Posted on 05/18/2012 10:43:45 PM PDT by peggybac
Frank Edward Ray, the school bus driver hailed as a hero for helping to lead 26 children to safety after a bizarre kidnapping in the San Joaquin Valley town of Chowchilla, Calif., 36 years ago, has died. He was 91.
Ray died Thursday in Chowchilla of complications of cirrhosis of the liver, said his granddaughter, Susan Ray.
On the next-to-last day of summer school in July 1976, Ray was driving a busload of children home when he slowed down on tree-lined Avenue 21 for a white van blocking the road.
Three masked men with guns jumped out and hijacked the bus, throwing Ray, the children and Chowchilla into history as victims of one of California's strangest crimes.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
I remember it like it was yesterday.
I still have that book from the 70’s. What a chilling ordeal he and those kids went through.
And the three rich boy perps who had everything going for them are still in jail. The idiocy of this crime is still beyond belief. They must be in their 50’s or 60’s now, paying for the crime committed when they were just stupid younguns.
RIP Frank Edward Ray.
Hijacking and kidnapping seemed to be the cool thing to do back in the 70s...
“Ray is survived by his wife of nearly 70 years, Odessa”
Wow. 70 years.
RIP.
One of the kidnappers was just released from prison last month, FWIW. Sorry for late posting, but just saw the article about the kidnapper: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/man-kidnapped-26-children-chowchilla-school-bus-demanded-ransom-released-prison-article-1.1100686
Thanks!!
Kidnapper who kept 26 schoolkids buried alive in a trailer granted parole after 39 years
Daily Mail ^ | July 30, 2015 | Kelly McLaughlin
Posted on Fri Jul 31 10:30:52 2015 by rickmichaels
A convicted kidnapper who kept 26 children and a school bus driver in a buried trailer has been granted his freedom - after the governor of California didn't object to parole.
James Schoenfeld, 63, kidnapped the bus carrying the group then buried them alive in a chilling heist inspired by the film Dirty Harry.
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