Released in 2023, the Chowchilla movie is a documentary about the kidnapping of 26 children in Chowchilla, California. This was one of several tragic events in California in the 1970s, but unlike others, this one had a “happy” ending. However, it left several children with trauma and PTSD coming out of their near-death experience. The event saw three men hijack a school bus with the 26 children and one driver and then take them in two vans to an abandoned quarry, where they were locked in an underground chamber, awaiting ransom demands for their safe return.

The Max documentary takes an interesting direction when re-telling these horrific events. It looks at the effects of trauma on these children who had their childhood taken away from them in one horrifying moment. It looks at the crime and punishment involved, including the controversy surrounding how the three men won their appeal based on a technicality. However, at the same time, Chowchilla also looks at the bravery of Michael Marshall, the young boy who helped save his classmates but never received the credit he deserved.

The Chowchilla Kidnapping: What Happened?

Three Men Hijacked A School Bus With Ransom Demands

The Chowchilla movie tells the story of a kidnapping in Chowchilla, California, on July 15, 1976. On this day, bus driver Ed Ray, 55, was driving a bus of students from Dairyland Elementary School home. This was during the summer when the kids had a fun day at the Chowchilla Fairgrounds swimming pool, but something horrifying happened. A van reportedly pulled in front of the bus and blocked the road. Then, three masked men came up with guns and hijacked the bus (via The New York Times).

According to authorities, 19 girls and seven boys, aged six to 14, were on the bus. They were then driven to the California Rock & Gravel quarry in Livermore, 110 miles from the fairgrounds where they had been swimming. Everyone was forced to climb down into an underground bunker, which the kidnappers created out of a truck trailer they buried and equipped with ventilation and a pit toilet (via CBS News). The kidnappers then removed the ladder, covered the hatch with a piece of sheet metal, weighed it down with 200 pounds of batteries, and left them there.

The three kidnappers planned to ask for ransom and left with the names of all the children. One of the kidnappers, James Schoenfeld, said, “We needed multiple victims to get multiple millions, and we picked children because children are precious. The state would be willing to pay ransom for them. And they don’t fight back.” (via CBS News). However, as the authorities were desperately searching for the missing children, one child saved them all.

How Michael Marshall Helped His Classmates Escape

Marshall Dug His Way Out To Free Everyone

To escape, Michael Marshall, 14, wedged his body through a crack when his bus driver pushed at the hatch. Michael then began digging for his life. Finally, 16 hours after their abduction, Michael and the rest of the kids climbed out of the bunker and walked to the quarry guard’s shack (via City of Chowchilla).

The Choochilla movie has interviews with several of the children about the incident, and everyone says that Michael saved them, even though only the bus driver was praised at the time. The Max documentary movie also has fictional reenactments of the kidnapping.

When asked about the moment when he saved his friends and schoolmates, Marshall said they all thought they were going to die (via PEOPLE):

“I thought to myself: If we’re going to die, we’re going to die getting the hell out of here… “It was my chance to tell the world what happened — getting out and everything. And I didn’t do it; I let the grown-ups do it.”

Marsahall admitted that when the reporters were there asking what had happened, his Principal (LeRoy Tatum) stepped in and told them to leave the kids alone, and the bus driver received all the credit for the escape.

How The Chowchilla Kidnappers Were Finally Caught

The Police Learned Their Idenтιтies & The Manhunt Began

When the police dug out the truck trailer and began investigating, they realized the quarry was owned by Frederick Nickerson Woods​​​​. After searching Woods’ 100-acre estate, they discovered his son, Fred Newhall Woods IV, 24, was missing. The police put out an all-points bulletin for Woods and his two friends, James Schoenfeld, 24, and his brother, Richard Schoenfeld, 22, sons of a wealthy podiatrist. Police also found a draft of the $5 million ransom note in Woods’ home (via City of Chowchilla).

Less than a week later, Richard Schoenfeld voluntarily surrendered to police, accompanied by his attorney and father. He was held on a $1 million bail. Six days later, the RCMP captured Woods, who had fled to Vancouver in Canada. James Schoenfeld was also preparing to surrender when he was arrested in Menlo Park. The three young men pleaded guilty to all 27 counts of kidnapping for ransom, and the prosecution dropped 18 counts of robbery. They were sentenced to life without possibility of parole in December 1977.

What The Chowchilla Movie Leaves Out From The Real Story

The Documentary Actually Adds More To The Story

As a documentary, the Chowchilla movie didn’t really leave anything out of the real story. As a matter of fact, it was the opposite. It added in things that no one knew before. This is specifically true about Michael Marshall, the boy who saved everyone but got none of the credit for it. The town celebrated bus driver Ed Ray for saving the kids. They hosted a parade on “Ed Ray Day” and even named a city park after him. Marshall tried not to think about it, but he grew depressed, and it cost him his mental health.

