Parole recommended for inmate in 1976 school bus hijacking

By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — 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 in the case of 70-year-old Frederick Woods. The parole recommendation could still be rejected by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Woods’ accomplices, brothers Richard and James Schoenfeld, were paroled years ago. All three were from wealthy San Francisco Bay Area families when they kidnapped 26 children and their bus driver near Chowchilla. They buried the children and bus driver in a ventilated underground bunker east of San Francisco. The victims were able to dig their way out more than a day later.