District Attorney Warren Haas said, It was a minor matter. 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. An appeals court later overturned the sentences, ruling the men should have a chance for parole at some point in their time behind bars. 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. However, Newhall has kept applying for parole 17 times, and his most recent rejection came in October 2019. And he's just letting those trucks, beautiful fire engines, turn into junkers. Frederick Woods was among three men convicted of hijacking a school bus full of California children for an attempted $5 million ransom in 1976. . I tell myself I should be able to shake this off and deal with it, Ms Neal said. We were just incompatible, she said. Psychiatrist Lenore Terr told CBS News, There are a number of these kids who have gone to prison for doing something controlling to somebody else., As Heffington-Medrano explained, The emotional scars that they put on all of us, theyre countless.. Part of the reason for that, she said, was that Fred Woods had a vascular blockage that prevented the couple from having children, although she said they had normal marital relations. Prosecutors said Woods and his accomplices planned the kidnapping as if it was the crime of the century, and demanded $5 million in ransom from the state Board of Education. Currently, Frederick is 68 years old. Despite this,Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno still argued against Woods' release. 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. Jennifer Brown Hyde, another victim of the Chowchilla kidnapping, vividly remembered being ushered into the deep, dark hole at gunpoint: I felt like I was an animal going to the slaughterhouse.. It surprised me how much [money] he made, but it was a lot, the youth said. He'd mention the trips they'd taken to Baja, California. On August 7, 2015, James was paroled. The kidnappers then drove the two vans around for 11 hours, finally stopping at a quarry 100 miles away in the town of Livermore. He had a girlfriend while he was seeing me. Dogdog.. The authorities only discovered the businesses when a workers compensation lawsuit was filed against him. The authorities here confirmed that a search of the Woods estate had turned up a draft of a $5million ransom note that authorities said may have been written by young Woods. His son, Gavin, is the current governor of California and will ultimately get to decide Woods fate when or if he is granted parole by the parole board. Under hypnosis, Ray was also able to remember one of the license plates of the vans that had taken them to the quarry, which was tied to Woods and both of his accomplices. They focused their investigation into the Chowchilla kidnapping on Frederick Newhall Woods IV the quarry owners son. Frederick Newhall Woods IV and Richard and James Schoenfeld were soon . I was doing acid. Other family photographs, she said, seemed to reflect what she felt was some isolation. If the decision from the hearing panel stands, it will become finalized 120 days after the hearing. 'Even the settlement paid to some of us survivors was not sufficient. Woods masterminded the kidnapping plot after being inspired by the 1971 Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry. According to James Schoenfeld, the three believed while they were in their early 20s that their parents had become disappointed in them and that they were spending the money they had way too quickly. His mother took a lot of home movies of us.. Police executed a search warrant on the 100-acre family estate in Portola. I full take responsibility for this heinous act.. They pleaded guilty, were fined $125 each and placed on a year's probation. 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. 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 is an unusual prisoner in another way: he is believed to have inherited a massive amount of money from his wealthy parents, claimed in one court filing to be around $100m. On July 15, 1976, a group of 26 children attending summer classes at Dairyland Elementary School were returning from a trip to a local swimming pool when their bus, driven by Frank Edward Ray, was blocked on the road by three armed men and two white vans at 4.00pm. He is an elderly inmate, fast approaching 70, and clearly presents no danger to anyone.. In the years after the kidnappings, the children continued to be affected by the trauma. He dug until he was exhausted and then he kept on digging. His trust fund helped settle the civil lawsuit brought by the kidnapping victims. 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. He came home and told me about it and was all excited. Thanks for contacting us. Inside The 1976 Chowchilla Kidnapping That Left 26 Schoolchildren Buried Alive. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. 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. They ordered Ray and the children into the back of the two vans, which had been converted from prison transport vehicles. 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. An appeals court, however, overturned the decision and the kidnappers were allowed the possibility of parole. It was at the Woods estate, called The Hawthorries, in wealthy Portola Valley, that the authorities found a draft of the kidnapping ransom note demanding $5 million from an undesignated source. 