◆ SpookStack

tn the meantime Marilyn's so . ne, n Jcff— | “iO iS Teng-haired, toons fixe TE ICEn, * port that Patty Hearst was involved untd and works uncercover for her—came Gp wth & .niness who fied Willie Vrotfe (3 with gua classes -heid every Sunday Hratning by Joseph Reatiro, one cf tha two SLA men already arresled in the i4ascus Foster murder, Remiro is a ‘Vielnaca veteran known as “Gi Joe," aod a firearms expert. Jeff's source etso snankoned ceveral of Remitc’s students a the gun Classes, Marilyn soon ideati- tad trom through her street contacts iy Angela Abvood, Emily and Bill Her. “iS, anc, of course, Patricia Sottysik— it of whom had diseppeared, as had } Nancy Ling Perry and Camilla Hai, as SLA activily Secame public. Marilyn tow knew the entire core of he St A,membership, and she robe the story well ahead of evérybady else ‘an March 22. Those she identtiee have now been xamed officiaily as having narlicipated in the kidnapping and ats in the April 15 hihernia Bank robbery in which Patricia Heart teok pact. For weoks, nearly every subsiantiai s'aG you mad or head about the Kearst eese oF the SLA came directly or in- Sieety from Monilyn Baber, CRS used cans of her Sta reve! abans i ts ove- musa nowse.cts. On tee day ct tha bin -tubery, ABU io Hoa Task wai idl fae: somone choned Marilyn in San Fran- pista for cnafinnation, TY and news. HepaM reporte7s from ail over the world ‘allnwod her around—and inlervieweJ vt {0 find ou! what was going on in the cese, ov:n atler: the bloody May 17 nhageious 9 fos Angaias. ta Suing the tist to vtentdy “Gerersl Fieidy Marchal Ginger aah se on ssterpood that Coaster ise Marko was usually 4 woe, ah the daceut Jocal FRI of:ce aceag abaad of the Saa CiLo3 folice, whose ineputude has inspued zamparisen with the Keyslore Koos. Vehil2 otmer San Francisco TV te- porters wore joshing cach ciher on show ‘haa, tate meewsca is, or playing cards in comlansile press tatters whro waliag fo. gress Canicrances Fai Cad Hears! mansion, Martyn Grete was gushing trough the back alleys to fd evidence She glislens—tits the Cray and Peabody avards she yall probably yin nest yarns the dull and shameful vapor thal seed 19 gro ail jourhalism in the case. There were some miligaiing circumsiances, not Ine ‘east of whieh was Randoiph Hearst's iiza that journaisis not “do anyth.ng we andangar Palty’s life.” This led 10 wee 3.A's maninsiation of the media. which qave full play to the SLA’s rambdiing and inscvhereal propaganda messages. Marilyn admits nat she and KQED were : alsc. manipulated far a whie, but che j fee ee | pe agree He He So: was the fst to see ihat the mera wer being used by, as she put il on ine air, “common hoodiums.” She said bluntly, “This has been muddied into a political story when if's nothing but a basic mur- dar-kidnaping-robbery story.” Marilyn has had many fissis in the bizarre case {including exclusive in- ferviews with ex-SLA associate Chris- topher Thompson, who was “sentenced” to death by the SLA and later hidden fos several days by Jeff Baker), but she is the first to admil that. like any investigative reporter, sha has made her share of mistakes. “| wasted days,”’ she said, “having Jelf check mountain caves marked on the SLA maps | found in the DaVolo house. My news director Joe Russin and ( lost $300 at a midnight drop in an to get an SLA tape telling us where Patty was. Instead, the tape was just a recording of a rock song—'My Baby's Daddy Is a Millionaire.’ “t have also had changing views of Patty Hearst. At first + thought she had been forced into the bank robbery, but # may be that she is iike Silly Pulty, someone who can be molded into anything anyone wasts her to be. My sources at Serkeley have told me inat at various times she was thought io be @ Conservative, 2 liberal, a drug to her associations at a given time. There's a lot of sex in the SLA, both heterosexual and homosexual; perhaps in a cloud of coniusion she has mis- taken that for the kind of true love that she thinks may have been missing in fer family life and in her relationship with Steve Weed, her fiance. I'l! never forget my conversation with Randolph Hearst after the firsi SLA tape with Patty's voice on il. t said. ‘I’ve got two sons, and if either of them got into this | kind of iroubie, he’d say some secrei Sa Elmnnienntnadmmmmmeen dienammelonacecmen sens Urea eR ee PT} ihing that only | could vaserstand: Mr. Heatsi mumbled, ‘t woulds': know , Oakiand parking lol: we were supposed abstainer, a drug user—all according ~ of, anyihing. We never had _jhat king of close reiationship with Patty’. On the other hand, it should be noted that Patty, in her taped messages. seemed clearly lo be reading from & scripl prepared in advance, and if she was being forced to read them, it is not likely that the SLA would permit her to add any “sectet things” of her own. And if she had, the SLA could easily have erased them. Aiso, such @ signal, if subtle enough not to be noticed by the SLA, might also be so small as to elude her family. And ’ further, if the Hearsts had noticed some i gmail signal from Patty, they might very wall be risking her life if they made it public. Speculation .of this sort, al- though attractive and almost unavoid- able, is also inconclusive. ; As an investigative reporter of some years’ experience, | joined Marilyn on her beat jor four days. More than any- thing else, she is apparently fearless: aller finding a neighborhood where merchants had said the SLA‘s Mizmoon and Camilla Hail had made food and gasoline purchases, Marilyn weni charg- ing into hostile, commune-type houses. We had a clandestine meeting with Christopher Thampson, who is still hid- + ing out and still under the SLA‘s death sentence. Laler we had a secrel meet- - ing with one of Marilyn's jaw-enforce- meni contacts. She loid him of Thomp- son’s predictions of the SLA's next possible actions; he said. “For God’s sake. Marilyn, be careful!” The sext day, in a newspaper in- terview, Charles Bates, the FB! agent in charge of the case, paid Marilyn the ultimate tribute: “| wish to God we had tha! broad’s connections.” Marilyn's only reaction to the grudg- ing compliment came that night before her KQED Newsroom telecast. She said, “This is the fifth show in a row where this underpaid, middle-aged broad hasn’t had the lime to pul on. hes Talse Syelashes.” €3 _. t ee 0 Tt eG OGENIE SE ge ATG AN EG ee En ee de worms Ope, “ge - -" 4 gem 4 7 A f ’ AT Yy 1rr. a *, ee hf . - e 1 z : s° a A a Ls Oy Sees ee ee fo a Sa ey te lee os PP hah ee