The Largest Mass Kidnapping In History

On July 15, 1976, three men hijacked a school bus, kidnapped the driver along with 26 children and then buried them all alive. The bus carrying the youngsters and driver from the summer school session at Darryland Unified School was found empty. But what possible use could there be an abducting 26 innocent children? I guess now all we can do is to join with the families and loved ones of those involved and pray, pray hard for their safety company. Without a doubt, this is going to be one of the most bizarre kidnapping cases that you have ever heard. And it's actually the largest case of mass kidnapping in United States history. My name is Brianna and I'm Haul on the case. Imagine setting your makeup then forgetting it's even theirs. Meet new grippy setting mist from Mabelie, New York. Gel to mist technology locks in your look for up to 24 hours with flexible all day comfy grip. No tightness, no stickiness, no residue, just plump, dewy hydrated skin that still feels like your skin. Try new grippy setting mist from Mabelie, New York. Maybe it's Mabelie. It was 1976 in Chao Chila, California, an extremely small rural town populated by a lot of farm animals and a tight-knit community of people whose families had known each other for generations. This is one of those towns where before something really bad happened, they used to say that nothing bad ever happened there. It was a place where people really trusted each other. July 15th was a very hot day in California and it also just so happened to be the very last day of summer school for the students at dairy land elementary. It was a really fun day for the kids, they actually took them swimming to celebrate the end of summer school and then that afternoon all the kids boarded the school bus that was driven by Ed Ray. Ed Ray was a beloved member of the community, a local farmer that drove the school bus for years, everyone in town knew and loved Ed Ray. On the school bus that afternoon, driving home from their last day of summer school, the kids were laughing and joking with their friends excited for the start of summer vacation. They were just normal kids, being normal kids, innocent, no idea what was coming next. The school bus had already made a few stops already letting a few kids off of the bus when Ed Ray took a turn onto an unpaved road where he saw a white van was parked in the middle of the road blocking his path. Ed pulled the school bus over ready to assist the driver of the van with some sort of car trouble. But that's when two men jumped out, both were wearing nylon stockings over their faces to distort their facial features and both of them were carrying guns. The men forced themselves onto the school bus, pointing guns at Ed and at the children and then forced Ed out of the driver's seat and into the back of the bus. Some of the children actually thought that this was a prank at first, maybe pulled by their bus driver Ed to celebrate the end of summer school. But that was until they saw their normally really goofy bus driver walk past them with a serious look on his face. The first two rows of children also were forced to stand up and move to the back of the bus and then one of the masked gunmen started driving the bus while the second pointed his gun at the children the entire time. And then a third man drove the white van behind the school bus. They only drove for a small amount of time, maybe ten or fifteen minutes until they arrived at the Burrenda slew, a drainage canal only nine minutes outside of Chauchilla, where they drove the school bus thick into the brush and bamboo until it was impossible to see it from the road. There, they had a second van, a green one, sitting there waiting. The men backed the white van to the back of the school bus and then forced the children on to the back of the van one by one. As a ten year old girl tried to climb into the van, one of the masked gunmen pointed his shotgun at her stomach and told her to wait. As another one of the men drove the white van off and then another one of the three men pulled the green van to the back of the school bus and then loaded the rest of the children and their driver Ed Ray on board the second van. The back of the van was really scary. It had been boarded up with wood panels so when the men closed the doors to the van, not a bit of sunlight could get in, just total darkness. And then they started driving again. Twenty-six children ranging in ages from fourteen years old to only five years old and their school bus driver, all kidnapped in just a matter of minutes. Meanwhile, back in Chao Chila, parents and families quickly started to realize that their children were late coming back from school. Ed Ray's school bus dropped at the children off back at home every single day at the exact same time and was never late. So when 430 came around, families instantly knew that something wasn't right. And that's when calls, dozens of calls started coming into the police. At first, they assumed that the school bus just broke down or ran out of gas or got a flat tire, but then more and more concerned parents started calling. Some of them just started showing up to the police station, so searches started immediately for the school bus. And yeah, they thought it was going to be really easy. They assumed that Ed Ray just had some sort of car trouble, but then they never found school bus. Few hours went by, so they decided to take to the sky. Pilots took police planes up and within three hours of the children being reported missing, one of the police planes found the school bus. But its