Like his accomplices, he received 27 life sentences without the possibility of parole. On November 28, 2012, Frederick was denied parole for the thirteenth time. One of the three drove the bus, another watched Ray and the children, and the third followed behind in their van. CBS News' David Begnaud reports Saturday, July 11 at 10/9c on 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. 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. After nearly 40 years, James gained his freedom in April at the age of 63, after twenty parole hearings. 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. 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.. No. I was 24 years old. About Us; Staff; Camps; Scuba. One of the eldest children, Mitchell Marshall, bravely announced to the group that he wasn't going to die without putting up a fight. His mother took a lot of home movies of us.. Our childhood was completely turned upside down., Many of the children went on to suffer from depression and substance abuse. We enjoyed ourselves, she said. 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. Ray, the driver, and the children were herded into two vans and driven around for 11 hours. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Frederick Newhall Woods III, a member of one of California's wealthiest and most prominent families, rented the San Jose warehouse where the two vans were found. After 16 hours, the victims were able to dig their way out and escapeas the kidnappers were asleep. He is the son of Fred Nickerson Woods 3d, who owns the California Rock and Gravel Company, based here, and the quarry in Livermore where the schoolchildren and their driver, Franklin Edward Ray,. He said, they the blacksreally tore the place up. He'd mention the trips they'd taken to Baja, California. 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. Frederick Newhall Woods IV, James Schoenfeld, and Richard Schoenfeld planned the Chowchilla kidnapping for over a year. Madera County prosecutors said Woods' disciplinary infractions in prison showed he had not yet learned to follow the rules. Now I fully understand the terror and trauma I caused. He did not, in thcse days, hunt, camp, fish, watch or participate in sports, although he enjoyed watching automobile races on television. 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. 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. Woods said during an earlier parole hearing that he just 'got greedy.'. I said to myself as soon as the bus stopped: 'What have I got myself into?' The three suspects were arrested two weeks after the kidnapping and were initially sentenced to life in prison without parole. 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. Meanwhile, in the buried van, after spending about twelve hours inside, the hostages decided to try and make an escape after feelings of claustrophobia began to take reign. If no action is taken, Woods parole would be granted within 120 days from Fridays hearing. Then you rationalize. James Schoenfeld once told parole officials that he envied friends who had 'his-and-hers Ferraris.' 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. SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 4 When 24yearold Fred Woods, the last to be arrested of the three young men charged with the kidnapping and entombment of 26 schoolchildren, was taken into custody in Canada a week ago, he was dressed, as a Canadian official put it, like an amateur cowboyhighheeled boots, faded brown denim suit and a rancher's hat saucily curled over long brown sideburns. In the years after the kidnappings, the children continued to be affected by the trauma. The young woman, who asked not to be identified, lives with her parents in a welltodo section of a town near Portola Valley. of Mutual Victims 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. Darla Neal, who was 10 at the time of the hijacking, told CNN in 2015 her 'extreme anxiety' made it impossible to live normally. And what was characteristic of him was that smile, sort of a smirk. Frederick Newhall Woods is ready to go free - Wikipedia Frederick Newhall Woods was 24 years old when he committed the crime. 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. It was back in July 1976, when three young men from. 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. 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. "I was 24 years old," he said, per Fox News. As per Woods's wife, he was a loner. California law forbids the release of school records, but Mr. Woods reportedly did not do well in school, did not care for it. Mr. Woods also met Songel Nichols, who was to become his wife. The young man constantly sought to please his father, she said, but always felt inadequate. Woods' son, Fred Newhall Woods IV, 24, was missing. of Mutual Victims 27 abducted Status Alive (all released) Once retired, William Newsom advocated for their release in 2011, noting that no one was seriously physically injured during the kidnapping. Email us atexclusive@the-sun.comor call212 416 4552. 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. Woods also married three times while in prison. Gender 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 buried. The older brother, James, was generally described as less outgoing but not unfriendly. 