Additionally, several of the survivors have alleged they suffered from anxiety and nightmares as a result of the incident. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 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. And what was characteristic of him was that smile, sort of a smirk. The escape took place before the kidnappers had even been able to call in their ransom demands. On July 15, 1976, a group of 26 children attending summer classes at Dairyland Elementary School were returning from a trip to a local swimming pool when their bus, driven by Frank Edward Ray, was blocked on the road by three armed men and two white vans at 4.00pm. Frederick Newhall Woods IV and Richard and James Schoenfeld were soon behind bars for what had become known nationwide as the Chowchilla kidnapping. Richard was 22 at the time of the kidnapping. 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 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. They were eventually able to slide the metal cover and the batteries out of the way but then Marshall saw there was a wooden box placed atop the exit as well. 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. In 1976, Frederick Newhall Woods IV and brothers James and Richard Schoenfeld kidnapped a. Authorities issued an all-points bulletin for young Woods and his two friends, James Schoenfeld, 24 and his brother, Richard Schoenfeld, 22, sons of a wealthy podiatrist. Then you rationalize. Most of her short marriage with Mr. Woods was not happy, Mrs. Padgett said. He said, Oh, yeah, I've cracked down on a couple of trespassers with a shotgun. I thought, well, what's with this guy. In July 1976, dozens of parents in rural Chowchilla, California, faced their worst nightmare when their children went missing. The guilty plea was controversial, with the prosecution arguing that bodily harm was indeed inflicted upon the hostages, but only psychologically. 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. Twenty-six children and their bus. They all then staggered towards a rock quarry (which happened to encompass the area where they were buried), where they were found by two workers who, ironically, heard of them in the radio news. Said business included buying a mansion, running a gold mine, and operating a Christmas tree farm. Regarding their married life. 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 young woman, who asked not to be identified, lives with her parents in a welltodo section of a town near Portola Valley. At this point, the positions Frederick, Richard, and James took during the initial abduction are unknown. 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. 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. Incidentally, one of the judges on the 1980 panel that agreed to let the kidnappers be eligible for parole was William Newsom, who believed strongly in rehabilitating felons. But Woods and his attorney, Dominique Banos, emphasized that he had a discipline-free record since his last parole hearing in October 2019. The kidnappers made each of the children give their names and hand over a piece of clothing, and then climb down a ladder into the van, buried more than 12-feet below the ground. "I tell myself I should be able to shake this off and deal with it. 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. However, they found that there was a metal lid on top of the hole, which was heavy and immovable. Under immediate suspicion was Frederick Newhall Woods IV, the 24-year-old son of the quarry's millionaire owner. Woods (the father) expected too much of him and he couldn't live up to it, she said. It was discovered he was running a gold mining business and a car dealership from behind bars without telling the prison. The kidnapping, which was the subject of massive media attention when it happened, has resurfaced in popular culture in recent years through CBS and Fox television specials. 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. On July 15, 1976, three men captured a school bus in Chowchilla, California, kidnapping 26 children aged five to 14 and their driver. Six days later, his older brother, James, and the third kidnapper, Frederick Newhall Woods, both 24, were captured -- Woods in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Schoenfeld in Menlo Park. We went [on dates] over there, to the estate, and most of the time it was chores, feeding horses, moving cars.. Ahead of the 48 Hours episode about this infamous Chowchilla Kidnapping, heres what you need to know about where the kidnappers are today. He was 57 at the time. ', 'I've had a character change since then,' he said at his hearing. 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. 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. 'The sides of the van were bowing in I knew that I was going to die. He'd mention the trips they'd taken to Baja, California. He'd buy a shirt he didn't need.. From now on, I'll introduce myself as Frederick Woods.. Mr. We were just incompatible, she said. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. However, Newhall has kept applying for parole 17 times, and his most recent rejection came in October 2019. However, his parents were always together and into each other. The older brother, James, was generally described as less outgoing but not unfriendly. California law forbids the release of school records, but Mr. Woods reportedly did not do well in school, did not care for it. He said that he had called on Mr. Woods at the estate several months ago to inquire about the fire engines, one or more of which the firemen and some friends hoped to buy and restore for use by their club. 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.. He cannot unilaterally reverse the parole decision, because Woods was not convicted of murder. Jodi Heffington-Medrano, who was 10 at the time of the kidnapping, told the Associated Press, They basically stole our whole youth. 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. 