Chowchilla Kidnapper vs. Parole Board

I awoke this morning, a Leap Day post for my writer’s blog twirling in my head. Then I read that Richard Schoenfeld, the youngest of the Chowchilla kidnappers must be paroled. Leap Day thoughts took thirty-six giant steps backwards to the 1976 summer kidnapping of bus driver Ed Ray and the school children. I can’t imagine their fear as they were transported from the quiet atmosphere of their hometown—and mine—to a rock quarry in Livermore, now my hometown.

The Parole Board made a mistake adding to his sentence, says Justice Robert Dondero writing for the First Court of Appeals in San Francisco. We all make mistakes, but this is a big one. They should have released him in 2008. Not that I wanted him paroled then or now. A life-sentence would have been my choice. But, rules are rules. Since the Board stepped over the line, those twenty-six children, now adults, who escaped without physical harm, will face another round of emotional trauma upon his release.

When Schoenfeld files—and wins—a lawsuit for emotional distress while receiving an additional four years of free medical and educational benefits during this unlawful extension, we will all become his victims.


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Chowchilla schoolbus kidnap 35th anniversary 1976-2011

Two weeks after twenty-six summer school children and their bus driver from my hometown of Chowchilla, California had celebrated Independence day, they lost that freedom. The terrifying July 15, 1976 event was not a random act, but a premeditated crime. Three affluent young men, James "Jim" Schoenfeld, Richard Schoenfeld and  Fred Woods had planned the kidnapping for eighteen months. They executed it when they drove their captives to Livermore after wandering for hours to conceal the 100-mile journey to imprisonment in a moving van in a rock quarry. Like a heavy San Joaquin valley fog that refuses to allow sunshine, this event hovers over the survivors.  A few made their way toward a measure of normalcy. For others, the trauma became an impenetrable barrier that altered their destinies. Thirty-five years after that indelible day, I applaud those who’ve soared above the struggles. I offer prayers for those whose happily-ever-after dreams have turned to endless nightmares.

Chowchilla children 1976 bus kidnappers seek parole

A bus full of summer school children from Dairyland, near Chowchilla, California were abducted in 1976 by three men who planned the detailed hijack kidnap for eighteen months. They drove their captives to Livermore, first wandering for hours, then sealed them in a moving van buried in a cave at a rock quarry. All three men were sentenced to life in prison. Today, more than thirty years later, they want to be set free.

News archives confirm that Richard (Rick) Schoenfeld and his brother James (Jim) were sons of a wealthy Atherton podiatrist. The third abductor, Fred Woods, was from a wealthy Woodside family. These three men, all in their twenties, planned the imprisonment of twenty-six innocent children and an adult bus driver for the purpose of demanding five million dollars ransom for safe exchange. Case files mention the bravery of bus driver Ed Ray who helped students escape. 


Would there have been fatalities without that escape? We don’t know. We do know that July 15, 1976 is indelibly stamped in the minds of these children, their parents, guardians and other relatives, school mates and staff, and the community. The sentencing judge and Dale Fore, former chief investigator, say these prisoners should be released after serving more than thirty years of a life-time sentence. Thirty years confinement is a long time, but is it long enough to compensate for emotional damage to the children? Yes, say the imprisoned men and supporters. For the children and their families, what do they say?

No! No! No! A thousand times NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Related articles:


http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_17463289?source=rss


http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/02/23/notorious-76-chowchilla-kidnappers-up-for-parole/


http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/02/23/judge-lawyers-urge-parole-in-chowchilla-school-bus-kidnap/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110224/ap_on_re_us/us_chowchilla_busnapping_parole_2

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/outlaws/chowchilla_kidnap/9.html