However, this movie did something special. It showed Michael Marshall as the hero he should have always been remembered as. When Marshall reunited with fellow survivor Larry Park, he finally understood. “I didn’t realize how much it would help me to understand and to actually hear one of the kids tell me that I saved their lives and that they were grateful,” Marshall said in the documentary. “Not very many people can relate.”

Where The Chowchilla Kidnappers Are Now

All Three Men Have Been Paroled From Prison

There was one problem concerning the conviction of Fred Woods, James Schoenfeld, and Richard Schoenfeld. A Superior Court judge found them guilty of three counts of kidnapping with bodily harm, which is why they got life sentences with no parole. Their attorneys appealed the sentencing and won. While the three men were guilty of kidnapping, the courts ruled that the “bodily harm” was false. Despite traumatic mental and psychological scars, there was no physical harm, so the “without parole” was nullified.

The three ended up re-sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. One of the children, Jodi Heffington, went to every parole hearing, fearing the worst. Those fears came true in June 2012 when Richard Schoenfeld was granted parole, 36 years after the kidnappings. Three years later, his brother, James Schoenfeld, was also paroled. The two brothers were reportedly ideal prisoners and caused no problems in prison. They were 57 and 63 when released.

Fred Woods, considered by many to be the ringleader of the kidnapping, wasn’t so lucky. He reportedly kept breaking prison rules and caused a lot of trouble while serving his sentence. He was allegedly found to be running three different businesses from behind bars, which is against the law. Jodi Heffington would not live to see Woods released. She died in 2021 at 55. Just 14 months after her death, Woods was finally granted parole at the age of 70.

What Happened To The Chowchilla Victims

Some Forgave The Kidnappers & Others Could Never Get Past The Trauma

Michael Marshall was the hero who got all the kids out of the hole, but his story was never told until the Chowchilla movie. This gave his classmates a chance to say what really happened and how Marshall was the one who saved them. However, after the incident, Marshall saw his life falling apart at the young age of 14 (via PEOPLE):

“Before the kidnapping, I could see so much light ahead of me — see my future. But then after the kidnapping, I couldn’t see anything… [I was] blackout drunk every single night {when he was 19 or 20]. “I just didn’t want to remember any more about the kidnapping. I was drinking and using and all of that to the point where … I was living in insanity.”

Everyone thought the kids got a happy ending, and a Los Angeles organization even treated them to a Disneyland trip. However, the kids didn’t leave their traumatic experience well. Marshall wasn’t the only person whose life became a nightmare. According to Joan Brown, her daughter Jennifer (aged 9) had nightmares. “She had horrible nightmares. … she would run screaming into our bedroom, and she wasn’t even awake… And she would tell us later that she dreamt that they were lined up and sH๏τ.“

When the victims and their families learned about the appeal, it brought the nightmares back to the real world. Jodi Heffington, who was 10 when they were kidnapped, attended every single parole hearing until she died in 2021. Her son Matthew said that the two paroles negatively affected his mother, and she wasn’t able to get out of bed anymore due to depression issues. Before her death, she admitted that the entire ordeal made her think she was the problem and that she was never good enough (via The Cinemaholic):

“I think it made me not a good daughter, not a good sister, not a good aunt, and especially not a good mother… I try to be those things. But it seems like it just took something from me that I can’t ever get back. And I can’t tear down … no matter how hard I try and no matter what I do.”

Larry Park was only six when he was abducted. Despite his young age, it still hit him hard, and he struggled to have a normal life. He said he spent his 20s and 30s abusing drugs. However, he finally “healed.” He owns a handyman business and works as a volunteer pastor at a local church. He says his nightmares stopped, and he is a decade sober. Park also revealed he met the kidnappers and forgave them (via CBS News):

“It changed my life. … Something washed over me. … And there was peace like I had never known. And I knew that day that I would be OK.“

Jennifer Brown Hyde was nine when she was kidnapped. She is also someone else who was able to find peace years after the event. “I’ve had family and church family … and co-workers that have piece by piece helped put me back together. … And I want people to know that that little girl that was kidnapped and buried alive has managed to live a wonderful life.“

Each child from the incident revealed in the Chowchilla movie had their own stories and struggles. However, the one who saved them all, Michael Marshall, struggled and said he could never forgive those men. He is now sober, a father and a long-distance truck driver. “What they put my mom and dad through is something I cannot forgive,” he said.