Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host Ashley Flowers, and I'm Britt and the story I have for you today is one I wasn't all that familiar with despite its notoriety for being one of the most bizarre kidnapping cases in US history This is the story of the Chauchilla kidnappings It's July 15th way back in 1976 when a police dispatcher in Chauchilla, California Gets a call from a concerned mother saying that the school bus that was supposed to drop off her son just never arrived Her son was taking part in this summer session along with many other kids from the town and their school day in the summer Mostly consisted of them playing and swimming with kids and then being returned in the late afternoon just in time for dinner
But still it was sometime after four o'clock and the bus was late which never happened and it seems She isn't the only one panicking because more and more calls start coming into police from other concerned parents whose kids haven't been dropped off Now listen my kid doesn't come home on time and I go straight towards case scenario But police aren't in an emotional place. I mean their first thoughts lean more towards like mundane scenarios, right? Which makes sense like a flat tire a mechanical issue Maybe there was a traffic jam or an accident that they are stuck behind or something like that Precisely that's the most logical explanation so they go out looking for this bus But according to the CNN Films documentary Chauchilla Complicating matters was the fact that this is a summer session not a regular school year or whatever So the bus driver 55 year old ed ray didn't take the normal bus route and that's a problem because of where Chauchilla is located It is this teeny tiny town about 150 miles southeast of San Francisco I mean literally in the middle of nowhere. There's lots of open farmland and some cattle ranches too I mean according to the Sun telegram the tallest structures were grain silos if that tells you anything
So there are tons of rural roads probably not totally dissimilar to some places actually here in Indiana Yeah, which makes me think it would almost make it a little easier like there's nothing to hide behind I mean well a big yellow school bus would kind of stick out I mean as long as the fields weren't like cornfields or fruit trees or something like that But yeah, there's cattle pasture as you sure could see like far and wide But they're not seeing anything even resembling a school bus and they are searching dozens of back roads by this point The parents have also jumped into help they're searching to and according to a Vox article from Kayla porton Which we relied on heavily for this episode people from town were starting this like CB radio Posse to communicate with each other and help with the search But it doesn't matter who's looking or how many radios they have out there as the hours ticked by with no sign of the bus The idea that it is just broken down somewhere starts to fade Were they considering that Ed the bus driver could have driven off with all the kids?
You know, I thought about that when I was first researching this I assumed they have to be thinking that but there's every indication that Ed was Super reliable. I mean this guy. I haven't been driving the school bus for decades. He's not some So was it like a summer job for him. He was a yeah, driver capital letters He was a known nice guy like throughout the whole town. This wasn't some random stranger not that that means anything
We know that as crime junkies, but like I don't know that anyone was super suspicious of Ed And the other reason they're not Suspecting him though is because the bus had also made some stops and depending on which source you read it varies from like three to five But either way he's already dropped off a few kids before the bus disappeared and when they talk to those kids None of them say anything was unusual So I don't think they're suspecting it of anything right because like if he were going to drive off with a bunch of kids Why let some of them off before that and that would only make sense well nothing makes sense and parents are starting to get anxious So how many kids are on the bus well again? We let a couple off There's 26 kids still on the bus all ranging in age from like five to fourteen So most of their parents are now gathering at the police station waiting for any news And it's around this time just as the sun is setting that there is some potential good news A pilot set up to eight in the search spots the bus on the ground in the middle of the desert about seven miles outside of Chauchilla And apparently the way that this bus was hidden you couldn't have seen it from the road That's why no one had come across it yet So police rush out to that scene right off highway 152 and they find that the bus had been driven off the road into a thicket
Which helped conceal it and I don't think they're thinking of a bus crash here I mean they're like this was done on purpose and that makes them nervous about what they're gonna find inside Which just ends up being an empty bus no kids no bus driver There's not even a key in the ignition and there is nothing to indicate that the bus had some kind of mechanical issue as they might have first thought According to an article in a sun telegram from around that time There's also no sign of blood or foul play inside the bus either The only apparent evidence police find is another set of tire tracks leading directly to the bus door Which is kind of like the worst thing to find like at least before they knew they were looking for this bus now They have this bus and tire tracks leading right up to it. Yeah, so if everyone's been transferred to a new vehicle They have no idea what they're looking for now or even what direction to look in According to that box article later that evening the sheriff gathers the parents at the firehouse where coffee and sandwiches are served He explains to them that whoever took their children most likely doesn't want to harm them. They probably just want money How does he know that he doesn't? I don't know if this is a hunch or maybe just a hope because I mean again now