bus driver and the twenty-six children, they were missing without a trace. Back in the two vans driving to God knows where, the twenty-six children are panicking, they're crying. There were siblings that were all the school buss together that day that were separated, one in one van, one in the other. Ed Ray did his best in the one van to try and keep all the children calm, but in the second van where there were zero adults, some of the older kids, and by older I mean like nine years old, are trying to comfort six year olds. Not only were the back of the vans pitch black, but the AC was not making it into the back of the van through those wood panels. So it was getting hot fast. I mean it's summer in California, and they were in the back of those vans for hours without food, without water. No idea where they're going if they'll ever see their families again, and the kidnappers never stopped once to check on them. Many, if not all of them, eventually wet themselves, because they were in the back of the vans for so long. They were terrified. I don't think any of us could even begin to imagine what that would have been like. The white van pulled up by my door, backed up. We loaded about half the kids in the white van, then they pulled a black one. We loaded the rest of them up, and I was in the back of the black van. So we was in a dark spot in that van just thought it's black, dark in there. They got stuck. I thought he wasn't going to get out. I thought maybe somebody to find us before he got out there. But he got out and we traveled and traveled and traveled. I didn't know where we went. And then after 12 hours, 12 long, horrific hours in the back of those vans, the vans just stopped. A few minutes later, the doors to the green van swing open. Without saying a word, the kidnappers grab Ed Ray, pull them out of the van, and then slam the van door shut again. Only minutes go by, but I'm sure it felt like an eternity before the van doors opened again. The kidnappers grab one child, and then slam the doors shut again. This happens over and over. The kids left inside the van have no idea the hovers that wait for them on the other side. If they're bus driver, their friends are okay if they'll ever see them again. And then it's their turn. The doors open again. The kidnappers grab them, pull them out. Now they're outside. There's a large hole in the ground, and you can see that there's a ladder going down. The kidnappers still pointing their gun at them would force these children then to give them their ages, their full names, their shoes, and at least one article of their clothing. Many of these really young girls were stuck just wearing their bathing suits, but they were wearing at the swimming pool just earlier that day. A gunpoint, Ed Ray, and each of these 26 children, again, ranging in ages from 14 years old to only five years old, were forced down into this hole in the ground. Down this ladder into this weird room bunker underground. the bus driver first so I got out and he asked me my name and my age. Then he wanted my pants and my boots so I had given them. Then he unloaded all the kids and asked their name and age so we went when we got off he gave me a flash light I had to help the kid down through this about a three-foot hole down into this old building, old truck body I guess it was. One at a time he asked each kid the name and the age so when they got through they pulled a ladder up and put a big steel plate over the hole. The kidnappers then screamed down to them that they would be back for them later and then they covered the hole that they just went down with a large heavy what the children describe as like a manhole cover. Looking around they see old dirty mattresses. There's a weird box in the corner of the room with a hole cut in it that the kidnappers gave them to use as a toilet. They haven't had water or food in the back of that van for over 12 hours. Down here there were a few gallons of water and some food some bread some peanut butter some cereal but there's not a lot definitely a lot to feed 27 starving and dehydrated people and just as it's sinking in for this bus driver and 26 children where they are and what's happening they start to hear it. The kidnappers are shoveling dirt on top of them. They are being buried alive. Meet new groupie setting mist from Mavily New York. Gel to mist technology locks in your look for up to 24 hours with flexible all-day comfy grip. No tightness, no stickiness, no residue. Just plump, dewy, hydrated skin that still feels like your skin. Try new groupie setting mist from Mavily New York. Maybe it's Mavily. Back in Chow Chilla not only has the entire town heard of the missing 26 children of their bus driver but then the neighboring town start to hear about it and then the neighboring states. 