The Chowchilla Kidnapping
The Chowchilla Kidnapping
Mass Child Abduction in 1976 in California

The Chowchilla Kidnapping, also known as the California Kidnap, is one of the most infamous kidnapping cases in American history. The incident took place on July 15, 1976, in Chowchilla, California, when 26 children and their bus driver were kidnapped and held captive for 16 hours.


The kidnappers, Fred Woods, Richard Schoenfeld, and James Schoenfeld, all in their early 20s, had planned the abduction for months. They had dug a hole in a remote area near the town of Livermore, California, where they intended to bury the victims alive.

On the day of the kidnapping, the three men followed the school bus as it made its way back from a summer school outing. They stopped the bus, and Woods and James Schoenfeld boarded it, while Richard Schoenfeld stayed behind to guard the children.

The kidnappers forced the children and the bus driver into a van and drove them to the hole they had dug. They then forced them to climb down a ladder into the hole, which was covered with a metal lid. The kidnappers then piled rocks and dirt on top of the lid, trapping the victims underground.

 

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