I was 24 years old, he said. 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 marriage ended abruptly in early 1972, when Songel simply told her husband that she was leaving him. He wasn't interested in anything. We drove, up in an old fire (truck and he got on us for tres passingyou know, in this old fire truck. Frederick Newhall Woods IV was 24 when he and two brothers, James and Richard Schoenfeld, held up a school bus in Chowchilla, Calif., on July 15, 1976. 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". 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. Jessica O'Connor is a public historian focusing on Deep South Black History with degrees from Winston-Salem State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It was not that he couldn't keep a job, as much as he didn't want to work, the former girl friend said. Jodi Heffington-Medrano, who was 10 at the time of the kidnapping, told the Associated Press, They basically stole our whole youth. In the years after the kidnappings, the children continued to be affected by the trauma. Officials said they . We would not have lived much longer. At the timehe wasn't really workinghe told me from time to time his father would lean on him. 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. Status Two victims who participated during Fridays hearing said they agreed that Woods should be paroled, according to NBC. I believe you have served enough time for the crime you committed, said Larry Park. "48 Hours: Live to Tell": Twenty-six school children abducted and buried alive in a truck trailer by three young men. The trial was then delayed as it was relayed from Chowchilla's Madera County to Alameda County. 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. 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. 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. Male (all three) After 17 unsuccessful attempts, a California man who kidnapped 26 children on a school bus in 1976 has been recommended for parole.. 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. It is an exaggeration to say that there seemed to be two Fred Woodsesthe shy, unsocial young man who seemed to seek solace in the old cars and other possessions he surrounded himself with on the family estate, and the cocky, wisecracking cowboy accused of kidnappingbut two aspects of his personality emerge from conversations with those who knew him casually and those who knew him well. Fred Woods and James and Richard Schoenfeld, the men who kidnapped 26 children in 1976. The ones he sold he made a lot ontwo or three hundred dollars for a junker, up into the thousands.. He said, they the blacksreally tore the place up. By Wayne King Special to The New York Times. I said we didn't come with any idea of trespassing and he said he had problems with trespassers. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Woods will next be eligible for parole in 2024. 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.. In October 2019, Woods was denied parole for the 17th time. His parents were very much into each other. 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. District Attorney Warren Haas said, It was a minor matter. 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 father was expecting a lot from Woods which all the fathers in the world somehow expect from their children. But he was lonely, and it was lonely living with him.. Meanwhile, investigators determined that the buried van, which they managed to bring up from the ground, belonged to Frederick. James Schoenfeld once told parole officials that he envied friends who had 'his-and-hers Ferraris.' 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. In 1993, a made-for-TV movie based on a book written about the crime was made, and Frederick sued the filmmakers, feeling that the character portrayed in the movie was extremely biased, but the lawsuit was eventually dismissed. We had no reason to expect to see them again. Mr. But though the first part of their plan went off without a hitch, everything went awry when they tried to phone in the ransom. It was like looking at death.. Frederick Newhall Woods is ready to go free - Wikipedia Frederick Newhall Woods was 24 years old when he committed the crime. 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. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE USE BY OTHERS OF THE INFORMATION THAT YOU DISCLOSE IN CHAT ROOMS, FORUMS, BLOGS, AND OTHER He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and he had everything, and saved everything, said his former wife, 24yearold Songel Padgett, whose oneyear marriage to Mr. Woods ended in divorce in early 1972. Frederick Newhall Woods IV, left, is escorted . They hid the bus in the Berenda Slough, where a second van had been stashed. At about 4:00 a.m. on July 17, approximately 36 hours after Frederick, Richard, and James hijacked their school bus, Ray and the children reunited with their families. An appeals court ordered Richard Schoenfeld released in 2012, and former Gov. She is now getting a second divorce. The state prison spokesman, Luis Patino, said, As such, CDCR does not have any legal option other than to release inmate Schoenfeld and will do so. Richard, like his fellow kidnappers, was also incarcerated at San Luis Obispo. When Frederick Newhall Woods and two other gunmen hijacked the school bus in Chowchilla, California, it was considered the biggest kidnapping in US history. READ NEXT: Why A Georgia Beauty Queens Alleged Murderer Still Hasnt Been Tried in Her Death, Two Kidnappers of 26 Children Paroled; One Remains in Prison, Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Frederick "Fred" Newhall Woods IV, Richard "Rick" Schoenfeld, and James "Jim" Schoenfeld were a trio of abductors infamous for hijacking a school bus full of children and holding them for ransom. So, where are they now? "Now I fully understand the terror and trauma I caused. For the victims of the 1976 kidnapping, the possibility of Woods being released from prison is complicated. The authorities only discovered the businesses when a workers compensation lawsuit was filed against him. However, they found that there was a metal lid on top of the hole, which was heavy and immovable. Originally the three were charged with joy riding, a fel. Twenty-six children and their bus. One of the eldest children, Mitchell Marshall, bravely announced to the group that he wasn't going to die without putting up a fight. 