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. Woods had also inherited a trust fund reportedly worth $100 million, as he came from two very wealthy families, and he bought a mansion a short distance away from the prison. Ray and some of the older boys stacked in a pile a total of fourteen mattresses that were in the van, reaching the hole where they all managed to go through when forced inside. of Mutual Victims 27 abducted Status Alive (all released) A Puzzling Portrait of Key Coast Kidnapping Suspect, https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/05/archives/a-puzzling-portrait-of-key-coast-kidnapping-suspect.html. Criminal Minds Wiki is a FANDOM TV Community. It is possible that the money has helped finance some of Woods prison activities. He told me once he was ashamed of her, she said. District Attorney Warren Haas said, It was a minor matter. And they dont fight back. Like his accomplices, he received 27 life sentences without the possibility of parole. He just seemed the normal kind of guy, the former classmate said. 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. Larry Park, who was just six years old at the time of the Chowchilla kidnapping, later told 48 Hours, Where their eyes were it almost looked hollow. He also had other guns she said. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Eventually, they moved the cover and Marshall scrambled into a box the kidnappers had put on top. He just said he preferred not to be around children, she said. One of the eldest children, Mitchell Marshall, bravely announced to the group that he wasn't going to die without putting up a fight. (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. 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. And Im remembering the last time that I saw her and wishing I could have told her goodbye.. They had been in the hole for nearly 16 hours, completely terrified. By Wayne King Special to The New York Times. Officials said they . Fearing of embarrassment from asking their parents for financial support, they agreed to get themselves some money. On August 7, 2015, James was paroled. 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. We would not have lived much longer. A grammar school classmate said that he was a little different, shy, awkwardpeople made fun of him.. Anyone can read what you share. Woods and the Schoenfelds wanted a $5m ransom for the safe return of the children to their families, but their plan quickly went awry. Now I fully understand the terror and trauma I caused. 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. In contrast to the comments of others, the mechanic said he found Fred Woods easy enough to get along with.. ony, but the charges were later reduced to petty theft and finally to auto tampering, a misdemeanor. Furthermore, the brothers had run into severe debt and thus came on board for the kidnapping, as they needed the ransom money. If the decision from the hearing panel stands, it will become finalized 120 days after the hearing. 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. When Frederick Newhall Woods and two other gunmen hijacked the school bus in Chowchilla, California, it was considered the biggest kidnapping in US history. There were two bright spotstwo trips to Baja California, she said, one with her husbanil's parents. On the evening of July 17, Frederick managed to enter Canada and settled himself in a Vancouver hotel. He came home and told me about it and was all excited. 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. 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. As a youngster, little is known of Fred Woods. Birth Date Woods became eligible for parole in 1982 but was previously denied release 17 times. After discovering that they could reach the top of the truck if they stacked the mattresses, Ray and Marshall worked for hours trying to wedge a piece of wood into the opening in the roof. On the morning of July 17, they learned that their hostages had escaped the buried van. On November 28, 2012, Frederick was denied parole for the thirteenth time. 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. Frederick Newhall Woods hijacked a school bus full of 26 children at gunpoint, kidnapped them, and then attempted to murder . 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. His parole stirred great controversy from the hostages. 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. Frederick and James panicked and fled northward in a car, while Richard decided to return home to confess to committing the mass abduction to his parents. Richard Schoenfeld was paroled in 2015; James was paroled three years later. Three years later, his brother followed suit. A relative said that the family can trace its ancestry to six Mayflower pilgrims, including John Alden and William Bradford, the Governor of Plymouth. 'I was 24 years old. In July 1976, dozens of parents in rural Chowchilla, California, faced their worst nightmare when their children went missing. 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. Fridays hearing was Woods 18th attempt for parole. He has married three times during the period of his incarceration, and he has also purchased a mansion nearby. Though he has been recommended for parole, Gov Gavin Newsom will have the opportunity to refer the case to the full parole board for their review if he so chooses. And possess., See the article in its original context from. The bravura performance was another illfitting piece in the puzzling portrait of a wealthy, privileged young man who, evidence indicates, is the central figure in a crime that is bizarre even by Catifornia standards. And now, more than 40 years later, all three will soon be walking free once again. Now I fully understand the terror and trauma I caused. Fighting heat exhaustion, they poured water over their heads and kept pushing until they were able to knock the batteries off of the top of the hatch. Now Frederick Newhall Woods IV, the "mastermind" of the trio, could be paroled next month and walk out of state prison as a multimillionaire. But when they woke up and turned on the news, they saw that the children had already escaped. Hyde, during Friday's hearing, said Woods has yet to fully make amends for his crime and 'is still a millionaire. 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