‘ANGRY, FRUSTRATED AND DISTURBED’

Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping Mastermind Gets Paroled After 44 Years in Prison

Frederick Woods abducted a busload of schoolchildren and their driver, burying them in a rock quarry—only for them to dig themselves out—in 1976.

After 17 previous rejections, the last of the Chowchilla bus kidnappers was granted release by a California parole board on Tuesday. Frederick Woods, now 70, was just 24 years old when he and his accomplices, brothers James and Richard Schoenfeld, abducted a busload of schoolchildren and their driver at gunpoint in 1976. They drove their captives to a rock quarry, where they were ordered to climb down into a buried moving trailer. The children, aged 5 to 14, and driver Ed Ray were able to free themselves 16 hours later by stacking mattresses to the surface. Richard’s release was ordered in 2012; James’ in 2015. But Woods “continued to engage in financial-related misconduct in prison,” according to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, allegedly running several businesses, including a Christmas tree farm, behind bars through a contraband cell phone. “I’m angry, frustrated and disturbed because justice has been mocked in Madera County,” said Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno in a Wednesday statement, adding that Woods’ release “says a lot about the state of our society and the state of California right now.”