This is their best case scenario But they assure the parents that they're gonna do everything they can to find their kids and they are pulling out the big guns The medera county sheriff reaches out to the governor of california at the time jerry brown and tells him that he wants every state agency that has cars and radios And the governor's office is basically like listen whatever you need you got it So as dawn breaks the next day the search efforts ramp back up in full force Four airplanes and a helicopter take to the sky while searchers head out on horseback and police officers go door to door leaving no stone unturned The california national guard even comes in as does the fbi who would take over the town's only two motels And as it's made public hundreds of tips start coming in and speculation runs wild in the small town about who could have done something like this And when I say wild i'm not just talking local names getting thrown around I mean theories run the gamut Everything from the zodiac killer to ufo's took the bus Oh my goodness And then press is just pouring into town a town that you could drive through the heart of in less than a minute I mean all these people were coming desperate to tell the story of the largest kidnapping in the history of the united states
And i'm not kidding that box article claims that for every one person in town There were 10 reporters now that could be an exaggeration, but you get the point There was so much press though that it even got the attention of president jerel four who asked that the fbi personally brief him on the investigation So now you have an entire nation including its president glued to their tvs following this story But again throughout day two there is no sign of the kids or the bus driver ed and even more baffling to authorities There is still no contact from the kidnappers who by all appearances seem to have carefully planned every single detail of this kidnapping So if their plan wasn't to demand a ransom Then what was it?
No one had any clue what to expect next and they sure didn't expect the answers to what happened to be found around a hundred miles away In a rock quarry of all places, but that's exactly what happened next When the holiday shopping season rolls around business owners are reminded of how rewarding and demanding it can be to run an online Store for anyone developing a business idea or looking to start selling products now is the ideal time to launch before the holiday rush It's full speed that is where shopify comes in shopify helps you launch a store and start selling in a few simple steps without needing to be an e-commerce expert Whether you're organizing product options or setting up your storefront sidekick shopify's AI assistant can help with business tasks along the way plus launching before black Friday Means you can take advantage of all the extra online traffic when millions of eager shoppers are already browsing and ready to buy We love using shopify for our merch launches to handle everything from inventory to payment to customer service If you're ready to launch your business before black Friday go to shopify.com to start your free trial That's shopify.com go to shopify.com today to hear your first The night sky may look endless, but its secrets could be closer than we think because in this universe you're never truly alone
I'm Yvette Jin Dilei and I'm her sister, russia pecker arrow every Friday on so supernatural We investigate alien encounters haunting tales of the unknown and cosmic mysteries that defy explanation ready to discover what's out there Listen to so supernatural wherever you get your podcast It's around 8 p.m. When an employee of the california rock and gravel company notices what he thinks are trust pastors on the property He goes and checks out the situation, but these are not the type of trespassers he expected For one thing they're just children most of whom are dirty and for another they have a man with them And just because this guy works at a quarry doesn't mean he's living under a rock because he suddenly puts two and two together realizing that These are the missing children from chow chiller that he has seen on the news Now how or why they got here he has no idea, but he rushes off to call the police when they arrive They find the kids actually calm and in relatively good shape According to a 48 hours episode from 2020 each child is photographed And then the group is taken to a local jail where they can get some food some new clothes and medical attention
And it's here that the police also begin to question ed and the children about what the heck happened to them And the story they tell is terrifying According to ed and the kids the group's bus was hijacked by three men wearing pantyhose over their faces and carrying guns The men had parked a white man in the middle of the road forcing the bus to stop And then two of the men got on board of the bus and then forced everyone to the back And then one of them drove the bus to that thicket in the desert where it was eventually found While that third man followed behind them in the white van Now all ed and the kids could tell them is that these guys were white men and they had some vague descriptions of possible ages But like they couldn't tell much because of the pantyhose that they had over their face the whole time I don't know why but I didn't expect this to be three people Me neither and I think it's because I don't know how three people got together and thought kidnapping a bunch of kids was a good idea Without any one of them being like maybe no Let's like stop for a second and think this through yeah Anyways, they say that there was this second van this this one was a green one that was already parked out there waiting for them
And then ed and the kids were then transferred from the bus to the two vans and then they drove But ed and the kids couldn't see where they were being driven to because all the windows were covered blocking out the view and the light The kids bounced around in the back of these vans without any idea where they were going or who these men were that were taking them there I mean it's gotta be such a real experience one minute you're literally on your way home to mom and dad or your parents And then the next they have no idea what their future holds or how long they're gonna be trapped inside this hot van because Hour after hour passes and they are still driving right they do this for 11 hours I mean are they just driving in circles? I don't know because we know that they only end up a hundred miles away It shouldn't take 11 hours, right?
