. She told her parents

11:24

that she was okay and

11:26

urged them to listen to

11:29

the SLA's demands. Catherine and

11:31

Randolph were prepared to do

11:33

as they asked, but the

11:36

SLA's request was a logistical

11:38

nightmare. The Hursts had to

11:40

create a multi-million-dollar food distribution

11:43

plan from scratch and quickly,

11:45

but they were willing to

11:47

do whatever it took to

11:50

get their daughter back. And

11:52

on February 22nd, 10 days

11:54

after the SLA's request, the

11:57

Hursts managed to launch a

11:59

food giveaway program called People

12:01

in Need. It was an

12:04

unmitigated disaster. So many people

12:06

showed up to the first

12:09

day of distributions that it

12:11

descended into riots. Making matters

12:13

worse, the SLA refused to

12:16

let Patty go unless things

12:18

improved. As the hearse were

12:20

trying to organize their program

12:23

over the next few weeks,

12:25

the SLA continued to send

12:27

them recordings from Patty. She

12:30

didn't sound impressed with their

12:32

efforts to free her. In

12:34

one recording from March 1974,

12:37

she said, quote, I don't

12:39

believe that you're doing anything

12:41

at all. But Catherine and

12:44

Randolph refused to give up.

12:46

They managed to smooth things

12:49

out over the course of

12:51

the next month. By March

12:53

26th, 1974, the Hursts had

12:56

spent $2 million and given

12:58

away over 150,000 bags of

13:00

food. It seemed like this

13:03

time they'd done enough to

13:05

secure Patty's release, and it

13:07

appeared the SLA would honor

13:10

their word. On April 2nd,

13:12

almost two months after Patty

13:14

was kidnapped, they promised to

13:17

send more details about her

13:19

release within 72 hours. But

13:21

the following day, the hearse

13:24

received an alarming recording. Apparently,

13:26

there'd been a change of

13:29

plans. but not from the

13:31

SLA. From Patty. In the

13:33

recording, she called herself Tanya

13:36

and claimed that she was

13:38

no longer the SLA's prisoner

13:40

because she'd joined them. The

13:43

Hursts could hardly believe it.

13:45

Patty had never been very

13:47

political, and now she was

13:50

suddenly joining the group that

13:52

had kidnapped her, it just

13:54

didn't make sense. They were

13:57

certain that Patty wasn't in

13:59

control of the situation. She

14:01

had to be speaking under

14:04

duress. But on April 15th

14:06

1974, 12 days after they

14:08

heard that tape, everything changed.

14:11

That day, five armed members

14:13

of the SLA charged into

14:16

a bank in San Francisco

14:18

and stole $10,000. As the

14:20

group held up the tellers

14:23

at gunpoint, the bank's surveillance

14:25

system was recording their every

14:27

move. When the authorities reviewed

14:30

the footage, they were shocked

14:32

to see a familiar face

14:34

among the robbers. It was

14:37

the now 20-year-old, Patty hearst.

14:39

She certainly didn't seem like

14:41

a captive. Patty was armed

14:44

with a gun and was

14:46

a full participant in the

14:48

heist. In case there were

14:51

any doubts, she sent out

14:53

another recording after the robbery.

14:56

She said she was, quote,

14:58

a soldier in the people's

15:00

army. No matter what her

15:03

parents believed, Patty's case changed

15:05

at that moment. All of

15:07

a sudden, the authorities were

15:10

less interested in rescuing her

15:12

and more interested in arresting

15:14

her. And they were willing

15:17

to do whatever it took

15:19

to catch her. Follow

15:23

Crime House True Crime Stories.

15:25

A Crime House Studio's original

15:27

now. New episodes drop every

15:29

Monday. Again, that's Crime House

15:31

True Crime Stories. Follow now

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wherever you get your podcasts.

15:35

And for early ad-free access,

15:37

subscribe to Crime House Plus

15:40

on Apple Podcasts. Follow Crime

15:42

House True Crime Stories. A

15:44

Crime House Studio's original now.

15:46

New episodes drop every Monday.

15:48

Again. That's Crime House True

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Crime Stories. True Crime Stories.

15:52

Follow now, wherever you get

15:54

your podcasts.