ENCORE The Kidnapping of Patty Hearst | On the Road | 3
American Scandal
Wondery
4.6 • 18.7K Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2026
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
With the SLA in tatters, Patricia Hearst goes on the run. The FBI gets an unusual tip, one that promises a breakthrough.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Want to get more from American Scandal? |
| 0:02.9 | Subscribe to Wondry Plus for early access to new episodes, |
| 0:06.4 | add free listening, and exclusive content you can't find anywhere else. |
| 0:10.1 | Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. |
| 0:13.4 | This episode previously aired in 2022. |
| 0:17.0 | A listener note, this episode contains descriptions of violence |
| 0:20.3 | and may not be suitable for a younger audience. |
| 0:34.1 | It's the evening of May 17, 1974. |
| 0:37.5 | In a motel room in Anaheim, California, Patricia Hirschilder, It's the evening of May 17, 1974. |
| 0:40.7 | In a motel room in Anaheim, California, |
| 0:44.0 | Patricia Hearst is sitting on a carpet watching the news. |
| 0:48.4 | In a live broadcast, armed police officers in Los Angeles are swarming a residential neighborhood. |
| 0:50.9 | A small yellow house is burning to the ground. |
| 0:56.1 | And as billows of smoke drift into the sky, one of the TV commentators asks the question that seems to be on everyone's mind, |
| 1:01.5 | has Patricia Hurst just died? Hurst sits up, disoriented by the surreal turn of events. Only minutes |
| 1:08.9 | ago, the Corps members of the Symbianese Liberation Army |
| 1:11.8 | got in a shootout with Los Angeles Police. The two sides exchanged thousands of rounds. It was |
| 1:18.2 | a chaotic battle with seemingly no end in sight. But the fight took a turn when the SLA's house |
| 1:24.1 | suddenly burst into flames, growing into a raging inferno. |
| 1:28.7 | Hearst and two SLA members, Bill and Emily Harris, sat watching the violent spectacle on TV, |
| 1:35.2 | and no one had to say what they were all thinking. |
| 1:37.8 | Their comrades weren't going to survive. |
... |
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