[1]: 5 After graduating from East High School, she attended the University of Utah before joining her parents in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
[3][4] After they failed to report from Manila, Harbert's family notified the United States Coast Guard; however, after receiving no news of her, they assumed that she had been lost at sea.
[5] Harbert reported that for most of her time in captivity she was held in a small farmhouse on a rural commune near Canton.
[6] Due to improving U.S.-China relations, Harbert and Richard G. Fecteau, who were captured on an aircraft forced down over China in 1952, were released on 13 December 1971, crossing the land border into Hong Kong where they were received by representatives of the U.S. consular officials.
[5][7] In an official statement made by Xinhua News Agency at the time of her release, the Chinese government said that McLaughlin had "behaved badly" during detention, "resisted investigation and, taking the warders unawares committed suicide on March 7, 1969" whereas Harbert had "admitted her mistakes".