Jeffrey Toobin is CNN's chief legal analyst and author of "American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst." Follow him on Twitter @JeffreyToobin. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) The kidnapping of Patty Hearst can seem as distant in time as a yellowed newspaper clipping -- and as current as today's bit-borne headline.

Fundamentally, though, the story is timeless, because at its core it's a mystery about why human beings do what they do. And the key elements that play out in the saga -- terrorism, the role of the media, wealth and celebrity -- are as relevant today as they were more than 40 years ago.

Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst, the granddaughter of famed publisher William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped more than 40 years ago on February 4, 1974. With her family also including parents Randolph A. Hearst -- who at the time was the chairman of media empire Hearst Corp. -- and Catherine Hearst, a University of California regent, Patty Hearst grew up as a member of the California Bay Area's elite. And then, after that fateful February 4, she became one of the most famous women in America. Correction: This gallery originally included an image that misidentified Patty Hearst. Hide Caption 1 of 13 Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst's kidnapping – On that night in February, Hearst was abducted at gunpoint from the apartment she shared in Berkeley, California, with her fiance, Steven Weed, seen here with Hearst. The crime was committed by a radical group called the Symbionese Liberation Army, or SLA. Hide Caption 2 of 13 Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst's kidnapping – Police said they believed Hearst was blindfolded and thrown into the trunk of this car, which was photographed at the Berkeley Police Department on February 5, 1974. Hide Caption 3 of 13 Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst's kidnapping – In an autobiography, Hearst details her abuse at the hands of the SLA. In the book, she says she was kept locked in a closet for 57 days, as well as subjected to radical rantings, physical abuse and rape. Eventually she was offered the choice of joining the SLA or being killed. On April 3, just two months after her kidnapping, the SLA released a tape announcing Hearst's alignment with the organization -- including taking the name Tania. A photo of her holding a gun in front of the SLA's seven-headed cobra emblem was also released. Hide Caption 4 of 13 Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst's kidnapping – On April 15, 1974, the SLA robbed a Hibernia Bank branch in San Francisco. Security cameras captured this image of Hearst in the robbery. Hide Caption 5 of 13 Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst's kidnapping – Four days after the robbery, the FBI released this wanted poster, featuring Hearst, far right, as a material witness, among other SLA members suspected of taking part in the heist. SLA leader Donald DeFreeze is at top left. Hide Caption 6 of 13 Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst's kidnapping – During their months-long search for Hearst, police came across a Symbionese Liberation Army hideout at 1827 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. Hide Caption 7 of 13 Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst's kidnapping – Hearst was arrested in San Francisco on September 18, 1975, 19 months after the kidnapping. Hide Caption 8 of 13 Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst's kidnapping – At her trial for bank robbery, Hearst said she had been brainwashed by the group and feared for her life, but a jury found her guilty. She was sentenced to seven years in prison. Hide Caption 9 of 13 Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst's kidnapping – Hearst was released on bail on November 19, 1976, while her attorneys appealed her case. Here, she is reunited with her parents, Catherine and Randolph Hearst, in their San Francisco home on November 20, 1976. The appeal was denied and Hearst returned to prison. Hide Caption 10 of 13 Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst's kidnapping – After Hearst served nearly two years in prison, President Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence in early 1979. Here, she mugs for the camera at the Federal Correctional Institute at Pleasanton, California, on January 31, 1979. Hide Caption 11 of 13 Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst's kidnapping – Hearst holds up the executive grant of clemency as she leaves prison on February 1, 1979. With her is her fiance and former bodyguard, Bernard Shaw. Hide Caption 12 of 13 Photos: Photos: Patty Hearst's kidnapping Patty Hearst's kidnapping – Hearst is walked down the aisle by her father, Randolph Hearst, at the Navy chapel at her wedding to Bernard Shaw in April 1979. Hide Caption 13 of 13

The rough outlines of the story will be familiar to news consumers of a certain age: On February 4, 1974, Patricia Campbell Hearst, heiress to the greatest newspaper fortune in the land, was kidnapped from her home in Berkeley, California, by a little-known revolutionary cell called the Symbionese Liberation Army.

Within weeks, she stunned the world by announcing that she had joined forces with her captors and was seen wielding a machine gun as the group robbed a bank in San Francisco.

Following a bumbling manhunt by the FBI, six members of the SLA were cornered and then killed in a shootout in Los Angeles. Hearst was elsewhere at the time and spent the next year and a half on the run from the authorities. Once she was captured, Hearst was placed on trial, defended by the legendary F. Lee Bailey, and ultimately convicted for the armed bank robbery.

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