Parole board grants release date for man convicted in 1976 Chowchilla kidnapping

California’s parole board Tuesday upheld an earlier decision that deemed one of three men responsible for kidnapping 26 Chowchilla schoolchildren and their school bus driver in 1976 suitable for parole.

But Richard Schoenfeld, now 56, would not be scheduled for release until 2021, and his parole would have to clear several more hurdles, including a review by the governor, said Luis Patino, a spokesman for the parole board.

Photos: Chowchilla kidnappings

Any sitting governor between now and 2021 could ask the board to reconsider its decision to set a release date for Schoenfeld, Patino said.

Schoenfeld, his brother James and Fred Woods, who were all from wealthy families, were in their early 20s when they committed the crime, which would become the largest kidnapping-for-ransom case in U.S. history. The three started plotting the kidnapping after they lost $30,000 on a housing deal.

In July 1976, the three armed men commandeered the big yellow school bus from Dairyland Unified and drove it into a dry canal bottom. The children -– who ranged in age from 5 to 14 –- and the bus driver were herded into two vans and driven to a Livermore quarry.

They were then made to climb down into a moving van buried in the quarry 100 miles from Chowchilla. After imprisoning their hostages, the three defendants left to call in a $5-million ransom demand to the Chowchilla Police Department. But the phone lines were busy. They took naps and awoke to the news that the children had escaped.

The three young men were arrested and convicted.

A key issue at sentencing was whether they had kidnapped with bodily harm -- a circumstance warranting life in prison with no parole. Prosecutor David Minier convinced Superior Court Judge Leo Deegan that the nosebleeds, upset stomach and fainting suffered by three of the girls constituted injury. But an appeals court ruled in 1980 that there was no bodily harm, and the kidnappers were eligible for parole.

Recently, judges, prosecutors and investigators in the case have called for the kidnappers to be granted parole.

In 2010, a two-person parole board panel deemed Schoenfeld “suitable for parole,” but that decision was later rescinded. The parole board scheduled Tuesday’s hearing to reconsider that decision. The other two kidnappers have yet to be found suitable for parole.

RELATED:

Decades after school bus killing, feelings run strong in Chowchilla

-- Robert J. Lopez and Diana Marcum

Photo: Police and parents inspect the empty school bus found near Chowchilla in the largest kidnapping for ransom in U.S. history. Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[CAmom9]

I have to wonder how the children who were in that bus feel. I cannot imagine the amount of fear & psychological repercussions that those individuals have had to deal with in their lives. Doesn't that count? Bodily harm was the exacted in the minds & hearts of each child that they have had to deal w/ all their lives.
The "masterminds" should spend their lives in prison contemplating the harm they exacted on innocents.

[CALIFORNIAMARTY]

A key issue at sentencing was whether they had kidnapped with bodily harm -- a circumstance warranting life in prison with no parole. Prosecutor David Minier convinced Superior Court Judge Leo Deegan that the nosebleeds, upset stomach and fainting suffered by three of the girls constituted injury. But an appeals court ruled in 1980 that there was no bodily harm, and the kidnappers were eligible for parole.
The mental anguish these children suffered is bodily injury enough.
The scope of this crime is too great for any governor to allow to go through.

Let them out when they reach eighty. That way they will be too tired to try it again.

[la joe]

Unbelievable. What would have happened if they didn't escape and also didn't get their ransom? Never release these criminals!!

[Sara]

It's good to hear that reason has prevailed over the vengeful masses' cries for blood.

[Invictus Veritas]

If it were my children, I would be waiting for them when they leave the gates of prison and let justice be done!

[peacemaker21]

hang 'em high

[PGelsman]

Keep them all locked up.

[Excellency]

So some people want to parole these villains because they were just "young dumb rich kids" who made a mistake, eh? THIS IS PRECISELY WHY I don't want Leftist Liberals RUNNING the justice system! The only reason none of the victims died is because the damn fool kidnappers fell asleep on the job and the bus driver helped them all escape! Hey, maybe we should have paroled James Earl Ray because he was just a dumb hick who made a bad decision; maybe we should parole men who murder abortion doctors because they are just dummies that believe in an "invisible man in the sky" so they just don't know any better.

[DudB]

This guy does not deserve any consideration, no matter how far out it is from now.

[MaryMasiLaw]

It would be interesting to know the specific reasons why judges, prosecutors and investigators in the case have called for the kidnappers to be granted parole. Criminal Lawyer http://www.marymasilaw.com

[MaryMasiLaw]

It would be interesting to know the specific reasons why judges, prosecutors and investigators in the case have called for the kidnappers to be granted parole.

http://www.marymasilaw.com

[yourstruly1]

Don't let any of these three guys out, ever!

[Wasupper 13]

Really! were is the justice in this world.Kidnapping kids,these guys should,ve been killed in prison already.I tell you prisons are getting to soft...what a shame!!!!!!!!