Probation approved for California man who hijacked a bus full of children and buried them alive

By Minyvonne Burke and The Associated Press -

A 70-year-old Californian who has spent the past four decades in prison for hijacking a school bus full of children and burying them and their driver alive has been declared fit for parole.

Frederick Newhall Woods was declared fit for parole at a hearing held Friday at Men's Colony, California, a state prison in San Luis Obispo County.

He had been denied release 17 times.

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Woods was convicted of participating in the 1976 kidnapping of 26 boys, ages 5 to 14, and their bus driver near Chowchilla, about 77 miles (125 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco.

Woods and his accomplices, brothers Richard and James Schoenfeld, buried them alive in a ventilated bunker.

Frederick Woods in 2018. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP File

The kidnappers, who planned the crime for more than a year, demanded a $5 million ransom from the state Board of Education.

All three came from wealthy families in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The children and the driver were able to dig themselves out and escape after more than a day in the bunker.

Woods apologized for his actions Friday, telling the parole panel that he "had empathy for the victims that he didn't have then."

"I've had a character change since then," he said.

“She was 24 years old.

I now fully understand the terror and trauma I caused.

I take full responsibility for this heinous act,” she declared.

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His accomplices are now free after an appeals court ordered Richard's release in 2012 and then-Governor Jerry Brown paroled James in 2015.

Interior of the van that was used as a prison for the 26 kidnapped Chowchilla schoolchildren and their bus driver in Livermore, California, on July 24, 1976. Jim Palmer / AP file

Two of the victims, Larry Park and Rebecca Reynolds Dailey, supported Woods' parole.

"I think he's served enough time for the crime he committed," Park said Friday.

Survivors Jennifer Brown Hyde, Lynda Carrejo and Laura Yazzi Fanning don't want to see Woods go free.

"He could have done a lot more," Brown Hyde said, saying he doesn't think Woods has totally made up for what he did and is "still a millionaire."

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“Even the settlement paid to some of the survivors was not enough.

It was enough to pay for some therapy, but not enough to buy a house,” she noted.

Madera County Prosecutor Sally Moreno said many of the survivors are still affected by what happened.

“This is an individual who has shown how dangerous he is.

He has ruined the lives of dozens of these children — they are still struggling, many of them, with the aftermath of this,” Moreno stated.

“He is not someone who should be released.

He has shown the ability to commit these types of crimes… to devise and carry out something like this,” she added.

The panel's decision will become final 120 days before it is reviewed by the Governor.

If the governor allows the parole decision to stand, Woods will be scheduled for release.