For a grueling 16 hours, the bus driver and one of the oldest students worked tirelessly to free themselves and the other children from the makeshift prison before they ran out of air or the roof of the truck collapsed in on them from the weight of the dirt above. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Victims of the kidnapping, now adults, spoke to CNN in 2015 about their remaining fears relating to the tragic event. A classmate of the younger one, Richard, described him as just real, real normal.. If the decision from the hearing panel stands, it will become finalized 120 days after the hearing. On July 15, 1976, Frederick, Richard, and James put their scheme into motion. His father. 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. It was like looking at death.. Woods became eligible for parole in 1982 but was previously denied release 17 times. Our childhood was completely turned upside down., Many of the children went on to suffer from depression and substance abuse. After driving a short distance, the men brought the school bus to a stop in a dry riverbed surrounded by bamboo and tall brush, where another van was waiting. He said, Oh, yeah, I've cracked down on a couple of trespassers with a shotgun. I thought, well, what's with this guy. As a youngster, little is known of Fred Woods. Park said he turned into an angry child and his parents eventually sent him to a facility for youth offenders. At the time, memories of the Patty Hearst abduction and the October 1969 threat by the Zodiac Killer to target a school bus for a massacre were still fresh on people's minds. Email us atexclusive@the-sun.comor call212 416 4552. There was no quit in him.. Once the trial ended, Chowchilla fell out of the media spotlight, save for the visit by reporters on the anniversary of the mass abduction. Herself the product of a tangled and traumatic home situation, housed in a foster home, she said that Mr. Woods found her a person aloneand he took me in.. But he was lonely, and it was lonely living with him.. 'I'm overwhelmed to the point that I had to leave work,' she said. At the timehe wasn't really workinghe told me from time to time his father would lean on him. The older brother, James, was generally described as less outgoing but not unfriendly. A third man followed the bus in the van that had barricaded the road. When five members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police placed him under arrest, he remarked, I'm really sorry I'm going to miss this on the news tonight., When he was taken to his cheap hotel to pick up his single suitcase of belongings, he reintroduced himself to the desk clerk. They were each given 27 life sentences without the possibility of parole. Marshall cautiously stuck his head out of the dirt to make sure their abductors werent nearby, then he and Ray helped the other 25 children out of the truck. He dug until he was exhausted and then he kept on digging. The heir to two wealthy California families, the Newhalls and the Woodses, he inherited a trust fund from his parents that was described in one court filing as being worth $100 million (equivalent to $113 million in 2021), although Woods' lawyer disputed that amount. Woods had also inherited a trust fund reportedly worth $100 million, as he came from two very wealthy families, and he bought a mansion a short distance away from the prison. 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. An appeals court later overturned the sentences, ruling the men should have a chance for parole at some point in their time behind bars. He just said she just left him, no discussion, no nothing.. The mechanic, who asked not to be identified, and who has been questioned intensively by local police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said that he had last seen Fred Woods in the early afternoon of July 15, the day of the kidnapping. Frederick Newhall Woods IV and Richard and James Schoenfeld were soon behind bars for what had become known nationwide as the Chowchilla kidnapping. An appellate panel, which included the governor's late father, state Judge William Newsom, reduced the kidnappers' sentencesin 1980, giving them the chance at parole. Woods (the father) expected too much of him and he couldn't live up to it, she said. One was that he kept the two vans he and the Schoenfelds used to transport the children and their driver to Livermore, California in the expectation that the notoriety of their crime would make the bus increasingly valuable. There, they were transferred to a buried moving truck, with mattresses and a little bit of food. CBS News' David Begnaud reports Saturday, July 11 at 10/9c on CBS. For about eleven hours, the hostages were all driven approximately 100 miles from Chowchilla to Livermore, where they were forced into a van that they buried deep in dirt back in December 1975. Abduction "I tell myself I should be able to shake this off and deal with it. ', And I'd say he was tinliberated about women. Following the kidnapping, Woods and his co-conspirators - Richard and James Schoenfeld - each pleaded guilty. The state would be willing to pay ransom for them. Ed Ray and Michael Marshall had saved them all. We needed multiple victims to get multiple millions, and we picked children because they are precious, James Schoenfeld said at a 2015 parole hearing. During the hearing, Woods provided an apology to the victims. I asked him if he felt funny, finding a dead man. After discovering that they could reach the top of the truck if they stacked the mattresses, Ray and Marshall worked for hours trying to wedge a piece of wood into the opening in the roof. 