The young woman, who asked not to be identified, lives with her parents in a welltodo section of a town near Portola Valley. Now I fully understand the terror and trauma I caused. 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. Once retired, William Newsom advocated for their release in 2011, noting that no one was seriously physically injured during the kidnapping. 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. He attended public school at Portola Valley's Woodside High School, the kind of school that people lie, cheat and steal to get into, said a neighbor, and it was there that he met James Schoenfeld, also charged with the kidnapping. I was smoking crack. An appeals court later overturned the sentences, ruling the men should have a chance for parole at some point in their time behind bars. As a teenager and a young married, he enjoyed a liberal stipend from his wealthy parents, but was penurious about purchasing such things as household goods. Frederick Newhall Woods IV and Richard and James Schoenfeld were soon . His father. 'I tell myself I should be able to shake this off and deal with it. I fully take responsibility for this heinous act." HORROR SLAYING While the frightened children and the bus driver were entombed for hours, the roof began to collapse from the weight of the dirt, according to court records. The group was loaded into the two vans and driven around for 11 hours, during which time the hungry, petrified children soiled themselves and clung onto each other in fear. While behind bars, he continues to run his businesses and grows richer by the day. The Newhall Land and Farming Company commands huge investments in real estate, agriculture, cattle, oil, and gas. I full take responsibility for this heinous act.. When Frederick Newhall Woods and two other gunmen hijacked the school bus in Chowchilla, California, it was considered the biggest kidnapping in US history. Woods and two other gunmen, Richard and James Schoenfeld, stopped bus driver Ed Ray as he was transporting the children back home from Dairyland Elementary School, which is about 150 miles southeast of San Francisco. The men planned to. His parents were very much into each other. Madera County prosecutors said Woods' disciplinary infractions in prison showed he had not yet learned to follow the rules. 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. Public DomainEd Ray and the children escaped from the buried moving truck after 16 hours. Frederick has been called the mastermind of the kidnapping, and like his accomplices, he received 27 life sentences without the possibility of parole. As a youngster, little is known of Fred Woods. 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. An appeals court, however, overturned the decision and the kidnappers were allowed the possibility of parole. Similarly, Larry Park remembers sitting in the darkness wondering 'how it was going to feel to die'. Natasha Anderson For Dailymail.Com 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. He just seemed the normal kind of guy, the former classmate said. He and two others hijack a school bus with 26 children and a driver in 1976 in Chauchilla. Three young men from extremely wealthy families had meticulously planned and carried out the kidnapping all so they could demand a $5 million ransom to pay off their debts. He'd buy a shirt he didn't need.. His younger brother, Richard Allen, 22 years old, is already in custody and is held in bail of $1 million on 27 counts of kidnapping of the schoolchildren and their bus driver. Yet here I am, a mess.. According to reports, hes directing at least three enterprises from behind bars, including Ambria Acres Christmas tree farm, the Little Bear Creek gold mine near Lake Tahoe, and another used car business. If he went anywhere and he got a brochure of something, he'd, keep that.. He said it was really beautiful, and you could really be out there solitary, I mean, alone. CBS News' David Begnaud reports Saturday, July 11 at 10/9c on CBS. If were going to die, were going to die trying to get out of here, she remembered Ray and Marshall saying. In July 1976, dozens of parents in rural Chowchilla, California, faced their worst nightmare when their children went missing. IN 1976 a group of men kidnapped a school bus full of 26 children and a driver, burying them alive. James was the second one to get paroled in 2015. 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.. Like many people with a IV at the end of. "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. District Attorney Warren Haas said, It was a minor matter. We were just incompatible, she said. All three were from wealthy San Francisco Bay Area families when they kidnapped 26 children and their bus driver near Chowchilla. 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. 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. Woods and the Schoenfelds planned their crime for more than a year and, in 1976, all pleaded guilty to kidnapping. Frantic parents, school officials and police . "I tell myself I should be able to shake this off and deal with it. Mr. 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. Woods' son, Fred Newhall Woods IV, 24, was missing. 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. The story soon began to unfold. They will mind.. Frederick was paroled in August 2022. of Mutual Victims 27 abducted Status Alive (all released) 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. After 17 unsuccessful attempts, a California man who kidnapped 26 children on a school bus in 1976 has been recommended for parole. 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. 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. Hes been married three times while behind bars. ', The comments below have not been moderated, By Woods expected too much of him and he couldn't live up to it, she said. We went [on dates] over there, to the estate, and most of the time it was chores, feeding horses, moving cars.. Pathology The middle name, Newhall, is one of prominence and wealth. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. We were friends, but we didn't hang around together. The older brother, James, was generally described as less outgoing but not unfriendly. However, it is their acknowledgment and ownership of crimes that have led them to be free men currently. It was not that he couldn't keep a job, as much as he didn't want to work, the former girl friend said. Frederick Newhall Woods IV, James Schoenfeld, and Richard Schoenfeld planned the Chowchilla kidnapping for over a year. 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. After knocking down another battery from the lid, Ray and the boys cleared out dirt and debris until they made a hole large enough for one of the smaller boys to fit through. 'I've never been in darkness like that before it was just pitch black like the dark was touching me like I was inhaling the darkness,' he said. 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. 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.. , updated At the time, they were given 27 life sentences without the possibility of parole. He just said she just left him, no discussion, no nothing.. 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. Frederick Newhall Woods hijacked a school bus full of 26 children at gunpoint, kidnapped them, and then attempted to murder . 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. His parents, Fred and Harriet. 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. Gender He wasn't interested in anything. 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. Victim Jennifer Brown Hyde, who was nine at the time, said she 'felt like an animal going to the slaughterhouse.' At the timehe wasn't really workinghe told me from time to time his father would lean on him. But he was lonely, and it was lonely living with him.. The captives were held in a box truck and buried alive in a quarry located in Livermore. Marshall also struggled with addiction for a while as a young adult, but he too is sober now and has a therapy dog named Blue. I fully take responsibility for this heinous act.. 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. 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. Despite this,Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno still argued against Woods' release. 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. 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. Then they were taken to the quarry in Livermore, California. 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. Like his accomplices, he received 27 life sentences without the possibility of parole. 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. 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. The guilty plea was controversial, with the prosecution arguing that bodily harm was indeed inflicted upon the hostages, but only psychologically. Now Woods, who was 24 when he committed the kidnapping, has moved one step closer to leaving prison. 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. "Now I fully understand the terror and trauma I caused. Where is Frederick Newhall Woods Now? Then you rationalize. To his young bride, Mr. Woods seemed inordinantly possessive, a collector, he hoarded things. Scattered across the aging estate were scores of automobiles, fire engines, buses, vans, a hundred or more. 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". 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. 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. On Friday, March 25, 2022, Woods read aloud an apology at his parole hearing. Like us on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/TheSunUSand follow us from our main Twitter account at@TheSunUS, 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, Frederick Newhall Woods has been approved for parole in 2022, Frederick Newhall Woods, along with James and Richard Schoenfeld, were arrested for the 1976 kidnapping. After 17 unsuccessful attempts, a California man who kidnapped 26 children on a school bus in 1976 has been recommended for parole.. 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. There was no quit in him.. 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. 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. Additionally, several of the survivors have alleged they suffered from anxiety and nightmares as a result of the incident. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. 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. 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.. His parole stirred great controversy from the hostages. The possibility of parole for Frederick, Richard, and James stirred controversy, with Ray and some of the hostages stating that they should be kept in prison, while other hostages, sheriff's officers, and the judge that presided over the case and passed down the sentence stated that they should be released from jail. 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