Close
KTAR.com
News
Shows
Blogs
KTAR News on 92.3FM

Parole recommended for 1976 California school bus hijacker

FILE - Two Dairyland Union School District students, who were among the 26 school children, and their bus driver who were abducted and buried in a truck underground, walk to the family car clad in blankets after release and early morning arrival in Chowchilla, Calif., on July 17, 1976. California parole commissioners have recommended parole for the last of three men convicted of hijacking the school bus full of children for $5 million ransom in 1976. The two commissioners acted Friday, March 25, 2022, in the case of 70-year-old Frederick Woods. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this July 17, 1976, photo parents and families of the Dairyland Union School District children and their bus driver who were kidnapped, wait anxiously inside the Chowchilla police station as the students unload from the chartered bus that returned them from Livermore, Calif., where they were found. California parole commissioners have recommended parole for the last of three men convicted of hijacking a school bus full of children for $5 million ransom in 1976. The two commissioners acted Friday, March 25, 2022, in the case of 70-year-old Frederick Woods. (AP Photo, File) FILE - Chowchilla church-goers give a prayer of thanks for the safe return of their 26 school children and bus driver, during a service at the Chowchilla Baptist Church, in Chowchilla, Calif., July 18, 1976. California parole commissioners have recommended parole for the last of three men convicted of hijacking a school bus full of children for $5 million ransom in 1976. The two commissioners acted Friday, March 25, 2022, in the case of 70-year-old Frederick Woods. All three were from wealthy San Francisco Bay Area families when they kidnapped 26 children and their bus driver near Chowchilla. (AP Photo/Jim Palmer, File) FILE - In this July 17, 1976, photo members of the Alameda County Crime Lab and FBI are pictured working around the opening to the van where 26 Chowchilla school children and their bus driver were held captive at a rock quarry near Livermore, Calif. California parole commissioners have recommended parole for the last of three men convicted of hijacking a school bus full of children for $5 million ransom in 1976. The two commissioners acted Friday, March 25, 2022, in the case of 70-year-old Frederick Woods. (AP Photo, File) This Oct. 10, 2021, photo released by the California Department of Corrections, shows Fredrick Woods. California parole commissioners have recommended parole for the last of three men convicted of hijacking a school bus full of children for $5 million ransom in 1976. The two commissioners acted Friday, March 25, 2022, in the case of 70-year-old Woods. The parole recommendation could still be rejected by Gov. Gavin Newsom. (California Department of Corrections via AP) FILE - Officials remove a truck buried at a rock quarry in Livermore, Calif., in which 26 Chowchilla school children and their bus driver, Ed Ray, were held captive on July 20, 1976. California parole commissioners have recommended parole for the last of three men convicted of hijacking the school bus full of children for $5 million ransom in 1976. The two commissioners acted Friday, March 25, 2022, in the case of 70-year-old Frederick Woods. (AP Photo/James Palmer, File) FILE - This July 24, 1976, photo shows the inside of the van that was used as a prison for the 26 kidnapped Chowchilla school children and their bus driver in Livermore, Calif. California parole commissioners have recommended parole for the last of three men convicted of hijacking a school bus full of children for $5 million ransom in 1976. The two commissioners acted Friday, March 25, 2022, in the case of 70-year-old Frederick Woods. All three were from wealthy San Francisco Bay Area families when they kidnapped 26 children and their bus driver near Chowchilla. (AP Photo/Jim Palmer, File)