30 FBI agents are called down the Chow Chilla, the governor of California and then the president of the United States are made aware of the abduction. In less than one day this abduction has not only made national news but it's made news worldwide which is just absolutely insane because this is the 70s and news didn't spread as fast as it does today. The media different journalists start flooding into their small town again in less than a day. At the present time we know that there's 27 people missing since about 415 yesterday afternoon and it's our job and the job of the entire law enforcement community here in Chow Chilla to find these youngsters and the bus driver and to make sure we take the responsible people into custody for this particular crime. With every hour that passes more and more frantic phone calls start coming into the police. Some are terrified families asking if there's been any new leads. Some people are calling with any tiny detail they see or remember thinking that maybe it could be helpful and many people call in with their own theories. And these theories again are coming in from all around the entire world. Some telling them to look out for the son of Sam. There's so many tips coming in thinking that maybe the zodiac killer was to blame. But the theory coming in the most and even the theory that many in the town were even believing at the time was that aliens had come down and abducted Ed Rae and the 26 children. Kidnapping of the children from Chow Chilla, the mysterious disappearance of 26 children and their school bus driver, all vanishing while returning from a summer school outing on Thursday. Police and FBI do know today however when and how it all happened but no one knows who did it or why they did it. I pretty well got it figured out I may be wrong but I may be right. I think it's some type of group that wants recognition and money and they haven't asked for the money yet but they're getting the recognition. I guess now all that we can do is to join with the families and loved ones of those involved and pray, pray hard for their safety cover. The town was an absolute wreck. It was like time stood still. Life was put on pause. The parents and the families of these missing children were doing everything in their power to find their children. On the bus that day there were siblings meaning that there were families going to bed not knowing where multiple of their children were. Underground in a small 27-foot hole the children and Ed Rae were starting to lose hope. It was dark. It was hot. There was a small fan circulating air down to them from a tube vented to the outside but it was very weak and then it just stopped working all together. It started getting hard to breathe. There were children down there as young as five years old able to verbalize remembering the feeling of the air disappearing around them. It was not long until they were out of food and completely out of water. And at this point they had been buried underground for 12 hours. For most of this horrific experience Ed Rae the school bus driver who was 55 years old and some of the older children knew that they were in a very dire situation. But it was at this point that even the younger children knew that they might be about to die. If they didn't suffocate to death, if they didn't starve to death, they were about to be buried under feet of dirt. The roof of whatever they were in was starting to cave in. For a moment it seemed like it was about to completely collapse. When dirt started quickly pouring in before it slowed down and then stopped. But they knew that they were one wrong move away from the hole that they are currently in, completely being filled in with dirt. Again, if they didn't starve or run out of air first. The kidnappers hadn't been back to see them since they force them down into that hole 12 hours earlier. Ed Rae who throughout all of this had been doing his best to try and keep the children calm, telling them that it was all going to be okay. At this point seemed like he had all but given up. So it was the children that knew they had to fight. Michael Marshall at 14 years old was the oldest of the children that was on the school bus that day. And he actually wasn't supposed to be on the school bus that afternoon at all. The night before Michael did something he wasn't supposed to do and he got in trouble. His punishment was that his mom told him that the next day he would be taking the school bus home from school. After 12 hours of sitting in that hole buried underground with his bus driver and 25 of his schoolmates who had all but given up, Michael got up and started telling them that if they were going to die, they were going to die fighting. If they're going to die, they're going to die trying to get out of there. Him and some of the other boys started going around the entire box at their stuck in looking for any way out but it was clear that the only way out was the way that they came in. So Michael and a few of the other boys started stacking up all of the mattresses that the kidnappers had left for them on top of each other. And then they all took turns standing on top of the mattresses trying to move the manhole cover that was trapping them inside. But it was just too heavy. There was something on top of it making it impossible for them to move it. When Michael Marshall took his turn, he was giving every single ounce of strength that a 14-year-old boy could muster in a situation like this. He's trying to move this manhole cover. And then he hears that the children beneath him are cheering him on, telling him that he's actually moving it a little bit. And that's when Ed Ray got up. Both him and Michael are standing on top of the mattresses. Both trying to move this manhole cover at the same time together. They're trying to lift it. They're trying to wiggle it. Just anything, anything at all. And then Ed Ray actually manages to lift up the cover just enough for Michael to get his hand out of the cover. Michael can feel what the kidnappers put on top of the manhole cover to keep them trapped down there and they are very, very heavy. But eventually after a very, very long time, Ray and Michael are able to move this manhole cover. And two very large batteries that were put on top of the manhole cover that keep them trapped in there fell down and hit the mattresses. And these batteries were over 100 pounds each. Finally, Michael