45 years later, a look back at Patty Hearst’s kidnapping and the radical SLA

A Berkeley kidnapping carried out by a revolutionary group 45 years ago this week made the name of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst known nationally for the first time and would keep her in the public eye as the case went on for more than a year and a half.

Around 9 p.m. on Feb. 4, 1974, armed intruders burst into the Berkeley apartment at 2603 Benvenue St. that Patricia Campbell Hearst, a 19-year-old UC Berkeley student, shared with her boyfriend, Steven Weed. After beating up Weed, the group of men and women drove off with Hearst in the trunk of their stolen getaway car.