Last SLA fugitive in robbery captured in South Africa

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The last Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive wanted in a deadly 1975 bank robbery was arrested Friday in South Africa, a day after four former comrades -- now graying and middle-aged -- pleaded guilty to murder in the case.

James Kilgore, 55, was seized at his home in the luxury Cape Town suburb of Claremont, 27 years after the Californian went underground.

He had entered South Africa five years ago under the name Charles Pape and had landed a post at the University of Cape Town as a lecturer, said police spokeswoman Mary Martins-Engelbrecht. Kilgore's wife is also a lecturer there.

South African police tracked him down with help from Interpol, Martins-Engelbrecht said.

Through his lawyer, Kilgore had been trying to negotiate his surrender and a plea bargain similar to those worked out by fellow members of the SLA, the '70s radical group that kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst. But Kilgore was arrested on his original 1976 federal warrant, for possessing a pipe bomb, before a deal was reached.

During their SLA days, Kilgore was the longtime boyfriend of Sara Jane Olson, one of the four former radicals to plead guilty on Thursday. She was captured in 1999 in St. Paul, where she living as a doctor's wife.

U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said the deal the others made did not depend on Kilgore's surrender. He and Hanlon both said the four did not provide the information that led to Kilgore's arrest.

"The coincidence is terrible," Hanlon said.