Patty Hearst was the Paris Hilton of her day: wealthy, famous, and famous for being wealthy. For some unexplained reason, that also made her a tempting target for the Symbionese Liberation Army, a radical leftist group with roots in Berkeley’s counterculture and black nationalism movements in the 1960s. The Symbionese Liberation Army made its debut in Oakland with the murder of a black school superintendent (over a policy he had by that point renounced). Three months later, the group struck again, committing one of the most famous kidnappings in history.

On this day, February 4th, in 1974, three members of the S.L.A. forced their way into the home Hearst shared with fiancé Steven Weed, taking the 19-year-old heiress with them. A “communique” from the group, essentially a ransom note, came soon after, demanding a release from jail of two convicted members and  for $70 worth of food to be distributed to every poor California resident.

Hearst herself was heard from several times during her captivity, at first just announcing she was treated well and in good health, and later criticizing her father’s response to her kidnapping. Over time, Hearst likely developed an affinity for her kidnappers, what is usually called the “Stockholm Syndrome.” Hearst took on the nom de guerre Tania and was caught on a surveillance camera wielding a rifle during an S.L.A. bank robbery. She was eventually tracked down by the police and arrested for her role in the robbery. Hearst served 22 months of her seven-year sentence, before having the rest commuted by then-president Jimmy Carter.