The Crime Book

194

drove its route, but found nothing.

By 6pm, the Chowchilla police and

the county sheriff’s office had been

notified that something was amiss.

A deputy found the abandoned

bus around 8pm, but no sign of the

driver or children. Crime scene

investigators found tyre tracks

leading away from the slough, but

no other evidence to indicate how

27 people had simply vanished.

Chowchilla went into crisis mode.

Reporters flooded into the town

and theories began to circulate

about what might have happened –

theories that included the Zodiac

Killer (see pp.288–89) and terrorism,

as well as a kidnap for ransom.

Meanwhile, the kidnappers had

retreated to a hideout to get some

sleep. When they awoke on the

morning of 16 July, they planned to

call the authorities in Chowchilla

with a ransom demand of $5 million

(about £9.5 million today) and give

them the names of the driver and

children. If further proof was

needed, they would deliver the

clothing samples to a place where

authorities could easily find them.

There was just one flaw in their

plan: law enforcement telephone

lines in Chowchilla were so

jammed with calls from tipsters,

reporters, and parents that the

kidnappers could not get through.

THE CHOWCHILLA KIDNAPPING

The children are reunited with tearful

parents in Chowchilla, as reporters and

photographers crowd around them. All

27 victims arrived home on this

Greyhound bus.

The great escape

Inside the van, 14-year-old Mike

Marshall, the son of a rodeo

cowboy, decided that he was not

going to die without trying to

escape. With the help of Ray and

the other boys, Marshall stacked

the mattresses high enough to

reach the opening in the van’s roof.

Blocking the way was a steel plate,

two heavy tractor batteries, and a

pile of dirt 1 metre (3 ft) deep. Using

wooden beams salvaged from the

box springs for leverage, they were

able to move the plate, drag down

the batteries, and dig upwards

through the dirt.

After 16 hours underground,

the children of Chowchilla climbed

out. They had not walked far before

After all of us were out, we

started walking. A man drove

up and said, ‘Oh my God.

You’re those kids.’

Jodi Heffington-Medrano

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195

they were discovered by a quarry

security guard, who recognized

them immediately. Thirty-six

hours after the bus was hijacked,

the children were reunited with

their families.

At first, authorities assumed

that the abduction was committed

by known criminals from the area.

They fruitlessly scoured their

records for anyone who might fit

the profile. Ray, who had tried to

remember details of the abduction,

agreed to undergo hypnotism

in order to aid the police effort.

Under hypnosis, he was able to

recall the entire licence plate from

one van and part of the second –

enough to give authorities their first

big break. They soon discovered

that the old Allied removals van

was registered to Fred Woods, the

son of the quarry owner. The

authorities could only guess at

Woods’s motives and accomplices.

KIDNAPPING AND EXTORTION

Kidnappers Jim Schoenfeld, Fred

Woods, and Richard Schoenfeld (left to

right) sit together in the courtroom. All

three received life sentences without

parole for 27 counts of kidnapping.

Criminally induced

post-traumatic stress

According to the US’s National

Center for Victims of Crime,

soldiers are not the only

individuals who experience

PTSD. The syndrome is also

seen in victims of civilian

trauma and criminal violence.

Symptoms of PTSD include

flashbacks and nightmares,

lethargy, detachment, anxiety,

and anger. Appeals and parole

hearings can trigger stress

reactions in victims many

years after the crime.

In the case of the

Chowchilla Kidnapping,

parents of the kidnap victims

were reluctant to admit

concerns about their children’s

mental health, so there was a

delay of five months before

they asked for help. A study

conducted with 23 of the

victims a year after the

kidnapping – and again four

years later – found that they

all experienced PTSD. Five

children who narrowly avoided

being kidnapped – because

they had only just been

delivered home before the bus

was attacked – were also

traumatized. Now in their 50s,

many of the victims report

long-term anxiety, depression,

and substance abuse.

Flawed plan

Wannabe movie moguls, the three

men had wanted the ransom money

to recoup their losses from a real

estate project. Woods and his

accomplices – Richard and James

Schoenfeld, sons of a wealthy

Menlo Park podiatrist – had

imagined the kidnapping as a

perfect crime, but now it was

falling apart. Learning through

the media that their captives had

escaped, the men decided to run.

Woods flew to Vancouver and

checked into a motel under a false

name. Jim Schoenfeld planned to

drive up and meet him, but his

suspicious behaviour prompted

border guards to deny him entry

into Canada. Rick Schoenfeld,

meanwhile, returned home to

the Bay Area and turned himself

in. Learning that his brother

was in custody, Jim also returned

home and was soon arrested.

Woods, meanwhile, was

arrested in Canada after penning

a letter to a friend back home that

contained his alias. All three men

pleaded guilty to the kidnappings

and were handed life sentences. ■

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