But there were no children, and that set the stage in part for the young couple's breakup. They focused their investigation into the Chowchilla kidnapping on Frederick Newhall Woods IV the quarry owners son. At this point, the positions Frederick, Richard, and James took during the initial abduction are unknown. Like his accomplices, he received 27 life sentences without the possibility of parole. We needed multiple victims to get multiple millions, and we picked children because children are precious, Schoenfeld said. However, Newhall has kept applying for parole 17 times, and his most recent rejection came in October 2019. 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. 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.. The older brother, James, was generally described as less outgoing but not unfriendly. He also had other guns she said. I was smoking crack. I just remember the kids got a hold of me and were holding onto me. California law forbids the release of school records, but Mr. Woods reportedly did not do well in school, did not care for it. Mr. 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. Woods's parole has also previously been backed by some prominent supporters, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo of Palo Alto in 2015. He dug until he was exhausted and then he kept on digging. They had panic attacks and nightmares about kidnapping and death. 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. We were just incompatible, she said. Pathology 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. 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. 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. The company reported gross sales of $1.5 million last year, and the young Mr. Woods is reported to hold stock in the company. Wedging a wooden beam through a small gap between the hole and the metal lid, they were able to move the lid, allowing Ray to reach up and pull down a heavy industrial battery that was used to weigh down the lid. The 100-acre Portola Valley estate of the quarry owner, Frederick Nickerson Woods, was searched. 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. Alias I fully take responsibility for this heinous act." HORROR SLAYING 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. Fred (Frederick)Rick (Richard)Jim (James) By the time I was 21, I was using meth. Inside the prison bunker, Ray and Marshall worked quickly to find a way out. By Wayne King Special to The New York Times. 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 fans had stopped working, and the roof of the moving truck was beginning to cave in. CBS reported that in previous parole hearings he was evasive, unable or unwilling to follow prison rules and fail[ed] to acknowledge the severity of his crime. On the early hours of July 16, news of Ray and the children's disappearances became nationwide, and reporters flocked to Chowchilla to cover the story. His father. 'I was 24 years old. 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. Two survivors, Larry Park and Rebecca Reynolds Dailey, spoke Friday in favor of Woods's parole. Mr. Meet Rafael Prez, The Crooked LAPD Officer Who Stole Pounds Of Cocaine And Inspired 'Training Day', 7 Creepy Cold Cases Where The Killer And Victim Still Remain Unknown, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, Bill Young/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images. Now I fully understand the terror and trauma I caused. Currently, Frederick is 68 years old. No record of such an incident could be found in the records of appropriate police or medical officials, and a check of newspapers disclosed nothing involving Mr. Woods. Finally, on July 25, 1977, the three pleaded guilty to 27 counts of kidnapping for ransom without inflicting injury. They pleaded guilty, were fined $125 each and placed on a year's probation. We drove, up in an old fire (truck and he got on us for tres passingyou know, in this old fire truck. And what was characteristic of him was that smile, sort of a smirk. At the same time he lavished large sums on things he felt were exclusively his own, principally old automobiles and trucks, from vintage to junkers. Ed Ray and the children escaped from the buried moving truck after 16 hours. Once retired, William Newsom advocated for their release in 2011, noting that no one was seriously physically injured during the kidnapping. Mrs. Woods had her friends by the cottage on the big estate where they lived; her new husband had none. XD;Frederick Newhall Woods accused of kidnapping and robbery in the abduction of 26 Chowchilla area youngsters and their bus driver. I believe you have served enough time for the crime you committed, said Larry Park. 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. 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. Laundrie family wants civil suit over Gabby Petito's 'unfo King Charles to evict Harry and Meghan from Frogmore Cottage and give to Andrew, 'Elvis' star Austin Butler was rushed to ER after 'body just started shutting down', Drug-resistant stomach bug spreading across US: 'Serious public health alert', Meghan Markle, Prince Harry have first night out since bombshell Spare released, Jordyn Woods supports Selena Gomez amid singers feud with Kylie Jenner, Hailey Bieber, RHONJ recap: Jennifer Aydin mocks Rachel Fudas terrible nose job, Heroic bus driver saves student from passing car, Savannah Guthrie Rushed Out Of Today After Testing Positive For COVID-19 During Live Broadcast, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry have first night out since bombshell 'Spare' released. Other family photographs, she said, seemed to reflect what she felt was some isolation. At a parole hearing held online last week due to Covid-19 safety precautions that featured testimony from multiple survivors, Woods said that he is a changed man. He had obtained the job through an employment agency after the marriage, she said, and after losing it went to work in his father's stone quarry. Ahead of the 48 Hours episode about this infamous Chowchilla Kidnapping, heres what you need to know about where the kidnappers are today. In October 2019, Woods was denied parole for the 17th time. Public DomainFrederick Newhall Woods IV, James Schoenfeld, and Richard Schoenfeld planned the Chowchilla kidnapping for over a year. His father was expecting a lot from Woods which all the fathers in the world somehow expect from their children. Bill Young/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty ImagesThe interior of the moving truck in which Ed Ray and 26 children were buried alive. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. 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. 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. 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. "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. 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. When Frederick Newhall Woods and two other gunmen hijacked. 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. The young woman, who asked not to be identified, lives with her parents in a welltodo section of a town near Portola Valley. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. . Frederick Newhall Woods was found suitable for parole at a hearing Friday at California Men's Colony, a state prison in San Luis Obispo County. Thanks for contacting us. Despite this,Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno still argued against Woods' release. Frederick Newhall Woods was born 24 years ago, the son of Harriet Wright and Frederick Nickerson Woods 3d. 'This is an individual who's demonstrated how dangerous he is,' she said after Friday's decision. It surprised me how much [money] he made, but it was a lot, the youth said. If the decision from the hearing panel stands, it will become finalized 120 days after the hearing. 01:30 GMT 30 Mar 2022 Survivor Larry Park told CBS News that Ray and Mike Marshall, one of the oldest students among the kidnapping victims, stacked the mattresses left in the trailer for them high up until they were right underneath the manhole cover at the top. Gender 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. He was not even getting along with his parents and got few friends. "I was 24 years old," he said, per Fox News. 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. 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. 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. I was doing acid. He decided to dig beneath it. ", Woods added: "I've had empathy for the victims which I didn't have then.". ', The comments below have not been moderated, By The escape took place before the kidnappers had even been able to call in their ransom demands. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Of course, we all sympathize with the victims who suffered. Woods (the father) expected too much of him and he couldn't live up to it, she said. ', She added:'He's not someone who should be released. 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. She is now getting a second divorce. The kidnapping was intended . Mrs. Padgett said she had lived with Fred Woods for some time before she learned that he had a younger sister, Wendy, who was retarded and kept in an institution. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. They kept their captives by stuffing them into a van buried under a pile of dirt. Three years later, his brother followed suit. They buried the children, who were between the ages of 5 to 14, along with their bus driver in a ventilated underground bunker east of San Francisco. The kidnappers forced the children and Ray into vans, according to court records. In contrast to the comments of others, the mechanic said he found Fred Woods easy enough to get along with.. 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. Scuba Certification; Private Scuba Lessons; Scuba Refresher for Certified Divers; Try Scuba Diving; Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox) On July 15, 1976, Frederick, Richard, and James put their scheme into motion. Frederick Woods was among three men convicted of hijacking a school bus full of California children for an attempted $5 million ransom in 1976. . Mr. Woods also met Songel Nichols, who was to become his wife. The state would be willing to pay ransom for them. ony, but the charges were later reduced to petty theft and finally to auto tampering, a misdemeanor. Now Frederick Newhall Woods IV, the "mastermind" of the trio, could be paroled next month and walk out of state prison as a multimillionaire. 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. 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. 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. Additionally, several of the survivors have alleged they suffered from anxiety and nightmares as a result of the incident. He said it was really beautiful, and you could really be out there solitary, I mean, alone. Yet here I am, a mess.". If no action is taken, Woods parole would be granted within 120 days from Fridays hearing. He was bitter about it, about the way his marriage had broken up, said a 20yearold woman who was Fred Woods's girlfriend until about 10 months ago, when she broke off her relationship with him. You see them and you rationalize all yourproblems will be over in 24 hours. 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. Ive had a character change since then. 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. 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. Now I fully understand the terror and trauma I caused. There was no quit in him, said Park of Marshall, adding that eventually Marshall broke the surface and brave person that he is, crawled out of the hole first.. July 15-17, 1976: The school bus hijacking. 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. He told me once he was ashamed of her, she said. Originally the three were charged with joy riding, a fel. 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. 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Young/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty ImagesThe interior of the moving truck in which ed and! In favor of Woods 's parole has also previously been backed by some prominent,! Children aged between 5 and 14 were kidnapped by three armed men school bus driver and 26 children aged 5!, Wealthy Kidnap Suspect, described as a subscriber, you have served enough time for the 17th.! Could n't live up to it, she said, per Fox News Francisco Chronicle via ImagesThe... Guilty to 27 counts of kidnapping and death the big estate where they ;... The 1976 Chowchilla kidnapping is brought back to memory in CBS 48 hours 125 each and placed on a.... All yourproblems will be over in 24 hours this infamous Chowchilla kidnapping brought! And a Loser, https: //www.nytimes.com/1976/07/26/archives/woods-wealthy-kidnap-suspect-described-as-a-loner-and-a-loser.html told me once he was ashamed of her, she said and...
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