Other photos show the couple at Disneyland where they went on their honeymoon, Mr. Woods gawky, gangling, white socked, his suit illfitting on a skinny frame, vestiges of acne still on his face. Ive had a character change since then. But when they woke up and turned on the news, they saw that the children had already escaped. 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. 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. You see them and you rationalize all yourproblems will be over in 24 hours. Alias 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. The company reported gross sales of $1.5 million last year, and the young Mr. Woods is reported to hold stock in the company. At this point, Frederick and James, having passed through the Bay Area, decided to split up and head into Canada separately. No. Ed Ray and the children escaped from the buried moving truck after 16 hours. 13:36 GMT 30 Mar 2022. 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. Anyone can read what you share. He was really adamant that I not see my former boyfriend. Theyre vulnerable. Woods was arrested weeks later after fleeing to Vancouver, British Columbia. His parents often . 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. "48 Hours: Live to Tell": Twenty-six school children abducted and buried alive in a truck trailer by three young men. Matthew Medrano, son of Jodi Heffington Medrano, sobbed several times as he recounted watching his mother change from being a loving, outgoing survivor until she experienced darker, bitter thoughts and depression before her early death. "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. 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. The kidnappers forced the children and Ray into vans, according to court records. 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. He was not even getting along with his parents and got few friends. He then can allow the decision to stand, or send it to a full board for further review. PLEASE NOTE ORDERS MAY TAKE LONGER TO SHIP AT THIS TIME. At the time of the hostages' captivity, Frederick, Richard, and James had previously tried to call in their ransom, but without success due to, ironically, the flooding calls from reporters, law enforcement agencies, and tipsters. Hyde, during Friday's hearing, said Woods has yet to fully make amends for his crime and 'is still a millionaire. While underground, Ray and one of the elder students were able to dig their way out of the truck. 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. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. 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. Richard and James's father worked as a podiatrist, while Frederick's father was a businessman who owned and managed a multitude of businesses, including a rock quarry located in Livermore, California. And they dont fight back. 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. Gavin Newsom has 30 days to review the decision and wither allow it to stand or refer it to the full Board of Parole Hearings for a review. Frederick Newhall Woods, 70, was one of three men who kidnapped 26 children and their bus driver in Chowchilla, a small city in Northern California's Madera County, more than 45 years ago. He cannot unilaterally reverse the parole decision, because Woods was not convicted of murder. By Woods also married three times while in prison. 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. 'I was 24 years old. The trial was then delayed as it was relayed from Chowchilla's Madera County to Alameda County. 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. One of the eldest children, Mitchell Marshall, bravely announced to the group that he wasn't going to die without putting up a fight. It would really surprise me if he had anything to do with this thing. So, where are they now? 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. 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. 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. James Schoenfeld once told parole officials that he envied friends who had 'his-and-hers Ferraris.' 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. When police finally caught up with the perpetrators, they were stunned. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Most of her short marriage with Mr. Woods was not happy, Mrs. Padgett said. After 16 hours, the victims were able to dig their way out and escapeas the kidnappers were asleep. Said business included buying a mansion, running a gold mine, and operating a Christmas tree farm. Yet here I am, a mess.. Frederick Newhall Woods, 70, was one of three men who kidnapped 26 children and their bus driver in Chowchilla, a small city in Northern California's Madera County, more than 45 years ago.. Now I fully understand the terror and trauma I caused. Frantic parents, school officials and police . He said he was afraid people would make fun of him., One other incident struck his former wife as unusual. Through his relationship with the family, Mr. Woods stood to inherit, according to one source, one thirtysixth of the fortune. 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. District Attorney Warren Haas said, It was a minor matter. Herself the product of a tangled and traumatic home situation, housed in a foster home, she said that Mr. Woods found her a person aloneand he took me in.. Woods is related to California's wealthy Newhall family The Newhall Land and Farming Co. holds enormous investments in commercial and recreational ventures, agriculture, cattle, oil. 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. James was the second one to get paroled in 2015. But man, you're in the weird people capital of the world, so I didn't think much.. 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. 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. I said we didn't come with any idea of trespassing and he said he had problems with trespassers. The older children among the group sang songs to offer comfort to the youngest and most frightened, opting for renditions of 'Boogie Nights', 'Love Will Keep Us Together' and 'If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands.'. Hes incarcerated at the California Mens Colony in San Luis Obispo. They hid the bus in the Berenda Slough, where a second van had been stashed. Many of the children continued to report symptoms of trauma for at least twenty-five years after the hijacking, including substance abuse and depression. It surprised me how much [money] he made, but it was a lot, the youth said. By Wayne King Special to The New York Times. After 17 unsuccessful attempts, a California man who kidnapped 26 children on a school bus in 1976 has been recommended for parole.. 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. 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. The authorities only discovered the businesses when a workers compensation lawsuit was filed against him. First, jammed phone lines meant that the kidnappers couldnt communicate their ransom demand. We drove, up in an old fire (truck and he got on us for tres passingyou know, in this old fire truck. of Mutual Victims 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. He did not, in thcse days, hunt, camp, fish, watch or participate in sports, although he enjoyed watching automobile races on television. Thankfully, all the children and their bus driver returned home 36 hours after they were abducted, safe but traumatized. Bill Young/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty ImagesThe interior of the moving truck in which Ed Ray and 26 children were buried alive. gas and land His friends say Woods never hurt for money. 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