So I don't know these guys were just waiting for it to get dark Maybe they were trying to disorient them maybe this wasn't like as well planned after all and they just didn't know what to do with them But without a why you have to imagine what is scary 11 hours This was for these kids who again some of them were fine. I mean younger than may that's exactly what I was thinking like that is so Little I know and the older kids said they were trying to comfort the younger kids Some of them started singing songs to call their nerves and like what is so horrible too as ed said What he told police is that as they just kept driving they wouldn't even stop for bathroom breaks for these little kids So they were having to I mean literally go to the bathroom where they sat This isn't just a kidnapping. This is almost like a form of torture Totally and it just gets worse According to the son telegram the vans eventually did stop around 3 30 in the morning Ed and the kids told police that when the van doors opened they were parked in like this covered area Picture like a giant tent that the vans kind of backed into which makes it more difficult for them to have any sense of where they were at Ed gets pulled out of the van first and then they pointed to a hole in the ground with a ladder and ordered ed to take a flashlight
That he was given and then climb down into the hole Then the kids are pulled out of the van next and one by one They're asked to give their names their ages And then those are written on the back of this fast food bag that they had and then like ed these kids are ordered one by one down into the hole Is this like a dirt hole like a mass grave is what I mean? I'm not like a bunker like what is it? It's more bunker. So what it turns out is the kidnappers actually buried a moving trailer Underground and then cut a hole in the top of that and then inside they had some mattresses some water or some snacks And then they cut two holes that the kids could use the bathroom Now they did have some ventilation holes that ran outside to the top But even with those much like the van that they've been transported in it was so stinking hot So once they had everyone in there the kidnappers removed the ladder sealed the whole shut and then covered it with several feet of dirt Essentially burying them alive. It sounds like they wanted them to stay alive like they have accommodations in the very generous term But there's mattresses. There's ventilation right the goal wasn't wasn't truly to it seems like kill them right away
It's just like hide them. Yes, but I don't know They did a great job at that like I don't they've never done this before is the sense that I get because you'll learn like the conditions They would not have lasted long down there according to Ed and the kids all they could do when they were down in this hole was Sleep and cry and try to find ways to keep cool But as the hours went by the condition started getting worse There was this fan that was down there trying to help with the ventilation But that stopped working and then what little food and water they did have was gone like pretty quickly And more alarming was that the moving trailer had started to cave in oh my god So Ed and some of the older kids started to look for a way out I mean it took hours But they eventually got the metal cover to the hole open Then a secondary wouldn't cover that they broke through and that allowed the dirt above to seep in until fresh air and light could finally be seen And that's what they followed where they concerned that the kidnappers might be just waiting up there for them I mean, I'm sure they were I know Ed for sure was but he knew that these kids were his responsibility I mean he had gotten them this far by doing what the kidnappers told them to do But they were out of options right now
I mean he knew if they stayed where they were they would have almost likely suffocated to death So maybe they are out there, but like what are your other options? So when a group emerged from the hole some 16 hours after first being put in there They had no idea where they were but luckily the kidnappers weren't like up there waiting for them In that documentary chow chilla They said that they apparently saw a building off in the distance and Ed led everyone to that building And that's where they ran into that rock quarry employee who then called police So after hours of questions the police finally have all the details of this kidnapping They had hoped to stake out where Ed and the kids had been held and wait for the kidnappers when they returned But when news of the children being found is leaked that whole element of surprise is lost So the kidnappers like the rest of the nation would soon know that the chow chilla children were safe Around 4am which would now make it saturday the 17th and roughly 36 hours since this nightmare began A greyhound bus pulls up behind the chow chilla police station Hundreds of people are waiting and cheering for the buses arrival including a mob of reporters and tv news crews