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. He really didn't want people around here. Lori Lightfoot becomes the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose re-election, Fiery Greece train collision kills 32, injures at least 85, A condition called POTS rose after covid, but patients can't find care, Drones fly deep inside Russia; Putin orders border tightened, Rep. Lauren Boebert Gets Absolutely Schooled By Jamie Raskin Using Trump's Own Words, Snow plow drivers prepare for another round of winter weather, FSU women's basketball: Ta'Niya Latson and Makayla Timpson earn ACC postseason honors, Calls for more protection after cashier attacked, beaten at Bronx grocery store, Sublime menace and sonic enormity: 50 years of Pink Floyds The Dark Side of the Moon. PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., July 25 Frederick Newhall Woods 4th, subject of a nationwide hunt as the key suspect in the bizarre kidnapping of 26 school children near Chowchilla, Calif., was the. Finally, on July 25, 1977, the three pleaded guilty to 27 counts of kidnapping for ransom without inflicting injury. The couple had a $50aweek allowance from the family, adequate because they oaid no rent or utilities, but the young husband would never buy things for the home. Madera County prosecutors said Woods' disciplinary infractions in prison showed he had not yet learned to follow the rules. Yet here I am, a mess.. Park told CBS' 48 Hours in 2019 that he sat in the darkness 'wondering how it was going to feel to die'. It would really surprise me if he had anything to do with this thing. Matthew Medrano, son of Jodi Heffington Medrano, sobbed several times as he recounted watching his mother change from being a loving, outgoing survivor until she experienced darker, bitter thoughts and depression before her early death. I rescued him before he was a year old. 'I tell myself I should be able to shake this off and deal with it. However, his parents were always together and into each other. If we had anyone at our house that he invited, it was always his family or relatives, she said. Richard Schoenfeld turned himself in to authorities eight days after the kidnapping; his brother was captured in Menlo Park, California, not far from the quarry; and Frederick Newhall Woods was arrested in Vancouver, Canada, after fleeing the country. The older children among the group sang songs to offer comfort to the youngest and most frightened, opting for renditions of 'Boogie Nights', 'Love Will Keep Us Together' and 'If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands.'. Gavin Newsom has 30 days to review the decision and wither allow it to stand or refer it to the full Board of Parole Hearings for a review. Woods also married three times while in prison. July 15-17, 1976: The school bus hijacking. But opposing Woods's release were survivors Jennifer Brown Hyde and Laura Yazzi Fanning; Matthew Medrano, son of survivor Jodi Heffington Medrano who has since died; and Carol Marshall, mother of survivor Michael Marshall, and Lynda Carrejo. Another survivor, Darla Neal, told CNN in 2015 that she deals with crippling anxiety to the point that she had to leave work. she said. At this point, the positions Frederick, Richard, and James took during the initial abduction are unknown. The young man wanted no one near the estate, his former wife said, and once he fired a shotgun over the heads of some youngsters who played in an old caboose on the estate, she said. ', The comments below have not been moderated, By He had been denied release 17 other times. After about 12 hours on the road, the group was taken down into a ventilated bunker that contained mattresses and snacks on property owned by Woods father, prosecutors said. Around 4:00 p.m., as Ray was driving the students home, a white van suddenly pulled in front of the school bus and came to a stop in the middle of the road. Here's what you need to know about what happened to Fred Woods and James & Richard Schoenfeld, the 1976 Chowchilla kidnappers who abducted a school bus full of children and buried them alive in a quarry. Ed Ray and the children escaped from the buried moving truck after 16 hours. 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. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Woods, now 70, is the only member of the kidnapping group still incarcerated at this time. 