In 1974, Lester was working as a television reporter for KGO-Channel 7. When news broke about Hearst's abduction, Lester was dispatched to the scene. While other reporters waited on the lawn of the Hearst mansion in Hillsborough, Lester marched up to the Hearst's front door and rang the bell.

A maid answered and invited Lester in. Randy, son of William Randolph Hearst, came downstairs to the foyer and Lester introduced himself. He sat down to have coffee with the family and spent the day inside the home.

Little did he realize that the Hearst residence would become his home away from home for the next six months.

A couple of days later, Lester arrived in his vehicle to begin his day's coverage of the Hearst family saga.

"Jay Bosworth [a friend of the Hearst family] comes out of the house to my car and said, 'Randy wants to see you,' " Lester says. "That was the sentence that changed my life." Lester became the Hearst family spokesman.

Each day, the reporter would arrive at the home, and often stay until late in the evening. Throughout the day, he would give journalists a statement from the Hearst family and answer questions.

Meanwhile, Lester continued to report on the case for KGO. But he says he never divulged any information that he did not give to his fellow reporters.

"If I came out with some gem they would have hanged me from the nearest tree," Lester says, laughing.

And although he occupied a rare place within the walls of the Hearst residence, Lester says he never lost his journalistic objectivity.

"I just inherently knew that was the way to be," he says.

Lester, however, did take extensive notes during his daily visits. And each night he would transcribe the notes and kept them in a journal.

After the abduction and subsequent trial of Patty were over, Lester says he met with publishers to discuss writing a book about his experiences. But with a slew of other books about to come out, the publishers advised him to wait.

So Lester boxed up the journal and tucked it away in a closet unwritten.

"I kept the journal in the same spot and never moved it," Lester says. "The boxes began to deteriorate. At one point, I was tempted to throw everything away. The events became fogged in my mind and I didn't think I had anything more than family gossip."

Then, Lester decided to unearth the box and review his notes.

"I turned the first page and said, 'Wow, that's interesting,'" he says.

Lester wasn't the only person who found the journal intriguing.

While debating whether or not to write a book, Lester sent a copy of the journal to his old friend Rick Carroll, who was a former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News.

"He mailed it to me and I thought, 'Who would be interested in this?'" Carroll says. "I open the manuscript and sit down, and I proceed to read it from start to finish. I learned things I had never known before. I said it was a terrific story and he needed to make a book. I told him I would help edit it. "

Besides notes, Lester possessed tape-recorded interviews with members of the Hearst family. He combed his notes and recording for key information, and combined the two to create Girl in a Box, which documents each day Lester spent with the family.

"It was an insurmountable job, but I did it," he says.

Carroll says the journalistic style of the book makes it entertaining and easy to read.

"It's perfect for short attention spans," he says. "The book is full of sound bites and anecdotes. It would be a perfect made-for-television movie."

'Girl in a Box' is available at Willow Glen Books 1330 Lincoln Ave. Lester will be interviewed by Pete Wilson on KGO Radio, 810 AM, on Feb. 23 from 3:30 to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.shoestringpublications.com.