” The Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping ” From Bizarre Buffet Podcast
The 1976 Chowchilla kidnapping was the abduction of a school bus driver and 26 children, ages 5 to 14, in Chowchilla, California, on July 15, 1976. The three kidnappers held their captives in a box truck buried in a quarry in Livermore, California, intending to demand a ransom for their return.
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” The Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping ” I Episode Credits
Hosted By Mark Tauriello , Jen Wilson , & Marc Bluestein .
Original Episode Art By Mark Tauriello
Original Episode Story Concept By Jen Wilson
Episode Production By Marc Bluestein
” The Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping ” I Show Notes
Question
What was your favorite field trip as a kid ?
This story was recommended by one of our avid listeners, Andrew Spiker.
The Chowchilla Kidnapping I Episode Intro
- Son of Sam began his killing spree.
- The $2.00 Bill was issued. America was 200 years old and was celebrating the bicentennial !
- Apple Computer Company was established.
- “Rocky” was released in theatres.
- Jimmy Carter is yet again our president.
- The VHS was introduced.
Let’s Go On A Field Trip !
- Around 4pm on Thursday July 15, 1976, school bus driver Frank Ed Ray was driving 26 students from Dairyland Elementary School between the ages of 5 to 14 back from a summer field trip to the Chowchilla fairgrounds swimming pool in Chowchilla, California.
- All of a sudden, a van was blocking the road ahead of the bus.
- Ray stopped the bus and was confronted by 3 men armed men with nylon stockings on their faces!
Who Were The Men ?
- Frederick Newhall Woods, 24
- James Shoenfeld, 24
- Richard Shoenfeld,22
- One of the men held a gun to Frank, the other drove the bus, and the third followed behind in the van.
Where Did They Go?
- The bus was driven to the Bernarda Slough, a shallow branch of the Chowchilla River where the second van was parked.
- Both vans’ back windows were painted black, and the interiors were forced with paneling.
- Frank and the children were forced out of the bus and into the back of both vans.
- They were driven around for 11 hours until they were taken to a quarry which is a deep pit in Livermore California.
- The next morning, Frank and the kids were forced out of the vans and forced to climb down a ladder into a buried moving truck which was in the quarry.
- The truck was stocked with some food, water, and a few mattresses.
What Happened Next ? I Conclusion
- Ray and the rest of the children later stacked the mattresses so that they could reach the opening from the top which had been covered with a heavy sheet of metal and weighed down with two 100 lb (45 kg) industrial batteries. After hours of effort, Ray and the oldest boy, 14-year-old Michael Marshall, wedged the lid open with a piece of wood and moved the batteries; they then dug away the remainder of the debris blocking the entrance. Sixteen hours after they had entered the truck, the group emerged and walked to the quarry’s guard shack, near the Shadow Cliffs East Bay Regional Park.
