He immediately forced Ray to get up from his seat and moved him to the back of the bus while the other two jumped out of their van and boarded the bus as well, taking control of the schoolchildren riding inside. of 1. Ray and the children, who were then ages 5 to 14, were eventually able to claw their way out of the trailer 28 hours later and ran to nearby workers, who called police. On the evening of July 17, Frederick managed to enter Canada and settled himself in a Vancouver hotel. The panels decision will now be reviewed by the California Board of Parole Hearings legal division. Ed Ray and 26 children were abducted at gunpoint by Frederick Newhall Woods and his two accomplices from a school bus in rural California. Then you rationalize. He just said she just left him, no discussion, no nothing.. A 70-year old California man who has spent four decades in prison for kidnapping a bus full of children and burying them alive could be freed if Gov. Hes incarcerated at the California Mens Colony in San Luis Obispo. Escape was further cut off by a metal lid that covered the top of the truck and was weighed down with two 100-pound industrial batteries. It was later observed that elements of the abduction seem similar to a scenario depicted inThe Day the Children Vanished, a story written by Hugh Pentecost that was published in the 1969 fiction anthologyAlfred Hitchcock's Daring Detectives; since there was a copy of the book in the Chowchilla library, it was assumed that the Pentecost story was the inspiration for the mass abduction. According to the Associated Press, the men had kidnapped the children because they were deeply in debt and planned to ask for a hefty ransom. So, where are they now? July 15-17, 1976: The school bus hijacking. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Frederick Woods pictured in 2021 (AP) After 17 unsuccessful attempts, a California man who kidnapped 26 children on a school bus in 1976 has been recommended for parole. Their miraculous escape made national headlines, but their abductors were still on the loose. Woods - with pantyhose pulled over his head and a gun drawn - was first to board the bus, ordering Ray to 'Shut up and get to the back', as victim Larry Park recalled for CBS. Frederick Newhall Woods IVRichard SchoenfeldJames Schoenfeld However, he was merely denied entry again, and James went back to Idaho, where he abandoned the car in Coeur d'Alene the next day and purchased a truck that he drove back to Washington. At the time, they were given 27 life sentences without the possibility of parole. At the time of the hostages' captivity, Frederick, Richard, and James had previously tried to call in their ransom, but without success due to, ironically, the flooding calls from reporters, law enforcement agencies, and tipsters. According to CBS News, part of the reason he was denied parole was that he was conducting business from inside the prison that he did not have permission from the warden to be doing. Ray and some of the older boys stacked in a pile a total of fourteen mattresses that were in the van, reaching the hole where they all managed to go through when forced inside. They pleaded guilty, were fined $125 each and placed on a year's probation. Sometime after 8:00 p.m., the school bus was discovered in the drainage slough, covered in bamboo and brush, but with no sign of Ray or the children. One boy shot a lost tourist with a BB gun when their car broke down in front of his house. You see them and you rationalize all yourproblems will be over in 24 hours. Frederick Newhall Woods was 24 years old at the time of the 1976 Chowchilla school bus kidnapping. By 7:30 p.m., an all-points bulletin was broadcast while numerous people, including the parents of the missing children, initiated a widespread search. a 1938 graduate of Stanford University and a native of Massachusetts, is owner of the California Rock and Gravel Company, and of the gravel quarry where the bus and children were. Though none of the victims of the kidnapping sustained life-threatening physical injuries, the psychological effects of being taken hostage at gunpoint and then kept underground for nearly 20 hours have been harrowing for many. The authorities only discovered the businesses when a workers compensation lawsuit was filed against him. "I'm overwhelmed to the point that I had to leave work," said Darla Neal, who was a 10-year-old student at the time of the kidnapping. He was left with relatives every year for at least a month or two all his life when his parents traveled. Born sometime in the 1952 and 1954, respectively, Frederick, James, and Richard all came from privileged backgrounds, having lived in wealthy neighborhoods in the San Francisco area. The group was loaded into the two vans and driven around for 11 hours, during which time the hungry, petrified children soiled themselves and clung onto each other in fear. He dug until he was exhausted and then he kept on digging. There, they were transferred to a buried moving truck, with mattresses and a little bit of food. If were going to die, were going to die trying to get out of here, she remembered Ray and Marshall saying. Larry Park, who was just six years old at the time of the Chowchilla kidnapping, later told 48 Hours, Where their eyes were it almost looked hollow. 'The sides of the van were bowing in I knew that I was going to die. From now on, I'll introduce myself as Frederick Woods.. We went [on dates] over there, to the estate, and most of the time it was chores, feeding horses, moving cars.. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, said his former wife, whose name is now Padgett and who is now living in Georgia. The guards were shocked to see the group and immediately called for the police. Thanks for contacting us. His parents often . Cars were his hobby and his income too, said an 18yearold youth who worked for the two men in the car restoration venture, and who was one of the last persons known to have seen Mr. Woods before his disappearance. