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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The last of three men convicted of hijacking a school bus full of California children for an attempted $5 million ransom in 1976 — in what a prosecutor called "the largest mass kidnapping in U.S. history" — is being released by the state's parole board.
Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the board to reconsider its decision to parole Frederick Woods, 70, on Tuesday. Two board members recommended his release in March when previous panels had denied him parole 17 times. But the board affirmed that decision.
Woods and his two accomplices, brothers Richard and James Schoenfeld, were from wealthy San Francisco Bay Area families when they kidnapped 26 children and their bus driver near Chowchilla. The town is about 125 miles (201 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco.
The three buried the children, ages 5 to 14, along with their bus driver in an old moving van east of San Francisco with little ventilation, light, water, food or bathroom supplies. The victims were able to dig their way out more than a day later.
Newsom said Woods "continued to engage in financial related-misconduct in prison," using a contraband cellphone to offer advice on running a Christmas tree farm, a gold mining business and a car dealership. The governor couldn't block Woods' release because he's not convicted of murder, and could only urge the parole board to take a closer look.
FILE - In this July 20, 1976, photo, officials remove a moving van buried at a rock quarry in Livermore, Calif., in which 26 Chowchilla school children and their bus driver, Ed Ray were held captive.
Woods' behavior "continues to demonstrate that he is about the money," Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno said in opposing his parole.
Moreno said after the decision that she was angry and frustrated "because justice has been mocked in Madera County," and she fears for the state of society "if you can kidnap a busload of school children, abandon them buried alive and still get out of prison after committing that crime and spending your time in prison flouting the law."
Woods wasn't eligible to attend in person on Tuesday. But he said during his parole hearing in March that he felt he needed money to have acceptance from his parents and "was selfish and immature at that time," while his more recent violations were to benefit the trust fund left him by his late parents.
"I didn't need the money. I wanted the money," Woods said of the ransom attempt.
His attorney, Dominique Banos, said Wednesday that the parole board recognized that Woods "has shown a change in character for the good" and "remains a low risk, and once released from prison he poses no danger or threat to the community."
Three former inmates who served time with Woods urged parole officials to free him, while four victims or their relatives said Woods' misbehavior in prison shows he still views himself as privileged. Several of Woods' victims have previously supported his release.
FILE - In this Friday, July 23, 1976, photo, the inside of the moving van in which 26 Chowchilla, Calif., school children and their bus driver were held captive is seen in a Livermore, Calif., quarry. Lynda Carrejo Labendeira, who was 10 at the time, recalled how the children struggled to escape as a flashlight and candles flick;ered out while "the makeshift, dungeonous coffin was caving in."
"I don't get to choose the random flashbacks every time I see a van similar to the one that we were transported in," she told the board.
"Insomnia keeps me up all hours of the night," she said. "I don't sleep so that I don't have to have any nightmares at all."
Jennifer Brown Hyde, who was 9 at the time, recalled "the lifetime effects of being buried alive and being driven around in a van for 11 hours with no food, water or a bathroom in over 100-degree weather."
"His mind is still evil and he is out to get what he wants," she told the board. "I want him to serve life in prison, just as I served a lifetime of dealing with the PTSD due to his sense of entitlement."
She said Wednesday that her family is disappointed, but it is "time to close this chapter and continue living the blessed life I have been given." She praised her fellow hostages as "true survivors and not victims."
An appeals court ordered Richard Schoenfeld released in 2012, and then-Gov. Jerry Brown paroled James Schoenfeld in 2015.
Newsom acknowledged that Woods is eligible for consideration both because he was just 24 when he committed the crime and because he is elderly now. He said Woods, who once studied policing at a community college, has also taken steps to improve himself in prison.
The governor's late father, state Judge William Newsom, was on an appellate panel in 1980 that reduced the men's life sentences to give them a chance at parole. He pushed for their release in 2011, after he retired, noting that no one was seriously physically injured during the kidnapping.
