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Patty Hearst was kidnapped in 1974 by the Symbionese Liberation Army. One of the founding members was Donald DeFreeze.

According to the Amazon Store description of Russell Targ's book "The Reality of ESP: A Physicist's Proof of Psychic Abilities":

On February 4, 1974, members of the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped nineteen-year-old newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst from her Berkeley, California apartment. Desperate to find her, the police called physicist Russell Targ and Pat Price, a psychic retired police commissioner. As Price turned the pages of the police mug book filled with hundreds of photos, suddenly he pointed to one of them and announced, “That’s the ringleader.” The man was Donald DeFreeze, who was indeed subsequently so identified. Price also described the type and location of the kidnap car, enabling the police to find it within minutes.

Sounds like nonsense to me.

Did this happen?

Oddthinking
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  • While searching for related versions of the claim, I've also found [a different account of the events](https://books.google.com/books?id=WPgj6DG9hYQC&pg=PT187&lpg=PT187&dq=pat+price+patty+hearst&source=bl&ots=1fRGXXf1x9&sig=ACfU3U2SIXjzvexO12A2MT4b5BRYk38hhQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjHzd3y-dPoAhViTt8KHT6zDlQQ6AEwEnoECBAQKA#v=onepage&q=pat%20price%20patty%20hearst&f=false), which doesn't mention DeFreeze but says that Price identified three possible suspects, at least one of whom ("William Wolfe") was a member of the SLA. Just in case you want to add this information to the question. – HDE 226868 Apr 06 '20 at 14:04
  • It should be noted that Pat Price's name comes up in connection with the (since discredited) PROJECT STARGATE, which was a DIA operation in the 60s-70s to try and make use of remote viewing w.r.t. espionage against the Soviet Union. Program was declassified in 1995 by the CIA after determining that "no actionable intelligence was ever ascertained" and the project was considered a complete failure. – DenisS Apr 06 '20 at 14:42
  • The PROJECT STARGATE connection seems to be the only place where Price's name comes up that isn't presuming that remote viewing is 100% true. – DenisS Apr 06 '20 at 14:47
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    "Witnesses reported seeing a struggling Hearst being carried away blindfolded, and she was put in the trunk of a car. Neighbors who came out into the street were forced to take cover after the kidnappers fired their guns to cover their escape." So the type of the car was probably known to police before calling in psychics. The car was in police posession the next day so it's easy to assing it quick recovery to psychics powers and not police work. – SZCZERZO KŁY Apr 07 '20 at 08:10
  • It's quite common law enforcement in some cases do use psychics. So not impossible that it happened in this case. – dan-klasson Apr 12 '20 at 01:38
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    @dan-klasson Do you have any evidence for that? Lots of psychics like to claim to have helped police, and I can believe that a few detectives might have tried it, but a claim that it is "quite common" needs support. – Paul Johnson Jan 11 '21 at 08:04
  • @PaulJohnson By quite common I mean it does indeed occur. I.e, it's not just a one off occurrence. I highly recommend watching the TV series Physic Detectives. You can find it on Youtube. What I really like about homocide detectives in this context is that they are naturally skeptic to any information provided to them, but also open to any information that could provide them with a lead to solve a cold case. There's a Wikipedia page about it. But this is one of these controversial topics that you really have to drill down yourself to find information about. – dan-klasson Jan 12 '21 at 02:11
  • There's a lot of research into near death experiences as well. You really have to immerse yourself into it to determine if it's plausible. I'm not a 100% convinced, but I do think there 's enough there to warrant further studies. Problem with most people is that they conformists and suffer from confirmation bias. They refuse to look at things like this because they've already made up their mind. – dan-klasson Jan 12 '21 at 02:17
  • @dan-klasson: accusing skeptics of conformism is classic from tenants of paranormal phenomenons like NDE. It is simpler to say that the interlocutor has an intrinsic problem than to prove one's claims. Some groups (for example, l'Observatoire Zetetique in France) approached paranormal phenomenons with quite an open mind.The problem with NDE is that it is almost based exclusively on testimonies and there are not as uniform as tenants claim. – Taladris Jan 14 '21 at 00:54
  • @Taladris That's not why accuse "skeptics" of being conformists. Yeah of course, that's as far as we know, the only way to research NDE's currently. I'm not saying it's conclusive proof. What I am saying is that these conformists refuse to look at the evidence. Look the the homicide detectives. Think outside of the box. I'm not asking you to become a believer. I'm just asking you to have an open mind just like them. – dan-klasson Jan 17 '21 at 00:15
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    @dan-klasson: the burden of the proof is on the person that makes a claim. Again, claiming that someone is not open-minded is trying to blame the interlocutor instead of finding more convincing arguments. Maybe if the arguments of the tenants of NDE were better, they would open the minds of the skeptics. For example, scientists had no problem opening their minds to quantum physics, general relativity, evolution theory,... – Taladris Jan 18 '21 at 10:20

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