ST. PAUL, Minn. -- In more than a decade of community theater work, the reviewers were almost always kind to Sara Jane Olson.
One singled her out as the strongest performer in a 1990 production of "King Lear." Another praised her "vibrant" 1993 performance in "All's Well That Ends Well."The critics had no idea what an actress she was. If the FBI is right, Sara Jane Olson -- a 52-year-old mother of three who lived with her doctor husband in an ivy-covered home in an upscale neighborhood -- is really Kathleen Ann Soliah, a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the band of 1970s radicals who kidnapped Patricia Hearst.
Agents arrested the fugitive Wednesday after receiving tips from viewers of "America's Most Wanted," which featured her in a recent broadcast. The FBI offered a $20,000 reward for Soliah last month, on the 25th anniversary of a Los Angeles shootout that killed six SLA members.
Soliah has been wanted since 1976, when she was indicted in Los Angeles on murder conspiracy and explosives charges for allegedly placing pipe bombs under two police cars. The bombs did not explode.
She was to being arraigned Thursday. California is expected to seek extradition.
In a federal warrant drawn up this year, authorities said that in 1984 her husband was aware of her true name and fugitive status. It was unclear whether she was married at the time to her current husband, Gerald Peterson. They bought their St. Paul house in 1989.
Peterson said neither he nor his children had any inkling of his wife's double life.
"I know nothing about that," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I'll tell you the truth, I'm totally shocked."