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. Inspiring the frightened cohort into action, under the instructions of Ray the group stacked the mattresses inside the truck on top of one another and used wooden slats to dislodge a steel plate on the roof of the van that was covering the hatch through which they'd entered. Fearing of embarrassment from asking their parents for financial support, they agreed to get themselves some money. According to his attorney, however, he has not faced any disciplinary action since his last parole hearing in 2019. 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. The men planned to. Woods and the Schoenfelds planned their crime for more than a year and, in 1976, all pleaded guilty to kidnapping. Chowchilla bus kidnapper Fred Woods, 70, has been approved for parole - CNN. I was 24 years old. Jodi Heffington-Medrano, who was 10 at the time of the kidnapping, told the Associated Press, They basically stole our whole youth. Frederick Newhall Woods IV Richard Schoenfeld James Schoenfeld Alias Fred (Frederick) Rick (Richard) Jim (James) Gender Male (all three) Birth Date 1950s [1] Pathology Mass Abductors Modus Operandi Abduction No. The telephone lines to the police station were overloaded with calls from frantic parents demanding answers about their missing children. His father was expecting a lot from Woods which all the fathers in the world somehow expect from their children. 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. But the sing-a-longs came to a sobering halt when the vans came to a stop at a quarry near Livermore, where the captors forced Ray and the children down into a buried trailer stocked with mattresses, a small amount of food and water, and ventilation fans. He liked police, programs; among his favorites were The Rookies, and also Mod Squad, his former wife said. 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. After 17 unsuccessful attempts, a California man who kidnapped 26 children on a school bus in 1976 has been recommended for parole. He was not even getting along with his parents and got few friends. Hes been married three times while behind bars. A panel of two commissioners with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Friday recommended parole for Frederick Newhall Woods, one of three men who hijacked a school bus with 26 children aboard in Chowchilla, Calif. on July 15, 1976. What is lynching and what is the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Bill? Though he has been recommended for parole, Gov Gavin Newsom will have the opportunity to refer the case to the full parole board for their review if he so chooses. We would not have lived much longer. Other family photographs, she said, seemed to reflect what she felt was some isolation. He did not, in thcse days, hunt, camp, fish, watch or participate in sports, although he enjoyed watching automobile races on television. Mr. After 16 hours, the victims were able to dig their way out and escapeas the kidnappers were asleep. Woods is related to California's wealthy Newhall family The Newhall Land and Farming Co. holds enormous investments in commercial and recreational ventures, agriculture, cattle, oil. Upon discovering that he and James were missing, police launched a manhunt for them and also placed a tight watch on Richard, whom they also suspected. They hid the bus in the Berenda Slough, where a second van had been stashed. He had boyish charm that enabled him, when he could overcome his shyness, to enter into intimate relationships with women, but the relationships seemed to end quickly, and over these relationships there was the same quick, jealous guarding that caused him to ward off intruders on the family estate with a shotgun, and, on at least one occasion, with gunfire. He has married three times during the period of his incarceration, and he has also purchased a mansion nearby. Currently, Frederick is 68 years old. Finally, 16 hours after the children had been buried alive, a ray of light streamed through the dirt and into the dark truck. Theirs was a union of shared insecurity, according to the young woman who remarried after her divorce from Mr. Woods in 1972, after only a year of marriage. [Cover Image Courtesy: Alameda County Sheriffs Office], Read More: Best Netflix Kidnapping Movies. The middle name, Newhall, is one of prominence and wealth. The three masked men had hijacked the school bus, transferred the captives into prison vans, and buried them alive in a cargo truck at a quarry 100 miles away. Once the decision becomes final, California Gov. He was wealthy and lavished money on the things he wanted, his possessions, but stingy in all else. Many of the children continued to report symptoms of trauma for at least twenty-five years after the hijacking, including substance abuse and depression. You see them and you rationalize all yourproblems will be over in 24 hours. Incidentally, one of the judges on the 1980 panel that agreed to let the kidnappers be eligible for parole was William Newsom, who believed strongly in rehabilitating felons. James Schoenfeld once told parole officials that he envied friends who had 'his-and-hers Ferraris.'
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