is able to climb out of this hole, but they're not free yet. The kidnappers had placed a small wooden box over the hole and then buried that as well. Michael starts slamming on the box. He's so frustrated at this point. He's kicking the box. Anything to get it to move and it doesn't budge at all. He's up there trying to move that box for hours. I believe that he was actually banging on the box trying to get it to move for like around four hours, but it doesn't budge at all. They are buried underneath more dirt and he just cannot move it at all. So eventually Michael actually gets this extremely smart idea to start digging underneath the box so that the dirt that is on top of the box has somewhere to like fall and then he can get dirt off the top of the box that is bearing them underneath there. And he does this and it takes again a really, really long time until he feels like he's gotten rid of most of the dirt that is on top of the box. And then again this 14 year old boy that has been stuck in a dark van and a dark hole buried underground for over 24 hours starts tearing at this thick wooden box with his bare hands. Dirt just starts pouring down on top of him and then the most beautiful thing in the entire world. Sunlight starts streaming down this hole in the box that he ripped with his own hands. He ripped this box apart his own hands and suns are streaming down to the hole where the children are stuck in. It was the first time that they had seen sunlight or breath fresh air in over 24 hours. Literally it was the first time they had seen the sun since 430 in the afternoon the day before. And now it's almost sunset the next day. And you know it was so hot down in that hole because when they finally breathed that fresh air even though it was California in July they described it as feeling cold air coming. The entire time that they're trying to break out of this hole Ed Ray was terrified that the kidnappers might be up there waiting for them and would kill them if they tried to escape. So Michael knew that there was a really, really good chance of he climbed out of this hole that he could be killed. But just like he said hours and hours earlier if they were going to die they were going to die trying to escape. So he stepped out of the hole and nobody was around. No one was there at all. The kidnappers were not in sight anywhere so all the children and Ed Ray got out of the hole safely. Michael Marshall the 14 year old boy that wasn't even supposed to be on the school bus that day at all has just saved all of their lives. They see trees they see mountains but it doesn't look familiar at all. They were in that van driving for 12 hours so as far as they know they could be on the complete other side of the country. Meet new grippy setting mist from Maybelline New York. No tightness. No stickiness. No residue. Just clump. Do we hydrate it skin? That still feels like your skin. Try new grippy setting mist from Maybelline New York. Maybe it's Maybelline. Who was really scary because they had no idea where the kidnappers were. They hadn't seen them since they were put down that hole 16 hours earlier but they know that they have to keep walking. They can't just stand there and wait for the kidnappers to finally show back up. So Ed Ray led them and the 26 children followed behind him and as they walk it wasn't long until they see someone not that far away approaching them. Thankfully this was not one of the kidnappers. What Ed Ray and the 26 children didn't know at the time that they were actually on a rock quarry. They were buried underground in like the back of the property and this man walking towards him worked there. He was just working late that day. When he stumbled upon a man and 26 children just like the ones he saw on the news that had been abducted over 100 miles away in a small town called Chao Chilla and within minutes it was announced to the town and the families that Ed Ray and all the 26 children were found alive and safe. When the authorities arrived at the rock quarry they knew they had to get the children to a secure location as soon as possible. They had to talk to them, question them, make sure they're okay, you know, check them out medically. Give them something to drink, give them some food and the only place nearby like that was a prison. The children reached talk to and checked out medically. They were given prison jumpsuits to wear and they were finally given some food and something to drink but this took a long four hours to complete and then they were loaded onto greyhound prison buses. At this point it was the very early morning hours like 4am the children didn't expect anyone to be there waiting for them so imagine their surprise when they arrived back home to a sea of people. The entire town was there, their families were there, media and journalists from the entire country were there, cameras were everywhere and right away this narrative started forming that the children were okay in high spirits and completely unaffected. Found at 830 last night in a Livermore rock quarry, their abductors three masked gunmen had held them and their 55-year-old school bus driver prisoners in a damp underground cavern for more than 16 hours but now they had come home. Weary but somewhat matter of fact is only children can be after such a tedious and sighting experience. Coming home in the midst of all this attention the youngsters ranging in age from 5 to 15 for relatively nonchalant, tumbling from the big red and white and blue greyhound bus, managing even priceless smiles as they walk a short distance from their greyhound