In 1976, three young men from wealthy Bay Area families—Frederick Woods, who had a trust fund over $100 million, and his friends James and Richard Schoenfeld—found themselves in desperate need of quick money. They came up with a chilling plan, deciding to kidnap children to demand a large ransom. “We needed multiple victims to get multiple millions,” they reasoned, thinking the state would pay to protect young lives.
Image(L-R): Frederick Woods, James Schoenfeld and Richard Schoenfeld, 1976
On July 15, 1976, 26 children from Dairyland Elementary School in Chowchilla, California, were on their way home when their school bus was stopped by these men, who wore makeshift masks. The men forced the children and their bus driver, Frank Edward “Ed” Ray, into a soundproof van. They drove to a quarry, leading the children into an underground bunker and sealing them inside with a heavy metal door, weighted down with 200-pound batteries.
Image: the entrance to the bunker
Image: Inside the Bunker
The kidnappers planned to call the authorities for a $5 million ransom (worth nearly $28 million today). But as they tried, the police department’s phone lines were jammed, so they decided to rest and call again later. By the time they awoke, their plan had completely fallen apart. The news was reporting that all the children and the driver had escaped. Inside the bunker, Ed Ray and the children had managed to push open the hatch and climb to freedom after 16 harrowing hours.
The three men were quickly caught and sent to prison, though they have all been paroled since. Frederick Woods’ trust fund was used to compensate the victims, and Ed Ray was honored as a hero. In 2015, Chowchilla renamed a park in his honor and established February 26 as “Edward Ray Day” in memory of his courage.
Image: Ray with some of the students