Parents are eager to reclaim their children and hold them in their arms And Ed is the last to step off the bus to what must feel like a hero's welcome I mean he's this lone adult who somehow held this group together But he didn't do it alone Every single one of these kids played a part in the group's survival whether it was emotional or even physical support Specifically a 14 year old at the time Michael Marshall was a huge help in digging them out So truly they are all heroes and now 26 children would get the chance to sleep in their own beds again with their families And not just in the homes with their families like I can't even imagine I would be like gripping josey in bed at night like in her bed with her Uh same may would never leave my site Now while the children and ed are safe police still have their work cut out for them They have three kidnappers on the loose with little information known about them So later that day governor brown issues a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the kidnappers Police also bring the children back to be fingerprinted so that they can exclude them from any prints that they found on the bus or that moving trailer Although there's no mention in the research of the kidnappers prince ever being found so I don't know if they work loves or what
Yeah, I say they might have worn gloves or digging this giant hole in the middle of the desert Did any of the kids or ed say you know they bore no sawing anything like that No, I mean I would think that if they took time to cover their faces They would take time to put gloves on but I actually don't know for sure Either way, I know that police really begin to focus on that rock quarry where not only ed and the children were found But also where the moving trailer was buried because what they start realizing is that not just anyone could have come onto the rock Worry's property undetected and bury a large trailer like that. I mean, it's huge Right like hey, don't mind us We're just digging this giant hole and putting a large trailer into it cutting a hole in the top nothing to see here folks Yeah, it was like an active place I wasn't abandoned people I mean people were gonna be there and see something and sure enough someone did notice Security guards at the quarry tell police that in a month leading up to the abduction they had witnessed three young men digging at the quarry They actually pulled them aside at least one point and talked to them But the young men told them that they were just digging some dirt which like yes, we can see that Thanks boys It doesn't seem like the security guards told them to stop or maybe they didn't ask more questions or what I honestly don't feel like they thought
They could because it turns out one of those three young men wasn't just anybody. He was the boss's son The night sky may look endless, but its secrets could be closer than we think because in this universe you're never truly alone I'm Yvette Genthile and I'm her sister Rasha Pecorero every Friday on so supernatural We investigate alien encounters haunting tales of the unknown and cosmic mysteries that defy explanation ready to discover what's out there Listen to so supernatural wherever you get your podcast 24-year-old Fred Woods had worked at his father's rock quarry four or five years before the kidnapping He had keys to the place which gave him 24 seven access Please discover that Fred had been arrested two years earlier and charged with grand theft auto along with two of his friends 24-year-old James Schoenfeld and then his younger brother 22-year-old Richard Schoenfeld so we have suspects one two and three here But what puzzled police is that these three guys came from wealthy families on the San Francisco Peninsula
We already know Fred's dad owns the rock quarry and the chocolate documentary talks about how Fred was part of the Newell family that had amassed this Fortune going back to the California gold rush days I mean there were towns named after them and James and Richard were the sons of well-known podiatrists So if these were the kidnappers to say that their background was unusual is the understatement of all understatements Maybe that's why there isn't a ransom demand or they don't need the money it sounds like well Maybe but then the question everyone has is like what the f was all this for right the motive was still unknown to police And whatever it was the one thing they didn't have wrong early on was that this was a well-planned crime now It's a little unclear how they get to this next part but I have seen in some sources that Ed was put under hypnosis and under hypnosis He was able to give police partial license plate numbers for a van or the vans that were used in the kidnapping and so whether it was that or Something else they're eventually able to look those vans up and according to Merced Sun star They discovered that those vans were bought in November of 1975
