Frederick Woods Wiki – Frederick Woods Bio
It was a July afternoon in 1976 when Frederick Woods carried out the largest mass kidnapping for ransom in US history.
Now, more than four decades later, Woods is a free man. The 70-year-old was quietly released from prison on August 25, after serving 46 years for the hijacking of a school bus filled with 26 children and their driver in Chowchilla, California, on July 15, 1976.
The release of Woods, who had been denied parole 17 times, drew mixed reactions from his victims, many of whom have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder to this day.
“I thought it would be a mistake for the entire state of California if they released him,” said Jennifer Brown Hyde, who was 9 years old when Woods and two accomplices kidnapped the boys and demanded a $5 million ransom.
Frederick Woods Age
Frederick Woods is 70 years old.
Chowchilla bus Kidnapping
“I didn’t feel like his mindset and way of thinking changed. I just feel like he feels like he’s above the law,” Hyde said.
Others, like Larry Park, who was 6 at the time of the kidnapping, expressed forgiveness and even support for Woods’ release from the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, California.
I wanted to be there. She just wanted to hug his neck on her way to his freedom and see him off,” Park told Fox News.
“I want to have steak with Fred. I want to take him out to a steakhouse and have him over for dinner and just talk to him about how he’s been this year, what his plans are and just get a chance to catch up with him and see how he’s doing.”.
The families of the 26 children who were kidnapped from their school bus, along with the bus driver, await news of their fate outside the police headquarters in Chowchilla, on July 16, 1976.
“He’s been in jail for over 40 years. So, they took him to the beach and he took off his shoes and walked on the sand and got in the water… I can imagine how Fred felt standing on that beach looking down at the ocean,” said Park, who spoke with Woods’ attorney.
The horrific nightmare was described in detail by survivors on the Fox News Investigative Unit podcast, “Nightmare in Chowchilla: The School Bus Kidnapping.”
Three masked gunmen, Woods and brothers Richard and James Schoenfeld, broke into a school bus in the small farming town of Chowchilla and kidnapped 26 children and the bus driver. The men, all in their 20s, took them to a dry river bed, where they hid the bus and forced the hostages into two windowless vans. The boys, ages 5 to 14, were then driven 100 miles to a stone quarry in Livermore, where they were buried alive in a tractor-trailer 12 feet underground for about 16 hours.
officials remove a truck buried in a rock quarry in Livermore, California, in which 26 children from Chowchilla School and the bus driver, Ed Ray, were being held captive.
Richard and James Schoenfeld were released from prison in 2012 and 2015, respectively.
Woods was not a model prisoner. He illegally ran several businesses behind bars, including a gold mine and a Christmas tree farm.
“There will never, ever be complete closure. It’s a lifelong struggle in some ways. I still sleep with a night light. I wouldn’t say I’ve forgiven my kidnappers, but I live a wonderful life. Not because of them, but because of what I’ve been able to get through no matter what they’ve thrown at us,” Hyde said.
Mike Marshall, who was 14 years old and the oldest student on the bus, is credited with pulling the others out of the underground tomb at Livermore Rock Quarry where the kidnappers had hidden them.
“I’ve been so damn emotional these days, and I can’t figure out why,” Marshall said. “I never really felt like they were going to spend the rest of their lives in prison. I didn’t think it would bother me that much, but looking on the bright side, maybe it will all go away.” now. They won’t have to bring it up all the time and we’ll just move on.”
Woods’ attorneys were not immediately available for comment when contacted by Fox News.
In 2012, Woods responded to a Fox News producer who wrote to him requesting an interview. In that letter, Woods wrote: “I have no words to say how sorry I am to everyone who was and continues to be affected by my crime. Although I know that there is no apology in the world that can make up for what happened.” I did it, I would still like to make the effort and let everyone know they have nothing to fear from me or their future.”
After Woods’ release, senior correspondent and anchor Claudia Cowan reviewed the story in a new bonus episode of “A Nightmare in Chowchilla: The School Bus Hijack” podcast and spoke with survivors to get their thoughts on the newfound freedom of Woods.
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