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,. While the men had equipped the van with fans and mattresses, carved makeshift toilets into the wheel wells, and provided bread, peanut butter, and water, Ray knew he and the students wouldnt survive long if they ran out of air. If were going to die, were going to die trying to get out of here, she remembered Ray and Marshall saying. Frederick Newhall Woods IV, son of the quarry owner, 25 years old, 6 foot, 145 pounds, brown hair and blue eyes; . Frederick Newhall Woods III, a member of one of California's wealthiest and most prominent families, rented the San Jose warehouse where the two vans were found. 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. Fred Woods's favorite was a 1952 Chevrolet, restored to perfection, but any car was likely to strike his fancy. Yet here I am, a mess.". Modus Operandi Victims of the kidnapping, now adults, spoke to CNN in 2015 about their remaining fears relating to the tragic event. Richard Schoenfeld was paroled in 2015; James was paroled three years later. The fans had stopped working, and the roof of the moving truck was beginning to cave in. I knew it.'. He said he was afraid people would make fun of him., One other incident struck his former wife as unusual. Criminal Minds Wiki is a FANDOM TV Community. So, where are they now? Frederick Newhall Woods IV and Richard and James Schoenfeld were soon behind bars for what had become known nationwide as the Chowchilla kidnapping. I just remember the kids got a hold of me and were holding onto me. After 17 unsuccessful attempts, a California man who kidnapped 26 children on a school bus in 1976 has been recommended for parole.. On Friday, March 25, 2022, Woods read aloud an apology at his parole hearing. When Frederick Newhall Woods and two other gunmen hijacked the . Mr. No. He said, they the blacksreally tore the place up. Frederick Newhall Woods IV, left, is escorted . An incredible survival story. 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. I rescued him before he was a year old. From these accounts, it appears that Mr. Woods was shy, but occasionally bold and venturesome, blushingly, almost embarrassingly friendly and selfeffacing, yet capable of sharp hostility toward those he felt encroached on what was his. In 1976, Frederick Newhall Woods IV and brothers James and Richard Schoenfeld kidnapped a. If he went anywhere and he got a brochure of something, he'd, keep that.. Frederick Newhall Woods was found suitable for parole at a hearing Friday,California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesperson Joe Orlando confirmed to CNN on Tuesday. A 70-year-old man convicted of hijacking a school bus full of children and holding them and their driver for $5 million ransom in 1976 has been approved for parole. Frederick Newhall Woods and accomplice brothers Richard and James Schoenfeld kidapped the bus full of children from Chowchilla, California in 1976; . However, 36 years later, in 2012, Richard was the first of the trio to be granted parole. Others knew him casually, for he had few close friends and among the casual acquaintances were schoolmates, neighbors, the young mechanic who helped him restore the old cars he sold as a business venture, some relatives and some family friends. Our childhood was completely turned upside down., Many of the children went on to suffer from depression and substance abuse. A draft ransom note was found at the scene, with some of its phrasing seeming to make reference to Hugh Pentecost's story, 'The Day the Children Vanished', which had been published in Alfred Hitchcock's Daring Detectives and was displayed in the Chowchilla public library. After hijacking the bus, which returning from a summer field trip at the Chowchilla fairgrounds swimming pool, Woods and his friends James and Richard Schoenfeld transferred the 26 children and their driver into vans and drove them 12 hours away in the dark to a location where, CBS News reported, they were held captive underground in a truck trailer. The story soon began to unfold. 01:30 GMT 30 Mar 2022 Pathology 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. On July 15, 1976, Frederick, Richard, and James put their scheme into motion. In July 1976, dozens of parents in rural Chowchilla, California, faced their worst nightmare when their children went missing. So, where are they now? Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. A number of them have even spent time in prison for "doing something controlling to somebody else". He said that he had called on Mr. Woods at the estate several months ago to inquire about the fire engines, one or more of which the firemen and some friends hoped to buy and restore for use by their club. "I was 24 years old," he said, per Fox News. 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 buried. 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. A local NBC affiliate reported at the time of James parole that he would join Richard in caring for their elderly mother at her home in Mountain View, California. In July 1976, dozens of parents in rural Chowchilla, California, faced their worst nightmare when their children went missing. Almost alone among those who knew Fred Woods well, the young woman said she did not find the cowboy image unsurprising. An appeals court ordered Richard Schoenfeld released in 2012, and former Gov. 