bus. Through a pressing crowd of well-wishers, friends, towns people to the arms of their waiting parents for a brief private meeting, a reunion that happened in a bus station waiting room behind a closed door. There was laughter hugs, kisses, tears, the ending of a bizarre but still unexplained 36-hour masked kidnapping of the school children from Chalchilla. So the children and Ed Rae have all been found. They've been found alive but their kidnappers were still out there. So the first thing investigators do is return to the rock quarry where the children were found where the children were buried underground. The rock quarry is on the location. It's actually a business called the California Rock and Grava Company. The children were actually buried inside of a renovated 27-foot moving trailer. I have photos on the screen if you're watching the video version. It's a bizarre that anyone was able to bury something this huge underground and then they kept 27 people in it. When investigators spoke with one of the security guards for the California Rock and Grava Company, he remembers that several months earlier, he saw three men there in the area in the back of the property where the children were found. They had some moving trailers and they were digging something. The security guard couldn't provide too much detail on two of the men that he saw there but he 100% believed that he knew who the other guy was. It was the 24-year-old Fredrick Newall Woods IV or Fred Woods, the owner of the rock quarry. When investigators look into this Fred Woods background, they see that two years earlier, he was arrested for some grant that auto charges and he was busted with two other guys, brothers, 24-year-old and 22-year-old James and Richard Schoenfeld or Jim Enric. So now, investigators have their three suspects. The only problem? They were on the run. The next day, police got a warrant to search the home where Fred Woods lived. This was his parent's mansion. Fred Woods came from old money, generational wealth. Inside of this room, they found a mountain of evidence that proved that Fred and the Schoenfeld brothers had been planning this abduction for at least a year and a half. In addition to his parent's mansion, they also found a small property and a storage unit that Fred was renting and in all these locations, this is all that they found. A car completely spray painted black evidence that showed he bought the trailer that the children in Edward Berryden. They found wood paneling just like the wood paneling that was found in back of both of the vans. They also found the vans. They found a shotgun that was used in the kidnapping. They found a list of all of the victims' names and ages that were written on the back of her fast food bag. It was like a jack-in-the-box bag. They found their entire plan written out with bullet points. It literally said plan at the top of the paper and then like step one, step two, and it detailed everything that they were planning to do. So it turns out like a year and a half ago, Fred Woods and the show unfold brothers were trying to find out a way to get rich quick. Fred did not get along with his father. He felt like he was always disappointing his father and that his father had these extremely high expectations of him that he just did not meet and he didn't like that he had to always rely on his father for money. But at the same time, Fred really didn't want to get a real job. He also really didn't want to work for his father and his father was really trying to push him to kind of take over the family business one day. So this was the reason. and why Fred, Rick, and Jim even tried to steal cars in the first place, you know, how they attempted to steal cars and were busted two years before the kidnapping. Jim and Rick also came from a lot of money, not as much money as Fred Woods, but like no one comes from as much money as Fred Woods, but Rick and Jim's parents definitely had a lot of money. So after all three of these boys got arrested for Grand Dato, all of their parents bailed them out and give them fancy lawyers at the end of the day, they walked away with just probation. So now the men need a brand new Get Rich Quick Scheme. So after watching some movies, the three men decided on their next great idea. They wanted to kidnap people and hold them for ransom money. But they also didn't want to do this more than one time. They want to just commit one crime and just make enough money where they could live off of that forever. So they decided that they would kidnap more than one person at a time. They also felt like children would be worth more money. So this is how they finally decided that they would kidnap a school bus filled with children to demand ransom money from the state of California. We're going to take just a quick break to hear from this week's sponsor. You know those mornings when you're running late, but you still want to look put together. A quick and easy makeup routine is so nice to have. And Joan's road is completely changing the game. Their products focus on enhancing your natural skin, not covering it up. My favorite is their Miracle Bomb. Instead of wearing a million different layers from a million different products, Miracle Bomb can serve as a blush, bronzer, highlighter, and even a lip tint. 