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. By Wayne King Special to The New York Times. We've received your submission. 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. If were going to die, were going to die trying to get out of here, she remembered Ray and Marshall saying. The company reported gross sales of $1.5 million last year, and the young Mr. Woods is reported to hold stock in the company. His mother took a lot of home movies of us.. Millions of aggressive ants invade Texas and blind animals by spewing acid in their faces, Neighbour 'sat on dying dad and lit "triumphant" cigarette after stabbing him like an animal 27 times over parking row, Cops investigate death of woman, 26, who fell 100ft from Utah cliff while her husband called for help, Mystery of gym junkie mechanic who faked tripping up and dropped 20kg weight on pals HEAD fracturing his skull, Moment drivers are forced to jump out of path of truck - sparking huge 80-car I-81 Minersville pileup that left 6 dead, Shocking moment couple filmed romping in photo booth at shopping centre in TikTok video. On Friday, March 25, 2022, Woods read aloud an apology at his parole hearing. Frederick Newhall Woods IV, James Schoenfeld, and Richard Schoenfeld planned the Chowchilla kidnapping for over a year. The older brother, James, was generally described as less outgoing but not unfriendly. During the hearing, Woods provided an apology to the victims. While underground, Ray and one of the elder students were able to dig their way out of the truck. In 2012, Richard was granted parole and in 2015, James was granted the same, according to CNN. He cannot unilaterally reverse the parole decision, because Woods was not convicted of murder. He said he was afraid people would make fun of him., One other incident struck his former wife as unusual. ', The comments below have not been moderated, By 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. 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. But eight days later, Richard Schoenfeld turned himself in to the authorities, according to the San Francisco Gate. 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. I rescued him before he was a year old. One of the perpetrators, Frederick Newhall Woods, was approved for parole in March of 2022. So, where are they now? He's demonstrated the capacity to do this kind of a crimeto mastermind and carry out something like this. 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. The former wife, Mrs. Padgett, said in an interview in Georgia that during the time she lived with Mr. Woods at the estate, he kept a pistol in a small portable safe, along with personal and financial records and some cash. If he did a good job, he'd brag about it to his father, but when he lost his job as a salesman (at a paint store in Palo Alto) he didn't want to tell his father, or me.. In 1976, Frederick Newhall Woods IV and brothers James and Richard Schoenfeld kidnapped a. Then they were taken to the quarry in Livermore, California. 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. Woods (the father) expected too much of him and he couldn't live up to it, she said. Email us atexclusive@the-sun.comor call212 416 4552. Three years later, his brother followed suit. A van reportedly blocked the road ahead of the bus, with three armed men jumping out and confronting the driver. REAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION And possess., See the article in its original context from. She said that she had begun dating Fred Woods in late 1974he said his mother put him up to calling meand that the relationship had been an intimate, if unsatisfactory one. 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 child of wealth and privilege, but one who was beset by selfimposed loneliness, by the fear that he did not measure up to his father's expectations and by flashes of anger that caused him more than once to threaten with a shotgun those he felt sought to trespass on what was his. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. 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. 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. 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. The three suspects were arrested two weeks after the kidnapping and were initially sentenced to life in prison without parole. Home. 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. He also had other guns she said. Ed Ray and the children escaped from the buried moving truck after 16 hours. 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 captives were held in a box truck and buried alive in a quarry located in Livermore. 'I remember children just screaming and crying,' Park recounted forCBS. As a youngster, little is known of Fred Woods. 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. Less than a week later, Frederick Woods was captured in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and James Schoenfeld was captured in Menlo Park, California. Additionally, several of the survivors have alleged they suffered from anxiety and nightmares as a result of the incident. 'I'm overwhelmed to the point that I had to leave work,' she said. 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. 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