James Schoenfeld, Frederick Woods and Richard Schoenfeld arrive at the Madera County Courthouse for a pretrial hearing in 1976. Photo by Joe Kennedy, Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, UCLA Library. CC BY 4.0.
When authorities found the missing school bus outside Chowchilla, California, it was empty. Someone had hidden it in a drainage ditch under brush. The 26 children who had been riding home that afternoon were gone, and so was their driver, Ed Ray.
By the time the children made it back to town, they had spent about 16 hours inside a moving trailer buried in a gravel quarry. The people who helped them get out were already down there with them. City of Chowchilla case history
A Bus Ride Home on a July Afternoon
It was July 15, 1976. The children had been swimming at the fairgrounds, and Ray was driving them home. They ranged in age from five to fourteen. For the youngest passengers, the driver they knew from school would be the only familiar adult through the hours ahead. City of Chowchilla case history
Around four that afternoon, a white van blocked the road. An armed, masked man ordered Ray to open the bus door. The kidnappers took control of the bus, moved the children and their driver into two vans and concealed the bus before leaving. Finding it told investigators where the ride had stopped. It gave them no immediate way to follow the children. California Court of Appeal case record
The Trailer Beneath the Quarry
The vans eventually reached a quarry near Livermore, about 100 miles from Chowchilla. The captors had buried a furniture trailer at the site and prepared it to hold the group. The children and their driver went down through an opening in the roof. There were mattresses, water and some food inside. The kidnappers covered the opening after everyone was below. California Court of Appeal case record · City of Chowchilla
What had started as an ordinary ride home had become a wait underground. The children had no way to tell their families where they were. From inside the trailer, the opening they had come through was the most direct way back to the surface. Getting to it meant making use of what the kidnappers had left behind.
The Mattresses Became a Platform
Ray and two older children stacked mattresses so they could reach the roof. Ray and one of the boys worked at the covers over the opening until they could get through. Ray helped the smaller children climb out. Everyone who had gone into the trailer made it back above ground. California Court of Appeal case record
The group reached a watchman at the quarry. Before dawn on July 17, a bus with a police escort brought the children and Ray back to Chowchilla. The first bus had been found hidden and empty. This one carried all 27 people home. City of Chowchilla tribute to Ray · City case history
The Ransom Plan and the Court Case
The quarry belonged to the father of Frederick Woods. Authorities reported finding a draft of a ransom note asking for $5 million. Richard Schoenfeld surrendered on July 23. His brother James was arrested six days later, the same day authorities captured Woods in Vancouver, British Columbia. City of Chowchilla case history
In 1977, all three pleaded guilty to 27 counts of kidnapping for ransom. They received life sentences. A California appeals court later upheld the life terms while removing the findings that had barred parole on three counts. Richard was released in 2012 and James in 2015. Woods was granted parole in 2022. California Court of Appeal decision · Associated Press parole coverage
What Stayed With Chowchilla
A follow-up study examined 25 of the children who had been abducted, along with one child who had narrowly missed the kidnapping. Four years after the crime, the researcher found lingering effects in every child studied. Some had recurring nightmares or fears connected to what had happened. The bus ride home was a moment of relief for the families. For the children, recovery could take years. Lenore Terr’s follow-up study
Ray went back to driving the same bus two months after the kidnapping, according to a tribute entered in the Congressional Record. He retired in 1988 after 40 years of service. In 2015, Chowchilla renamed its largest park in his honor. It was already a place where families gathered for picnics and children played sports. Today it carries the name of the driver who helped bring those children home. Congressional tribute to Ed Ray · City of Chowchilla park dedication
