Sara Jane Olson (a.k.a. Kathleen Soliah) has been released from prison after serving time for her participation in the 1975 murder of Myrna Lee Opsahl. She was also convicted of possessing explosives with intent to kill.
As Soliah, Olson was sympathizer of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the terrorist group that kidnapped Patty Hearst in 1974. And according to Hearst, Soliah joined the group after most of the members were killed in a shootout with police.
In 1975, Soliah took part in a bank robbery in Carmichael, California (near Sacramento), in which Opsahl was shot and killed. She was also linked to the planting of two pipe bombs beneath police cars, neither of which detonated.
When Hearst and three other fugitives were arrested in September of 1975, Soliah went underground. With the help of America’s Most Wanted, she resurfaced in 1999 as Sara Jane Olson, a married mother of three, who was active in her St. Paul community.
To raise money for her defense, she released a cookbook titled Serving Time: America’s Most Wanted Recipes. I bought a copy and even talked her into posing for a photo. (She first asked her attorney if it was OK.)
I didn’t ask Sara Jane about her crimes because I assumed she wouldn’t want to talk about them. We all have regrets. (Like, I wish I’d worn a nicer shirt for this photo op.)
