At the time of the abduction, Frank "Ed" Ray - the bus driver - was bringing students from Dairyland Elementary School home from a summer trip to the local fairgrounds. Chowchilla bus kidnapper Fred Woods, 70, has been approved for parole - CNN. but he didn't tell me until he got mad at me when we broke up., The young woman said that they seldom went out on dates, and that Fred Woods was very thrifty, but in odd ways. He'd buy things he didn't needflashlight batteries, maybebecause they were cheap. 'I tell myself I should be able to shake this off and deal with it. His parole hearing in March of 2022 was held at the California Men's Colony, a state prison. ', And I'd say he was tinliberated about women. 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. They all walked to the security shack at the quarry and told employees what had happened. 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. He says the nightmares have finally stopped and that healing continues if you allow it., Park also said he met his kidnappers, shook their hands, and forgave them, which changed [his] life.. He also had other guns she said. she said, I would have friends. He just said she just left him, no discussion, no nothing.. 1950s[1] Through his relationship with the family, Mr. Woods stood to inherit, according to one source, one thirtysixth of the fortune. 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. Fridays hearing was Woods 18th attempt for parole. 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. The authorities only discovered the businesses when a workers compensation lawsuit was filed against him. 13:36 GMT 30 Mar 2022. Like many people with a IV at the end of. Status On November 28, 2012, Frederick was denied parole for the thirteenth time. The young Schoenfeld is also sought in the kidnapping. I was 24 years old, he said. Following the kidnapping, Woods and his co-conspirators - Richard and James Schoenfeld - each pleaded guilty. 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. Mr. Woods also met Songel Nichols, who was to become his wife. He told me once he was ashamed of her, she said. If he went anywhere and he got a brochure of something, he'd, keep that.. of Mutual Victims Anyone can read what you share. The 1976 Chowchilla kidnapping is brought back to memory in CBS 48 Hours. On July 15, 1976, a school bus driver and 26 children aged between 5 and 14 were kidnapped by three armed men. What is lynching and what is the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Bill? A van blocked the road ahead of the bus; one man held a gun to the driver while the other drove the bus. On July 23, news broke that Richard had confessed to committing the mass abduction and was now being held on $1 million bail, news that was heard by both Frederick and James. He had a girlfriend while he was seeing me. When the boy climbed through the hole and alerted that there was no one present, Ray helped the rest of the children out of the van before climbing out himself. Now that youve read about the Chowchilla kidnapping, go inside the bizarre and terribly executed kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. Then, learn about the tragic abduction of the Lindbergh baby. It was enough to pay for some therapy but not enough to buy a house.'. Frederick Newhall Woods IV, 24, and brothers James Schoenfeld, 24, and Richard Schoenfeld, 22, held them captive in box truck in a rock quarry up north near Livermore. The governor can only reverse parole if the inmate was convicted of murder, which Wood was not. "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. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE USE BY OTHERS OF THE INFORMATION THAT YOU DISCLOSE IN CHAT ROOMS, FORUMS, BLOGS, AND OTHER The guards were shocked to see the group and immediately called for the police. synergy rv transport pay rate; stephen randolph todd. But even with the family, he was not close, she said. Then, after some 16 hours, bus driver Ed Ray and some of the older children in the group dug their way out of the trailer while the kidnappers slept and led the group to safety. Frederick Newhall Woods IV and Richard and James Schoenfeld were soon behind bars for what had become known nationwide as the Chowchilla kidnapping. The 100-acre Portola Valley estate of the quarry owner, Frederick Nickerson Woods, was searched. 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.. An appeals court, however, overturned the decision and the kidnappers were allowed the possibility of parole. 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. He said, they the blacksreally tore the place up. We drove, up in an old fire (truck and he got on us for tres passingyou know, in this old fire truck. I knew it.'. The middle name, Newhall, is one of prominence and wealth. Less than a week later, Frederick Woods was captured in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and James Schoenfeld was captured in Menlo Park, California. An appeals court ordered Richard Schoenfeld released in 2012, and former Gov. CBS Nevertheless, the three were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, although the prevention of parole was later overturned in 1981. ", Woods added: "I've had empathy for the victims which I didn't have then.". 'The sides of the van were bowing in I knew that I was going to die. 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. Subscribe to the 48 Hours" Channel HERE: bit.ly/1DvRWbT Watch Full Episodes Of "48 Hours" HERE: bit.ly/1fop6N1 Investigate with "48, Video related to two kidnappers of 26 children paroled; one remains in prison, kidnapped a school bus driver and 26 children, Why A Georgia Beauty Queens Alleged Murderer Still Hasnt Been Tried in Her Death. 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. He'd mention the trips they'd taken to Baja, California. They will mind.. He was left with relatives every year for at least a month or two all his life when his parents traveled. Stopping over at a drainage slough, half of the passengers were forced into the van, which drove off before a second white van arrived sometime later, taking the remainder of the hostages. 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. 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. When Frederick Newhall Woods and two other gunmen hijacked the school bus in Chowchilla, California, it was considered the biggest kidnapping in US history. The young mechanic who worked at the Woods estate described James as a pretty decent person. He was intelligent, quick with the math needed in the automobile trans actions, but usually quiet, the mechanic said. Once all 27 members of the group were inside, the kidnappers put a heavy piece of metal and two 100-pound industrial batteries on top of the entry theyd cut into the roof of the truck, filled in the rest of the hole with dirt, and left the scene. 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. 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. 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. Scrawled above it are the words, Our first baby. By the time I was 21, I was using meth. However, once this was proven to be wrong, local police and the county sheriff was called in to investigate, determining that the bus disappeared after successfully making its first three stops. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Furthermore, the brothers had run into severe debt and thus came on board for the kidnapping, as they needed the ransom money. There was just miles and miles of scenery., One major point of her incompatibility with Mr. Woods, the young woman said, were his racial views. While James and Richard Schoenfeld had success with the parole board last decade, Woods despite his many attempts had not had success until this year. 