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE USE BY OTHERS OF THE INFORMATION THAT YOU DISCLOSE IN CHAT ROOMS, FORUMS, BLOGS, AND OTHER 'I remember children just screaming and crying,' Park recounted forCBS. I fully take responsibility for this heinous act. During Friday's hearing, Woods apologized for his actions, telling the parole panel that he 'had empathy for the victims which I didn't have then. James was the second one to get paroled in 2015. Three young men from extremely wealthy families had meticulously planned and carried out the kidnapping all so they could demand a $5 million ransom to pay off their debts. One evening coming home from work [from his father's rock quarry], he went by the field to count the horses, because one was stolen the week before. On the morning of July 17, they learned that their hostages had escaped the buried van. Yet here I am, a mess.'. On July 15, 1976, 26 children ranging in age from five to 14 boarded a bus driven by 55-year-old Frank Edward Ed Ray for a summer field trip to a local swimming pool. James Schoenfeld once told parole officials that he envied friends who had 'his-and-hers Ferraris.' After 17 unsuccessful attempts, a California man who kidnapped 26 children on a school bus in 1976 has been recommended for parole. Although the children and Ray were safe, the perpetrators were still out there. I asked him if he felt funny, finding a dead man. 01:30 GMT 30 Mar 2022 And he's just letting those trucks, beautiful fire engines, turn into junkers. The telephone lines to the police station were overloaded with calls from frantic parents demanding answers about their missing children. On August 4, Frederick, Richard, and James went to court in Chowchilla, where Frederick, Richard, and James pleaded innocent to more than 40 felony charges. ', The comments below have not been moderated, By We were friends, but we didn't hang around together. One of the perpetrators, Frederick Newhall Woods, was approved for parole in March of 2022. Home. ony, but the charges were later reduced to petty theft and finally to auto tampering, a misdemeanor. At some point in their early lives, Richard and James became acquainted with Frederick, working on cars and talking about movies with another friend. Woods, Wealthy Kidnap Suspect, Described as a Loner and a Loser, https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/26/archives/woods-wealthy-kidnap-suspect-described-as-a-loner-and-a-loser.html. The two Schoenfeld brothers and Mr. Woods were arrested in October 1974 after they were seen pushing a car off a road near the town of Downieville, northeast of San Francisco. You can check out his prison record here. In response, James drove back to the Bay Area, unsure of what to do, while Frederick wrote a letter to a friend, but the friend turned the letter in to the FBI. An incredible survival story. The shotgun thing concerns accounts that Mr. Woods on one or two occasions fired over the heads of teenagers who attempted to enter the long drive up the hill at 800 Los Tancos Road where the Woods estate is situated. Public DomainFrederick Newhall Woods IV, James Schoenfeld, and Richard Schoenfeld planned the Chowchilla kidnapping for over a year. But Woods and his attorney, Dominique Banos, emphasized that he had a discipline-free record since his last parole hearing in October 2019. By Wayne King Special to The New York Times. His father was expecting a lot from Woods which all the fathers in the world somehow expect from their children. Miraculously, the driver and children managed to dig themselves out and escape relatively unharmed and the kidnappers were eventually caught. Now I fully understand the terror and trauma I caused. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. A Portola Valley fireman, who, like others who talked about Mr. Woods to reporters, asked not to be identified. Inside The 1976 Chowchilla Kidnapping That Left 26 Schoolchildren Buried Alive. Criminal Minds Wiki is a FANDOM TV Community. He agreed, however, that his employer, who paid him $2.50 an hour for parttime work, was suspicious of intruders at the estate behind a closed gate on which no trespassing signs hung. The next evening, James arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border in Idaho and tried to get in, using a false story, but was denied entry, and he instead went to Spokane, Washington. Male (all three) Richard Schoenfeld was paroled in 2012, and James Schoenfeld was released in 2015. Frederick Newhall Woods and accomplice brothers Richard and James Schoenfeld kidapped the bus full of children from Chowchilla, California in 1976; . They ordered Ray and the children into the back of the two vans, which had been converted from prison transport vehicles. He collected anything and everything, said his former wife, who has remarried and now lives in a mobile home park near Covington, Ga., foreign money, anything antique, a lot of antique furniture, cars and a lot of model cars. 27 abducted Frederick Newhall Woods did not have the same success with the parole board. However, according to CBS News, their families appealed the conviction and in 1980, a panel of judges ruled that the kidnappers would eventually be eligible for parole instead of spending life in prison without said eligibility. Frederick, Richard, and James, drawing from their discussions over perfect crimes, decided to get the money they needed by holding hostages for ransom. Meanwhile, investigators determined that the buried van, which they managed to bring up from the ground, belonged