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. When Frederick Newhall Woods and two other gunmen hijacked the school bus in Chowchilla, California, it was considered the biggest kidnapping in US history. Chowchilla bus kidnapper Fred Woods, 70, has been approved for parole - CNN. During the same interview, Brown saidshe 'felt like an animal going to the slaughterhouse'. Ed Ray and Michael Marshall had saved them all. Mrs. Woods had her friends by the cottage on the big estate where they lived; her new husband had none. On July 15, 1976, three men captured a school bus in Chowchilla, California, kidnapping 26 children aged five to 14 and their driver. According to James, they initially weren't serious about actually committing such a crime, but as time passed by, they began to consider it. If he went anywhere and he got a brochure of something, he'd, keep that.. Frederick Woods was among three men convicted of hijacking a school bus full of California children for an attempted $5 million ransom in 1976. . Powered by WordPress.com VIP. The kidnappers forced the children and Ray into vans, according to court records. Then they were taken to the quarry in Livermore, California. The 100-acre Portola Valley estate of the quarry owner, Frederick Nickerson Woods, was searched. (1) Frederick Newhall Woods IV, son of the quarry owner, 25 years old, 6 foot, 145 pounds, brown hair and blue eyes; (2) James Schoenfeld, son of a podiatrist in Atherton, 25 years old, 6 foot, 170 pounds, red hair and blue eyes; (3) James' brother Richard Schoenfeld, 22 years old, 5 foot 11 inches, 150 pounds, blonde hair and blue eyes. Frederick Newhall Woods was 24 years old at the time of the 1976 Chowchilla school bus kidnapping. 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. 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. Woods was arrested weeks later after fleeing to Vancouver, British Columbia. 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. They will mind.. The kidnappers then drove the two vans around for 11 hours, finally stopping at a quarry 100 miles away in the town of Livermore. The guilty plea was controversial, with the prosecution arguing that bodily harm was indeed inflicted upon the hostages, but only psychologically. Anyone can read what you share. I think he was not hostileyou really couldn't put it as hostile, the youth said. 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. But eight days later, Richard Schoenfeld turned himself in to the authorities, according to the San Francisco Gate. 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. At trial, all three men pleaded guilty to kidnapping for ransom and robbery, and they were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Hyde was just nine years old at the time of the kidnapping, but she still recalls the panic that set in at that moment. 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. At this point, the positions Frederick, Richard, and James took during the initial abduction are unknown. The shotgun thing concerns accounts that Mr. Woods on one or two occasions fired over the heads of teenagers who attempted to enter the long drive up the hill at 800 Los Tancos Road where the Woods estate is situated. Frederick, Richard, and James targeted a school bus full of children, all aged 5 to 14, whom they got to stop by pretending that their van broke down in the middle of the road. You see them and you rationalize all yourproblems will be over in 24 hours. Said business included buying a mansion, running a gold mine, and operating a Christmas tree farm. By I believe you have served enough time for the crime you committed, said Larry Park. One of them took over the wheel while the other held Ray at gunpoint. After the children managed to free themselves, the kidnappers fled. He collected anything and everything, said his former wife, who has remarried and now lives in a mobile home park near Covington, Ga., foreign money, anything antique, a lot of antique furniture, cars and a lot of model cars. TruTV states that they were in their early- to mid-20s at the time of the mass abduction, which would place their approximate time of birth at around that decade, Real Criminals Referenced in Season Eight, Wikipedia's article on the mass abduction, TruTV Crime Library articles on the mass abduction, Section on the Chowchilla city website that describes the mass abduction. 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. Richard Schoenfeld was paroled in 2015; James was paroled three years later. His trust fund helped settle the civil lawsuit brought by the kidnapping victims. 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. 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. His father. 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. Frederick Newhall Woods IV, left, is escorted . By Wayne King Special to The New York Times. During the hearing, Woods provided an apology to the victims. ', 'He could have done much more,' she said. 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. He has married three times during the period of his incarceration, and he has also purchased a mansion nearby. Despite the significant wealth of their families, James Schoenfeld told CBS that he and Woods were in serious debt at the time of the kidnapping and that the crime was financially motivated. 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.. 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. Gained his freedom in April at the time of the three suspects were two! This point, the driver, and he has married three Times during period... 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