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And they actually have a map, police found this map of different schools in different small rural towns that the boys had, the men had circled. They finally settle on kidnapping a school bus full of children in a rural town and they like this area that's far from the Bay Area, it's about like 100 miles away. So in late 1975, they started driving around this area, these different rural towns. And then that's how they finally landed on kidnapping a school bus in Chow Chilla. The three men even attended Chow Chilla's annual rodeo so they could kind of stake out the town and get the kind of vibe. And then they also started studying Ed Ray's school bus route. After this, they start stockpiling guns. They buy both of the vans that they use in the kidnapping. They bought the trailer and then they dug that huge hole in the ground and buried the trailer on the property of Fred's dad's rock quarry. And then after kidnapping the children, they planned to call any ransom demand. The plan was to go deep into the mountains where they would request the money to be dropped down to them from an airplane and then they would drive off in that car that they spray painted black because they planned for this money drop off to be at night. So if the car was black, then no one could like see them driving away. Then they planned to hijack an airplane that they would use to escape after they got their ransom money. They even got this military grade X-ray machine from a Navy disposal station so they could check if the ransom money was bugged. Also in Fred West's home, they found a draft of this ransom demand where they planned to demand 5 million dollars from the state of California and that's 5 million dollars in 1970. I couldn't even begin to imagine how much money that would be today adjusted for inflation. So these three men really thought that they were brilliant. This was an amazing plan. They thought that they had thought of everything. And maybe they did. But one thing, kidnapping 26 children and their school bus driver made worldwide news, meaning the entire world was calling into Chao Chila Police Station to give their tips and theories. So when the three men drove home excited to make their 5 million dollar ransom demand, the phone lines were all busy. They couldn't get through. They hung up. They kept trying to call back again and again and they just could not get through to make their ransom demand. So they decided to just lay down, go to sleep, they would try and call again later. They had been up for over 24 hours at this point so it was much needed sleep. They slept so long that by the time they woke up and turned on the news, dumb, dumb, dumb or saw, all of their victims had escaped already. They never even got to make their ransom demand. They went through all of that, planning that for over a year and a half and never got to even make the ransom demand. My question is just like, why would you even do this? They didn't need the money at all. Fred West was reported to actually have a trust fund worth $100 million dollars. So it's like they didn't need the money. They just wanted their own money that didn't come from their super wealthy parents. So they traumatized these children for what? For nothing. They never even got to make the ransom demand. They wasted a lot of money. They wasted a year and a half of their life trying to plan this elaborate kidnapping ice and the end of the day, they walked away of nothing and just traumatized 26 children for life. So after seeing that all of the children and Ed Ray had escaped, that's when all three of them went on the run. Quickly, their names and faces were plastered on the news and arrest warrants were issued for all of them and it wasn't long after that. Rick Schoenfeld, who was the youngest, he was 22 at the time, turned himself in. But only after confessing to his father, who again hired him a nice, fancy lawyer. Jim and Fred, who are both 24 years old at the time, planned to cross the border into Canada. I'm not sure why Jim didn't have one because in preparation for this entire plan, Fred had gotten himself a fake passport with a fake name, but Jim didn't have one. So Fred was able to cross the border into Canada but Jim was stuck. Jim actually tried to cross the border into Canada multiple times and he was denied every single time. He just kept failing. He kept failing. He was on the run for days. He was running out of money. He had no food. He had slept in days so he decided to just give up and turn himself in. Fred had been on the run for a few weeks at this point and he felt comfortable enough in Canada to start writing letters to family members and old friends. One of these letters he actually sent to an old friend who worked in film making and writing screenplays. He told his friend that he believed that the crime he committed would make a great movie. But then Fred wrote, quote, "My ending isn't exciting enough so you might need to kill some people or something. If you do turn it into a film, I want a percentage. I don't care how much, but make it fair." All he cares about is a quick way of finding money. He isn't care about anyone else who he hurts, who he traumatizes, he just cares about getting money. Well, after police find out that Fred is sending people letters in Vancouver, the FBI has police staked out in over the border in Canada waiting at the post office in Vancouver where Fred is sending these letters out, sitting there waiting for him and eventually Fred does show up at the post office again and he is arrested. So finally, all three of these men are behind bars. The town of Chauchilla was angry, they were furious. I even read that a few of the farmers band together went to the sheriff and said, "Hey, will you let us break into the prison, grab these three men out and publicly hang them?" The sheriff said, "No." He politely declined. Life for