Free Republic

In 1980, state Judge William Newsom, who was the current governor's father, was on an appellate panel that reduced the men's life sentences to give them a chance at parole. He pushed for their release in 2011, after he retired, noting that no one was seriously physically injured during the kidnapping.

A 70-year-old man convicted of hijacking a school bus full of children and holding them and their driver for $5 million ransom in 1976 has been approved for parole. Frederick Newhall Woods was found suitable for parole at a hearing Friday, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesperson Joe Orlando confirmed to CNN on Tuesday. Parole commissioners reportedly decided Woods no longer is a danger to the public. Woods masterminded the kidnapping plot after being inspired by the 1971 Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry. His accomplices, brothers Richard and James Schoenfeld, were freed years ago. An appeals court ordered Richard...

A 70-year-old man imprisoned for the 1976 kidnapping of a bus full of children has been approved for parole, according to spokesperson Joe Orlando of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Frederick Newhall Woods, 70, was one of three men who kidnapped 26 children and their bus driver in Chowchilla, a small city in Northern California's Madera County, more than 45 years ago. All 27 captives were taken to Livermore, more than 100 miles away, placed into a moving truck and buried alive in a quarry owned by Woods' father. The kidnappers then demanded $5 million ransom while...

The second of three convicts in the infamous Chowchilla kidnapping is a free man and believed to be in the Bay Area. James Schoenfeld, 63, who was among three convicted in the 1976 kidnapping of 26 children and their school bus driver, was released on parole Friday after nearly 40 years in prison. Schoenfeld was freed from the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo after Gov. Jerry Brown allowed the parole to go ahead a week ago, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton said. He is expected to join his brother, Richard, who was paroled last year....

A convicted kidnapper who kept 26 children and a school bus driver in a buried trailer has been granted his freedom - after the governor of California didn't object to parole.  James Schoenfeld, 63, kidnapped the bus carrying the group then buried them alive in a chilling heist inspired by the film Dirty Harry. Schoenfeld confessed to carrying out the 1976 crime with his brother Richard and his friend Fred Woods. He was originally given a life sentence, which was commuted to allow the possibility of parole. This will now be granted to him after almost 40 years in prison....

One of the three men who "buried alive" 26 schoolchildren and their bus driver was granted release from prison nearly 40 years after the infamous kidnapping in Chowchilla, Calif. After 20 attempts at procuring parole, James Schoenfeld, 63, was granted release from a San Luis Obispo prison, where he's been locked up since 1977, according to the Fresno Bee. His recommended release date will be determined over the next few months and handed to Gov. Jerry Brown, corrections department spokesman Bill Sessa said. The governor can choose whether to follow the parole order, modify it or send it back to the parole board...

Frank Edward Ray, the school bus driver hailed as a hero for helping to lead 26 children to safety after a bizarre kidnapping in the San Joaquin Valley town of Chowchilla, Calif., 36 years ago, has died. He was 91. Ray died Thursday in Chowchilla of complications of cirrhosis of the liver, said his granddaughter, Susan Ray. On the next-to-last day of summer school in July 1976, Ray was driving a busload of children home when he slowed down on tree-lined Avenue 21 for a white van blocking the road. Three masked men with guns jumped out and hijacked the...

Newly released details of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's prison plan show a portion of one of Chowchilla's two women's prisons being converted to a men's prison -- a proposal that local officials say they will do everything they can to stop. "People are really opposed to this," said Chowchilla Mayor Ron Harris. "We'll probably raise a stink." The proposal, part of a nearly $6 billion prison-crowding relief plan, calls for 800 male beds at the Valley State Prison for Women. The prison, listed as having capacity for 1,980 women, would essentially be split in two -- a male prison and a...

One of the men who kidnapped and buried a busload of school children 30 years ago was once again denied parole Monday. Richard Allen Schoenfeld won't be eligible for parole again until 2008, state Board of Parole Hearings spokesman Tip Kindel said Schoenfeld, his brother James Schoenfeld, and Frederick Newhall Woods, were sentenced to life in prison for the crime. The men, all scions of wealthy San Francisco Peninsula families, commandeered the bus on July 15, 1976, near Chowchilla in the San Joaquin Valley. They transferred their hostages to two vans, drove about 100 miles north and put them in...

Inmate Killed at Chowchilla Women's Prison Death investigated as a homicide Charles McCarthy THE FRESNO BEE Last Updated: December 21, 2005, 07:10:00 AM PST MADERA ? The death of a Valley State Prison for Women inmate Tuesday morning is being investigated by Madera County sheriff?s detectives as a homicide. Sheriff?s Department spokeswoman Erica Smith said the inmate?s name wouldn?t be released until next of kin is notified. The woman was pronounced dead at Madera Community Hospital. Prison officials wouldn?t give her age but they said more information would be released today. Smith said Madera County homicide investigators were called to...

CHOWCHILLA — Army Spc. Terry Hitchcock will return Tuesday to Iraq, thankful for an outpouring of care and generosity after his family lost everything in a fire.Terry and Mindy Hitchcock didn't know where to begin this week, thanking churches, individuals and organizations who responded without being asked.Their gratitude ranges from Table Mountain Casino for a donation of $50,000, to Chowchilla volunteers who arranged a $7-per-ticket benefit tri-tip lunch."When I finish this deployment, my wife and I will buy a home, build a home; that's what we'll do," the 42-year-old soldier on emergency leave said. "We'll be able to get on...

Soldier is back in the U.S. on leave after his Chowchilla house burns.Terry Hitchcock, a soldier stationed in Iraq, is home in Chowchilla on emergency leave to deal with the aftermath of his family's house fire. He hugs his 8-year-old son, Brandon, in the doorway of the burned home under a flag sign yellowed from the fire.Taking emergency leave from Iraq to return to a fire-gutted house in Chowchilla wasn't the happiest homecoming for Army Spec. Terry Hitchcock, but he and his family were thankful to be together Wednesday."I just want to take care of my family and get them...