A Bus Full Of Kids Vanished Before Parents Learned The Wild Truth

the small town of chowchilla california was rocked when a bus full of children and its driver seemed to vanish from thin air the worried parents and community didn't know where they could have possibly gone when the details about their location started pouring in however the situation seemed far worse than anyone could have imagined if it weren't for one brave individual the whereabouts of the bus and the children within might have remained a mystery forever on july 15 1976 the summer school kids of daryl and elementary were on a sleepy bus ride back from a swimming pool field trip they had one more day left in their fun-filled program before they were free to enjoy their final few weeks of vacation frank ed rayman the wheel that day he was shoveling the group of 26 kids ages 5-14 many of them still in their wet swimsuits from the day's activities waiting to change once they got home in his 23 years driving bus part-time ed had long since mastered operating his rig under premium levels of distraction so when he clocked a white van with its hood up on the road he made a pass on by before ed could flip his blinker he decided to holler out his window to offer the van driver help that never happened though instead ed watched in surreal dread as a man wearing pantyhose over his face appeared at the bus door wielding a gun the assailant pointed the gun at ed and demanded to enter the bus two more masked men filed on after him they waved guns and forced ed out of the driver's seat and to the very back of the bus with all the terrified children monica artery the youngest of the kids on board at five years old remembered the nearly silent ride she kept focusing on the legs of pantyhose draped on the gunman's shoulders resembling the easter bunny after 15 minutes the masked men turned the bus off the road and parked it out of sight behind overgrown shrubs and bamboo ed and the children were ushered off the bus and split between two waiting vans with covered windows without a clue where they were headed the older kids in the van attempted to sue the younger ones during their seemingly never-ending drive they passed some of the 11-hour trip singing songs like if you're happy and you know it pretend positivity vanished when the vans part the doors opened and the masked men pulled ed and the children out into an expansive rock quarry at gunpoint they were marched to a hole in the ground the site triggered the first screams of fear they were instructed to climb single file down a ladder into the hole which was the cargo area of a moving truck it was buried in the dirt to prevent anyone from escaping even if they had managed to break through the metal walls each captive was forced to provide their name address phone number and a small portion of their clothing to the masked men then they climbed out took the ladder and closed the hatch leaving the children and ed alone in the darkness on dirty mattresses at 3am they listened to the van's drive off no one would find them trapped in the metal box let alone hear their screams ed attempted to calm the kids crying for their parents secretly believing they'd never make it home they ran through the small portion of food and water quickly each minute dragged and with sunrise came the california heat rapidly turning their cell into a sweat box boarding the bus earlier that afternoon seemed like a distant memory all of chowchilla was up in arms within hours of the children not arriving home to their parents earlier that night at around 7 30 p.m a searcher plane spotted the abandoned school bus police scoured the vehicle for clues to no avail meanwhile the kidnappers lounged at their hideout they attempted to reach someone at the chowchilla police to state their demands but all the frantic dialings in from parents to the authorities had jammed the phone system since they failed to request their hefty dollar five million ransom they slept on it kidnapping and long distance driving was tiring work so they took a nap agreeing to make the call later it wasn't like their captives were going anywhere back in the underground bunker ed found reassuring the kids worse than the heat and stench of urine everybody was starting to crack among them 14 year old mike marshall who shooed away ed's theory that the kidnappers were sitting watch above ground stewing for all that time convinced mike of one thing they needed to try to escape he reasoned and convinced ed that even if their captors were keeping guard outside if they stayed put they would likely die from heat or starvation their plan was to reach the ceiling hatch at any cost mike and his friend gathered and stacked the old mattresses scattered about the space then he used one of the wooden bed frame slats to prod the hatch for hours hoping it would budge mike didn't know the kidnappers covered the hatch with a metal plate two 100 lb batteries and a layer of dirt his determination never wavered hours of balancing on the mattresses and hammering at the ceiling hatch till exhaustion paid off over 16 hours after they climbed into the moving van the 27 victims pulled themselves back out into the evening air thanks to mike's resolve to survive they were able to escape physically intact though not without trauma no one waited to see if the kidnappers were lingering ed led the children to an office in the quarry where a worker who'd heard the news report recognized them instantly saying this world's been looking for you police traced the license plates finding them registered to a warehouse in san jose it just so happened to be leased to a man that owned the rock quarry frederick woods a careful search of the woods family estate provided another crucial clue a discarded draft of a ransom note was found in the home right when the son of the homeowner fred wood's room poor had hoofed it out of town his whereabouts unknown the disappearance of fred's buddies brothers richard and james sconefeld sparked a manhunt enduring a nationwide search was too much for richard a week later he turned himself in soon after james was picked up in menlo park after a witness phoned in a hotline tip the last of their trio was booked while trying to keep a low profile in british columbia the judge handed down three life sentences without the possibility of parole to the kidnappers all of who were young unambitious sons of wealthy connected families later another judge concluded that ruling was invalid granting all free parole good behavior behind bars led the parole board to release both the brothers richard in 2012 and james in 2015. as of october 8 2019 fred woods was denied parole yet again as he still made attempts to minimize the severity of his crimes needless to say plenty of people were opposed to his becoming a free man for the victims knowing their kidnappers walk free while they still grapple with the lasting effects of their trauma anxiety claustrophobia paranoia and panic disorders is equally hard to bear