Susan Edith Saxe (born January 18, 1949) is an American who is one of only eleven women ever to make the FBI's

most wanted list A most wanted list is a list of criminals and alleged criminals who are believed to be fugitive, at large and are identified as a law enforcement agency's highest priority for capture. The list can alert the public to be watchful, and generates ...

, and one of three women from

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

to do so. She was placed on the list on October 17, 1970, and remained on it until March 27, 1975. Saxe describes herself as a "lifelong

radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

activist,

intersectional Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how groups' and individuals' social and political identities result in unique combinations of discrimination and privilege. Examples of these intersecting and overlapping factor ...

in outlook since back in the day when we just expressed it as the idea that “everything is connected.”"

Background

A student at

, Saxe was one of several young radicals who were placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list in the early 1970s. Along with Katherine Ann Power, Stanley Ray Bond, and ex-convicts William Gilday and Robert Valeri, she escaped from a

bank robbery Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank Branch (banking), branch or Bank teller, tel ...

Brighton, Boston Brighton is a Municipal annexation in the United States, former town and current Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located in the northwestern corner of the city. It is named after the English city of ...

, in which accomplice Gilday shot and killed

Boston Police Department The Boston Police Department (BPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1854, the BPD is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. It is also the 20th largest law enforce ...

officer Walter Schroeder. She and her four accomplices broke into a

National Guard Armory A National Guard Armory, National Guard Armory Building, or National Guard Readiness Center is any one of numerous buildings of the U.S. National Guard where a unit trains, meets, and parades. A readiness center supports the training, administrat ...

Newburyport, Massachusetts Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes p ...

, on Sept. 20, 1970, and stole a pickup truck, blasting caps and 400 rounds of .30-caliber ammunition. Saxe was on the run until 1975 when she was arrested in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, after a police officer recognized her from a photo distributed by the FBI the same day. She served seven years in prison. Her trial was one of the early cases for Nancy Gertner, who later became a federal judge. Gertner describes the trial as her "first big case".

Personal life

Saxe is a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

. She is the sister-in-law of Hollywood screenwriter

Josh Olson Joshua R. Olson is an American screenwriter and podcaster, known for writing the 2005 film ''A History of Violence''. Career Olson wrote and directed the low budget horror film ''Infested'' in 2002. He wrote the screenplay for the 2005 film ' ...

, and has appeared on his

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

series '' The West Wing Thing''.

References

External links

Brainiac
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saxe, Susan Edith 1949 births American bank robbers American female criminals Brandeis University alumni FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives Fugitives Lesbian feminists American lesbians Living people People from Hartford, Connecticut