Last of the Chowchilla Kidnappers Seeks Parole

By ALEXANDER NGUYEN (Patch Staff)

The last of the three young men from wealthy Bay Area families is seeking his freedom after nearly 40 years behind bars for kidnapping a busload of Chowchilla schoolchildren in 1976 and buried them in a quarry in Livermore for ransom.

Frederick Newhall Woods, 64, along with friends James and Richard Schoenfeld were convicted in the kidnapping in 1977.

Woods is now the only one behind bars. Richard Schoenfeld was released by the parole board in 2012 and James was pardoned by Gov. Jerry Brown in August.

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The friends were in their early to mid-20s when they ambushed a busload of schoolchildren from Dairyland Union School in Chowchilla, a small farm community about 85 miles west of Gilroy, on July 15, 1976, according to prosecutors.

The men left the bus camouflaged in a creek bed and drove the children and bus driver Ed Ray about 100 miles to the California Rock and Gravel Quarry in Livermore, a quarry owned by Woods’ father.

They then sealed their victims in a large van that had been buried in a cave at the quarry and fitted to keep the children and driver hostage, prosecutors said.

The kidnappers, all from wealthy families in the Peninsula communities of Atherton and Portola Valley, then demanded a $5 million ransom for the schoolchildren and Ray.

The hostages escaped from the buried van a little more than a day after they were first kidnapped when Ray and the two oldest children piled mattresses to the top of the van and forced their way out.

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• Chowchilla Kidnapper Who Buried Busload of Children in Tri-Valley Quarry in 1976 Granted Parole
• Supporters Rally For Chowchilla Kidnappers’ Release

The Schoenfeld brothers and Woods received life sentences after pleading guilty in Alameda County Superior Court in 1977 to 27 counts of kidnapping for ransom.

But an appellate court ruled in 1980 that they were eligible for parole, finding that the victims didn’t suffer any bodily harm.

Woods, who has spent the last 39 years behind bars, has a parole hearing set for Nov. 19.

Supporters of Woods’ release include a congresswoman and a retired state appellate judge, according to the Associated Press. They argue that he has paid his debt to society and should be released.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s has opposed parole for the Woods and the other two defendants and until recently Board of Parole Hearings had denied parole requests for the convicted kidnappers.

--Bay City News Service contributed to this report.