School Bus Hijacking
FILE -- In this July 20, 1976 file photo, officials remove a truck buried at a rock quarry in Livermore, Calif., in which 26 Chowchilla school children and their bus driver were held captive. Nearly 40 years later the final convicted kidnapper, Fredrick Woods, is awaiting a parole hearing Nov. 19, 2015. Woods accomplices, brothers James and Richard Schoenfeld have already been paroled.(AP Photo/file)School Bus Hijacking
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)School Bus Hijacking
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)Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping
Officers from Alameda and Santa Clara counties in California sift through materials at a warehouse in San Jose, Calif., July 23, 1976, in their search for evidence in the abducting of 26 Chowchilla school children and their bus driver. The driver, Ed Ray, was flown to San Jose in an attempt to identify vans which officials say they have recovered. They are trying to identify the vans as those used to transport the children from Chowchilla to the quarry in Livermore, Calif. (AP Photo)School Bus Hijacking
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)School Bus Hijacking
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)Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping
Several shot-gun blasts were fired through the window of the old Madera County Justice Court in Chowchilla, July 28, 1976, shattering the plate glass windows. The court where Richard Schoenfeld will be arraigned has been moved to a new location and the building now houses a mental health clinic. No one was hurt in the incident. Schoenfeld is to be arraigned on charges stemming from the kidnapping of 26 Chowchilla school children and their bus driver. (AP Photo/Jim Palmer)Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping
Transport driver secures one of three vans recovered by Alameda County Sheriff's Deputies from a warehouse in San Jose, Calif., July 24, 1976. Authorities believe the three vans were used to transport 26 Chowchilla school children and their bus driver Ed Ray, to a rock quarry near Livermore, California. (AP Photo)Darla Daniels
FILE -- In this July 17, 1976 file photo, Darla Sue Daniels, 10, is carried by her father (name not available) from the police department after being reunited with her family in Chowchilla, Calif. Daniels was one of 26 school children, and their bus driver who were abducted and buried in a truck underground in 1976. Nearly 40 years later the final convicted kidnapper, Fredrick Woods, is awaiting a parole hearing Nov. 19, 2015. Woods accomplices, brothers James and Richard Schoenfeld have already been paroled. (AP Photo,file)Frank Ray Jr.
FILE -- In this July 17, 1976 file photo, Dairyland school bus driver Frank "Ed" Ray Jr. steps from the bus that brought him and 26 school children home to Chowchilla, Calif., after they were found unharmed on Friday night. Nearly 40 years later the final convicted kidnapper, Fredrick Woods, is awaiting a parole hearing Nov. 19, 2015. Woods accomplices, brothers James and Richard Schoenfeld have already been paroled.(AP Photo/Jim Palmer, file)Frances Williams, Lisa Barletta
FILE -- In this July 17, 1976 file photo Frances Williams, left, whose daughter Lisa Barletta, 12, was among the children abducted from their school bus, is embraced by friend Barbara Kjostad after learning the children and driver were found unharmed in Chowchilla, Calif. Nearly 40 years later the final convicted kidnapper, Fredrick Woods, is awaiting a parole hearing Nov. 19, 2015. Woods accomplices, brothers James and Richard Schoenfeld have already been paroled. (AP Photo/Jim Palmer,file )School Bus Hijacking
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)Richard Schoenfeld
FILE - In this July 1976 file photo, Richard Schoenfeld leaves the Alameda County Jail in Oakland, Calif., to be taken to Chowchilla for arraignment in the kidnapping of 26 school children and their bus driver. Schoenfeld, his brother James and Fredrick Woods were convicted of the 1976 kidnapping of a Chowchilla school bus and buried the 26 children and driver in a truck underground in 1976. An appeals court ordered Richard Schoenfeld released in 2012 and California Gov. Jerry Brown paroled James Schoenfeld in Aug. 2015. The California Board of Parole Hearings is scheduled to meet Nov. 19, 2015 to decide whether if Woods should be paroled.(AP Photo, file)Sam Barletta, Pam Barletta
Sam Barletta embraces his daughter Pam, 13, in Chowchilla, July 16, 1976 as they await word on the 26 missing students and their bus driver that disappeared on Thursday. Barletta's younger daughter Lisa, 12, is among the missing children. (AP Photo/Jim Palmer)Sam Barletta
Sam Barletta, left, whose daughter Lisa, 12, was found safe in Chowchilla after being abducted along with 25 other students and their school bus driver, is greeted by friends after learning all the children were found unharmed, July 16, 1976. Man at right is unidentified. (AP Photo/Jim Palmer)Tom Houchins, Ed Bates
Alameda County Sheriff Tom Houchins, left, holds composites of two suspects in the kidnapping of 26 Chowchilla school children as Madera County Sheriff Ed Bates describes the men during a news conference in Madera, July 19, 1976. Three men are believed to be involved in the bizarre abduction. (AP Photo)Gary Lockman, Larry Shannon
Officers Gary Lockman, left, and Larry Shannon of the Menlo Park, Calif., police department pose with the van in which James Schoenfeld, the second of three suspects sought in the Chowchilla bus kidnap, was spotted driving on a freeway south of San Francisco, shown in Menlo Park, California, July 30, 1976. Shoenfeld was captured without a struggle. (AP Photo)Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping
One youngster snoozes while another looks right at the camera at Santa Rita correctional facility in California, July 17, 1976, after the 26 school children and their bus driver from Chowchilla, Calif., were found unharmed. The children and driver were found in a quarry at Livermore, Calif., and taken to Santa Rita to await transport to their homes in Chowchilla. (AP Photo/Robert H. Houston)