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. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. The three men were arrested in the weeks following the kidnapping and were initially sentenced to life in prison without parole, but an appeals court later changed the sentences to make the trio eligible for parole. According to his attorney, however, he has not faced any disciplinary action since his last parole hearing in 2019. Eighteen months after the mass abduction, one of the older male victims shot a Japanese tourist with a BB gun when the tourist's car broke down in front of his home. He is an elderly inmate, fast approaching 70, and clearly presents no danger to anyone.. On the morning of July 17, they learned that their hostages had escaped the buried van. He decided to dig beneath it. He was also the owner of the rock quarry. Unlike his younger brother, who dated a different girl every night, James did not seem active socially, the mechanic said. 'This is an individual who's demonstrated how dangerous he is,' she said after Friday's decision. The portrait that emerges from interviews with Mrs. Padgett and others who knew 24yearold Fred Woods, most of them casually because he had very few friends, is one of a longersome say a loserwho got along poorly with people, and who perhaps as a result, cloaked himself in his possessions, carrying with him as a high school student not pictures of girls but pictures of his automobiles. So, where are they now? On July 19, he attempted to get into Canada again, but this time, border guards discovered a pistol that belonged to Frederick, which James wasn't aware of being in his car. I fully take responsibility for this heinous act.. Jodi Heffington-Medrano, who was 10 at the time of the kidnapping, told the Associated Press, They basically stole our whole youth. All three were from wealthy San Francisco Bay Area families when they kidnapped 26 children and their bus driver near Chowchilla. , updated Our childhood was completely turned upside down., Many of the children went on to suffer from depression and substance abuse. During that time, the younger Woods, in partnership with 24yearold James Leonard Schoenfeld, the son of Dr. John B. Schoenfeld, a podiatrist of nearby Atherton, restored the vehicles they bought and sold them in a business venture in which they employed parttime mechanics. James Schoenfeld once told parole officials that he envied friends who had 'his-and-hers Ferraris.' Determined to save all of the children, the bus driver and the oldest student acted quickly. 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. And now, more than 40 years later, all three will soon be walking free once again. 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. Pathology 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. Then you rationalize. Woods's parole has also previously been backed by some prominent supporters, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo of Palo Alto in 2015. 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. After driving the victims around for nearly 12 hours, the kidnappers buried them in a moving van trailer 12 feet underground with very little food and water. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Home. They pleaded guilty, were fined $125 each and placed on a year's probation. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. We went [on dates] over there, to the estate, and most of the time it was chores, feeding horses, moving cars.. 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. 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.. [Cover Image Courtesy: Alameda County Sheriffs Office], Read More: Best Netflix Kidnapping Movies. Frederick Newhall Woods IV, son of the quarry owner, 25 years old, 6 foot, 145 pounds, brown hair and blue eyes; . Abduction 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. He just seemed the normal kind of guy, the former classmate said. A Puzzling Portrait of Key Coast Kidnapping Suspect, https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/05/archives/a-puzzling-portrait-of-key-coast-kidnapping-suspect.html. Email us atexclusive@the-sun.comor call212 416 4552. While behind bars, he continues to run his businesses and grows richer by the day. 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. Woods said during an earlier parole hearing that he just 'got greedy.'. He was really adamant that I not see my former boyfriend. Sixteen hours after they were buried, the group escaped physically unscathed. Miraculously, the driver and children managed to dig themselves out and escape relatively unharmed and the kidnappers were eventually caught. 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. Three years later, his brother followed suit. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. He kept the newspaper clips, because his name was in the papers for finding the body.. It was an atrocious crime, but hes not dangerous now, and so the law entitles him to his freedom., Both Richard and James have been contrite in their parole hearings, acknowledging the severe nature of their crimes. The panels decision will now be reviewed by the California Board of Parole Hearings legal division. But he was lonely, and it was lonely living with him.. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. They had panic attacks and nightmares about kidnapping and death. Officials said they . At the time of his release, his lawyer said to People Magazine, It was long overdue, and I think there is solid evidence that he isnt dangerous, and California has no interest in keeping him in prison. She concluded, about three years later, that they were traumatized by the ordeal, resulting in panic attacks, nightmares of abductions that led to their deaths, and personality changes. In contrast to the comments of others, the mechanic said he found Fred Woods easy enough to get along with.. James was the second one to get paroled in 2015. At the timehe wasn't really workinghe told me from time to time his father would lean on him. He had been denied release 17 other times. The young woman, who asked not to be identified, lives with her parents in a welltodo section of a town near Portola Valley. 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. Powered by. When they were married, Mr. Wood was a salesman at a paint store, but lost the job. Now Woods, who was 24 when he committed the kidnapping, has moved one step closer to leaving prison. Madera County prosecutors said Woods' disciplinary infractions in prison showed he had not yet learned to follow the rules. Once they found themselves above ground, Ray and the children walked to the quarry's guard station near the Shadow Cliffs East Bay National Park where authorities were called. Finally, on July 25, 1977, the three pleaded guilty to 27 counts of kidnapping for ransom without inflicting injury. Frederick Newhall Woods IVRichard SchoenfeldJames Schoenfeld ', She added:'He's not someone who should be released. Ray and Michael Marshall, aged 14 at the time, managed to find an escape for the group, which finally led to the apprehension of the three kidnappers, Frederick Newhall Woods IV, the quarry owner's son, and his two friends, James, and Richard Schoenfeld. Their marriage, in the Calvary Baptist Church in Redwood City, was unpretentious and the wedding album portrays nothing except a normal American couple. 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frederick newhall woods iv parents