the children following the kidnappings was, as you can imagine, really, really hard, but unfortunately because it was the 1970s trauma and especially childhood trauma was not something that was really talked about or even something that a lot of people knew about. They just saw these children, they looked at them and saw that physically they were fine, so they just assumed that they were fine. And like I mentioned earlier, this narrative was painted, that they were all okay in high spirits, that this wasn't traumatizing to them, that they weren't still suffering. That they were perfectly okay, even though for most of them, if not all of them, this was as far as from the truth as possible. Even with Ed Ray, who was the only adult that this happened to, he would tell everyone that he was fine, that he was over it. his wife would say that he had trouble sleeping. His nephew would say that Ed would be seen crying alone a lot of the time. And that's a 55 year old man that this happened to. Many of the children say that following the kidnapping they wouldn't be able to sleep at night. They'd have nightmares, night terrors, they would literally be screaming in their sleep. Some of them said any time they were driving in the car with their family members that they passed a van, they would just start to get upset and start freaking out. These are clear signs of PTSD and childhood trauma. A lot of them said when they came home, their families were never the same ever again. I also saw a lot of the survivors say that the children that they were when they were forced down into that hole, that child stayed down in that hole. And they were never the same ever again. There's a loss of innocence that you can never get back when something like this happens to you. And it's devastating that this happened to so many of these children when they were so so young. Again, as young as five years old, a lot of these children felt that a lot of the adults in their life just wanted to put a bandaid on the situation. Like the children were all brought to Disneyland and it was completely paid for and that was really really nice. And then the town also threw them this big parade and the children along with Ed were able to ride this float. But a lot of the things that they were struggling with was just completely being ignored. And I can completely understand that in the 1970s, trauma and psychological damage were not things as well known today. And it's extremely unfortunate that that means 26 children didn't get the help that they needed. And when a psychiatrist was finally brought down to Chao Chila, the psychiatrist went in there saying out of all 26 children maybe one will have something wrong with them. When in reality, all 26 of them were struggling. But still help wasn't offered to any of these children. And many of them actually suffered into adulthood with PTSD, different mental illness and different addictions like substance use and alcoholism. But it is said that because of what the Chao Chila children went through, this changed how childhood trauma was dealt with in this country forever. And because of what happened in Chao Chila in 1976, that is the same reason why psychiatrists and counselors were brought in after Columbine and every school shooting in this country after that. One year after the kidnappings in July 1977, all three men pled guilty to 27 counts of kidnapping for ransom. But they pled not guilty to the eight counts of causing bodily harm. So in the fall of 1977, a year and a half after the kidnapping, they went to trial. Many of the children were brave enough to take the stand, testify to the damage and bodily harm that Fred, Rick and Jim caused them. Unfortunately, they were not able to talk about emotional and psychological harm. Did a few scrapes and bruises constitute bodily harm charges, which automatically granted a life without the possibility of parole sentence for these three men? Well, I actually really liked something that the prosecutor said that these children were starved, dehydrated. They were panicking. They were literally suffocating, buried underground. Does that not constitute bodily harm? I'm actually shocked that these three men were not charged with 27 counts of attempted murder because it's extremely extremely likely that if a 14-year-old boy that wasn't even supposed to be on the bus in the first place didn't dig out with his bare hands that they all would have died in there. In December 1977, the trial ended. They were all found guilty and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. But sometimes life without the possibility of parole doesn't always mean life without the possibility of parole. Four years after the convention, the appeals started and the appeal courts actually agreed with Fred, Jim, and Rick. They decided that the physical harm to the victims did not match the threshold for bodily harm charges. So instead, the three men were sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. Many of the children that were kidnapped would appear and go to these parole hearings at first to try and fight to have their kidnappers stay in prison. But after the years went on, slowly a lot of them stopped going until there was just one left. Jody Heffington, who was just 10 years old when she was kidnapped, she was also the same 10-year-old girl that had a shotgun pressed against her stomach by one of her kidnappers when she was trying to walk into the van from the school bus. She was also one of the older kids at only 10 years old trying to comfort the other younger children when they thought that they were all