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. But though the first part of their plan went off without a hitch, everything went awry when they tried to phone in the ransom. Ed Ray and 26 children were abducted at gunpoint by Frederick Newhall Woods and his two accomplices from a school bus in rural California. If he did a good job, he'd brag about it to his father, but when he lost his job as A salesman, he didn't want to tell it to his father or me, his former wife recalled. The 78acre Woods estate, called Hawthorne, where the young man lived in a converted outbuilding adjacent to the home of his grandmother and across a hill from his parents' home, is strewn with a hundred or more old vehicles, aging vans, a classic Pierce Arrow resting near decaying and nondescript family sedans, a hearse, buses, fire engines, some in garages, others rusting in the rain on hills gilded by summer stands of golden rye grass, fodder for a score or more of retired police horses bought and put to pasture by young Woods's grandmother, now an invalid and in the care of a nurse. Fridays hearing was Woods 18th attempt for parole. ', She added:'He's not someone who should be released. Woods was arrested weeks later after fleeing to Vancouver, British Columbia. Their miraculous escape made national headlines, but their abductors were still on the loose. The panels decision will now be reviewed by the California Board of Parole Hearings legal division. While Woods has lived a relatively cushy life in prison, his victims continue to suffer from the trauma he inflicted upon them more than 40 years ago. We enjoyed ourselves, she said. The kidnappers made each of the children give their names and hand over a piece of clothing, and then climb down a ladder into the van, buried more than 12-feet below the ground. 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. Eventually, they moved the cover and Marshall scrambled into a box the kidnappers had put on top. 'I was 24 years old. Hyde, during Friday's hearing, said Woods has yet to fully make amends for his crime and 'is still a millionaire. He just said he preferred not to be around children, she said. . The old vehicles, collected originally as a hobby by both the young Mr. Woods and by his father, Frederick Nickerson Woods 3d, were in the last two years a business asset. We drove, up in an old fire (truck and he got on us for tres passingyou know, in this old fire truck. Two victims who participated during Fridays hearing said they agreed that Woods should be paroled, according to NBC. 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 three eventually formulated a scheme to hijack a school bus, hide all of the passengers somewhere safe, demand a $5 million ransom from the state of California, retrieve the money, and then release the hostages unharmed, all within twenty-four hours. (1) Frederick Newhall Woods IV, son of the quarry owner, 25 years old, 6 foot, 145 pounds, brown hair and blue eyes; (2) James Schoenfeld, son of a podiatrist in Atherton, 25 years old, 6 foot, 170 pounds, red hair and blue eyes; (3) James' brother Richard Schoenfeld, 22 years old, 5 foot 11 inches, 150 pounds, blonde hair and blue eyes. 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 third followed in the truck. Ahead of the 48 Hours episode about this infamous Chowchilla Kidnapping, heres what you need to know about where the kidnappers are today. We would have suffocated to death in there, Labendeira said. Three years later, his brother followed suit. While executing a search warrant at the Woods estate, investigators found a gun used in the abduction, a draft of a ransom note, and even a document titled plan. But Woods and his two suspected accomplices, brothers James and Richard Schoenfeld, were nowhere to be found. He dug until he was exhausted, and then he kept on digging. All three were from wealthy San Francisco Bay Area families when they kidnapped 26 children and their bus driver near Chowchilla. The state would be willing to pay ransom for them. I'm sorry, he said, I'm not Ralph Snider [the false name he had registered under] I'm Frederick Woods. "48 Hours: Live to Tell": Twenty-six school children abducted and buried alive in a truck trailer by three young men. 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. What is lynching and what is the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Bill? But there were no children, and that set the stage in part for the young couple's breakup. The men had planned the Chowchilla kidnapping for over a year, tracing the bus route, converting the prison vans, creating the underground bunker, and even building a lead box to put the ransom money in, just in case police placed tracking devices in the cash. But Woods and his attorney, Dominique Banos, emphasized that he had a discipline-free record since his last parole hearing in October 2019. Frederick Newhall Woods was approved for parole on Friday, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has confirmed Woods, 70, is one of three men. Now Frederick Newhall Woods IV, the "mastermind" of the trio, could be paroled next month and walk out of state prison as a multimillionaire. And he found this man's body. 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. 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. He then can allow the decision to stand, or send it to a full board for further review. But I never saw any of that shotgun thing, pointing them at people and shooting at them, the youth said. Woods also married three times while in prison. my friends, by the house, and if we had anyone that he invited it was always his family or relative, no one else.. The marriage ended abruptly in early 1972, when Songel simply told her husband that she was leaving him. But man, you're in the weird people capital of the world, so I didn't think much.. One boy shot a lost tourist with a BB gun when their car broke down in front of his house. Woods' son, Fred Newhall Woods IV, 24, was missing. On July 29, fourteen days after the mass abduction, Frederick and James were both arrested when they were recognized by several civilians. 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