Man Convicted for Kidnapping 26 Children on School Bus and Burying Them Alive in 1976; Granted Parole

(Image: Screenshot/YouTube/ABC30 Action News)

A Chowchilla bus carrying 26 children and the driver was attacked by 3 armed abductors who buried them alive.

Two of the three condemned kidnappers have been released 46 years later.

And now comes the day that many have been waiting for for decades: the third co-conspirator has been granted parole.

On July 15, 1976, while a bus driver and 26 children were on their way, a van appeared out of nowhere and obstructed the road.

Frederick Newhall Woods IV, 24, and brothers James Schoenfeld, 24, and Richard Schoenfeld, 22, imprisoned them in a box truck in a rock quarry near Livermore.

The men intended to start demanding a ransom for the children and their driver’s release, but they managed to escape several hours later.

All 3 brothers were arrested and given life sentences.

Richard Schoenfeld was granted parole and released from prison in June 2012, at the age of 57. His older brother James was released three years later.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced on Wednesday that Fred Woods had been granted parole.

Prosecutors believed Woods was the mastermind behind the crime. Woods was granted parole after appearing 17 times before a parole board.

via

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