going to die and never see their mummies and daddies again. Jody attended nearly every single parole hearing to fight long after all the other victims of the child chilla kidnapping stopped attending. Sadly, she was there in 2012 when Rick Schoenfeld was released on parole and then she was there again in 2015 when Jim Schoenfeld was released on parole. She was there at Fred Woods's 15th parole hearing as he told the parole board he deserved to be released from prison and all about his rough childhood. Despite being raised with a silver spoon in his mouth extremely wealthy, Fred would claim that his parents were extremely neglectful. He was raised by nannies and his parents didn't care about him. In fact, even though he was raised as an only child, he had a younger sister. But after his baby sister was born with Down syndrome, his parents just put her in a home and he never ever saw her ever again. I'm absolutely not saying just because you're born into a wealthy family that you can't have a childhood that's not ideal. But imagine being Jody Heffington sitting in that parole hearing and having to hear Fred Woods talk about his rough childhood knowing what he did to her that he stole her childhood from her. After a long battle with alcoholism, Jody Heffington would pass away young in 2021. In 2022, Fred West was released on parole. So all three of these men are currently walking around members of society. Before we end this week's episode, I do want to talk a little bit more about the heroic efforts of Mike Marshall again, the 14 year old boy that saved all of these people's lives. Following their escape, Ed Ray, the bus driver was really hailed as this hero. The media didn't really ask any of the victims what happened. They just assumed because Ed was the adult that he was the one that freed all of the children and I'm absolutely not saying that Ed Ray was not a hero because he absolutely was. I actually think that all of them were heroes. The town would rename their sports and leisure park to Edward Ray Park. They still celebrate Edward Ray Day every February 26, which was Ed's birthday. Ed got a park and the annual holiday they still celebrate to this very day, but Michael never really got any recognition for his part in saving all of their lives. In preparation for this week's episode, in addition to the normal research I do, I also watched a documentary on this case. It was called Chao Chila and I'm being so genuine, not lying at all. I truly believe that this might be one of the best true crime documentaries I have ever watched. I know this case pretty well already before even diving in to this week's research and this documentary and I was crying watching this documentary. It's one thing to hear me tell you about what these children went through but the way that the documentary feels like it like puts you actually in the situation that the kids were in and you can also hear from the survivors the children now adults telling you first hand what they felt in those exact moments. It just feels so different and so many of the survivors that were children when this happened take part in the documentary including Michael Marshall and it was really really really cool to hear his experience through his own words. So if you're at all interested in learning more about this case after this episode I would definitely recommend watching this documentary. Following the kidnapping right outside of the city hall in Chao Chila there is a memorial that was put up in remembrance of the children and Ed Ray and what they all went through. And then following the kidnappings Ed Ray did continue to be the school bus driver. He was always very humble. He just said that he wanted to take care of the children and protect the children. And he kept being the school bus driver at Dairyland Elementary School until he got sick. And Ed Ray did sadly pass away in 2012 at the age of 91 years old. So interested to hear all of your thoughts on this case. This is such an insane, insane bizarre case and I only heard about it a few years ago. I was actually shocked a few years ago when I first heard of this case that one [BLANK_AUDIO] It's even real that this actually happened and it isn't the plot of a movie and two that it's just not more well-known today. I'm sure a lot of people that were alive in 1976 remember this, but I'm shocked that there's so many cases that we remember we even just talked about two of them early on this episode, Zodiac, a son of Sam, and it's just so shocking to me that this is in the case that is constantly talked about because of how bizarre it is. So what you're said to hear all of your thoughts in the comments, why are there please always remember to be respectful again, so many lives affected in today's case. But it is always so nice when we get to tell a case of survival. I know a lot of you really enjoy the kidnapping cases that are kidnapping survival stories and kidnapping survival cases. So it's always just really heartwarming where we get to tell not like a happy ending because of course a lot of these survivors did struggle for a really long time. Some still today, a lot of them are doing a lot better by the way. You can hear about that in the documentary, but to tell a case where there is that survival and all of these heroic efforts, especially done by children, this is such a fascinating case to me. Again, let me know all your thoughts in the comments and that is all I have for this week's investigation, I will see you guys all next Friday when we are hot in the case once again. 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