to Frederick. Park told CBS' 48 Hours in 2019 that he sat in the darkness 'wondering how it was going to feel to die'. He just said he preferred not to be around children, she said. First, jammed phone lines meant that the kidnappers couldnt communicate their ransom demand. He'd drive by the school [Woodside High] and he'd say, I went there when it was new, and he had a really funny view of integration. If we had anyone at our house that he invited, it was always his family or relatives, she said. He was denied parole numerous times for his minimization of the crime, his behavior in prison, and his possession of contraband like pornography and cell phones. Frederick has been called the mastermind of the kidnapping, and like his accomplices, he received 27 life sentences without the possibility of parole. Once retired, William Newsom advocated for their release in 2011, noting that no one was seriously physically injured during the kidnapping. Im 50 years old, and I can have an anxiety attack over getting in the car with my husband, survivor Jennifer Brown Hyde told Fox News earlier this year. "Now I fully understand the terror and trauma I caused. Twenty of the children feared of being abducted again, and twenty-one were afraid of "cars, the dark, the wind, the kitchen, mice, dogs, and hippies". One of the three boarded the bus, masked, armed with a shotgun, and carrying nylon stocking, boarded the bus when Ray opened the door, having already noticed his items and hoping to engage in a peaceful negotiation. When the day was about to come to a close, worried parents contacted the school, which initially assumed that the bus had broken down in the road. The kidnappers forced the children and Ray into vans, according to court records. CBS News' David Begnaud reports Saturday, July 11 at 10/9c on CBS. His parole hearing in March of 2022 was held at the California Men's Colony, a state prison. Richard Schoenfeld was paroled in 2015; James was paroled three years later. They will mind.. There are snapshots of the young bride with her wedding gifts, listed in red ink on a separate pagetowels, Pyrex bowls, blankets, place mats, kitchen canisters, Tupperware, an electric iron, card and check $25.. And they dont fight back. Woods (the father) expected too much of him and he couldn't live up to it, she said. IN 1976 a group of men kidnapped a school bus full of 26 children and a driver, burying them alive. Lynda Carrejo Labendeira, who was 10 years old at the time, told the Associated Press in 2015 that the battery-operated blowers that circulated the air in the bunker began to fail. On July 29, fourteen days after the mass abduction, Frederick and James were both arrested when they were recognized by several civilians. Woods said during an earlier parole hearing that he just 'got greedy.'. Two survivors, Larry Park and Rebecca Reynolds Dailey, spoke Friday in favor of Woods's parole. But as of the 48 Hours episode, Park is nine years sober and volunteers as a pastor at a local church. They were eventually able to slide the metal cover and the batteries out of the way but then Marshall saw there was a wooden box placed atop the exit as well. Unlike his younger brother, who dated a different girl every night, James did not seem active socially, the mechanic said. Governor Jerry Brown, who was in his first year during the kidnappings, had 120 days to decide whether he wanted to send the case back to the parole board, but once the time elapsed, James release became imminent. They hid the bus in the Berenda Slough, where a second van had been stashed. Stopping their white van in the middle of the lonely, rural Avenue 21 in Chowchilla, California, under the pretense that it had broken down, they waited until a school bus they set their sights on, which was driven by 55-year-old Frank Edward "Ed" Ray, stopped to investigate. Yet here I am, a mess.. AP Photo/California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Vermont kidnapping victim drives off with hands still tied together, Volkswagen reportedly refused to help cops track stolen car with toddler inside, Chinas secret police are actively hunting people on US soil, Dances With Wolves actor hit with disturbing new charges. Woods will next be eligible for parole in 2024. I knew it.'. Richard and James's father worked as a podiatrist, while Frederick's father was a businessman who owned and managed a multitude of businesses, including a rock quarry located in Livermore, California. After 16 hours, the victims were able to dig their way out and escapeas the kidnappers were asleep. Ray, the driver, and the children were herded into two vans and driven around for 11 hours. In October 2019, Woods was denied parole for the 17th time. Where is Frederick Newhall Woods Now? A school bus carrying 26 students mysteriously vanished on the way back from a summer field trip, and three wealthy young men were the top suspects. Furthermore, the brothers had run into severe debt and thus came on board for the kidnapping, as they needed the ransom money. He is the son of Fred Nickerson Woods 3d, who owns the California Rock and Gravel Company, based here, and the quarry in Livermore where the schoolchildren and their driver, Franklin Edward Ray,. They will mind.. Fred Woods and James and Richard Schoenfeld, the men who kidnapped 26 children in 1976. It was at the gravel quarry owned by Mr. Woods's father, Frederick Nickerson Woods 3d, that the children were held in a buried moving van for 18 sweltering hours before they managed to dig their way out. When the last of the children was inside, Woods and the Schoenfelds began shoveling dirt over the roof, weighing down the hatch-door by placing two 100-pound industrial batteries on top of it. 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