Which was the year before the kidnapping and they also discovered that the berry trailer Which obviously they would have had access to had come from Palo Alto transfer and storage company Can they connect any of these vehicles to Fred or the brothers? So there's some conflicting information on this at least one source says that whoever purchased the trailer never transferred the purchase into their name And then another claim that Fred bought the trailer directly so a little unclear However, the one thing they discover is that the moving trailer was registered under the alias Mark Hall with a bogus San Jose address And then they discover that Mark Hall also registered get this a pair of vans. Huh wonder who Mark Hall is Yeah, so it sounds like police were pretty confident that Fred was Mark Hall So that puts him in possession of three of the vehicles used in this kidnapping two of them transferred the kids and the other one became this Underground prison and he was seen digging a big hole where the moving trailer was found Bingo So it's not a huge surprise then that on July 21st a search warrant is executed at the estate of Fred's father And it's gonna take a minute to fully execute this search because when I say estate I mean estate. We're talking a hundred acres with 15 buildings on it per an article in the Fresno Bee by Jim Boren and Larry Carroll
Fred actually lived in an apartment above the garage although nobody seemed to know where Fred actually was at the time So it looks like he had already skipped town at that point now when they search his little apartment They find several pieces of evidence on Fred's desk There was an envelope containing the kidnapping plan then a fast food bag with all the children's names and ages were also found So like if any of the car stuff was questionable before this pretty much seals the deal and the next day police put out an APB for Fred And the two brothers where about the James were unknown at the time But Richard had actually stuck around hunkering down at his parents home and as their names surface He even talks to the press on the phone. Oh, what does he say?
Well, he talks them a little bit about prior arrest that the three had which he equates to petty theft when they stripped an old car parts Like it was something that Fred wanted. Okay, but weren't they arrested for grand theft auto? Yeah, but that's what he's talking about too like we just wanted the pride But he also talks about how he doesn't think Fred would be involved in a kidnapping. Okay, what bizarre world is this guy living in? He's a suspect too. Yeah, I mean this one be the first time a dumb criminal says even dumber things as the net starts to kind of close in on him
And it was closing in fast now Fred's father tells police that he tried to get his son interested in the family business But that he was more interested in refurbishing and selling old cars He actually had a business kind of doing that with one of the other suspects James And so that leads police to search a garage in San Jose less than an hour southeast of the estate And this garage is one that Fred had rented about six months earlier to apparently work on cars and at this garage They find two vans presumed to be the ones used in the kidnapping and they even fly at the bus driver from Chow Chilla to San Jose to ID The vans and they also find a shotgun and several mattresses that match the mattresses found inside the trailer And then police find another crucial piece of evidence back at the estate They find a draft note making it clear what the motive was all along money They never asked for any money, right? The irony of this is unreal Apparently they kept trying to ask for money But they could never call in their demands because the phone lines were so busy because of the horrible thing that they had done
They could not too many children to ask for the money that they wanted like the lines are busy Yeah, but they caused their own chaos and they couldn't get through to make their own ransom demands I believe this is called karma, Ashley I know, I know So how much money were they going to ask for? Well, the note that they found says two and a half million But later it would be revealed that they had actually planned on asking for five million at least in that 48 hours episode That's what they said So fast forward just a little bit Richard ends up turning himself in but the police still have two kidnappers out there And while there are sightings as far away as Tennessee, none are leading them to Fred or James More reporting from the Sacramento Bee claims that on the night of July 28 the police get a tip from someone who knew James And had seen him driving a green 1950s cariol like the early days SUV and this one had Idaho plates But he was in an area known as Menlo Park, which is not too far from his home So they put out an APB and around 630 the next morning police spot the vehicle in the same area that they've gotten that tip from So they followed him for about a mile and realizing he's being followed James eventually pulls over just a few blocks from his home and
Surrenders so that only left Fred on the run now But police were closing in on him too They receive a tip that Fred is sending letters to friends from Canada And it sounds like one of those friends might have even tipped off the FBI who notified the Royal Canadian-Nounded Police So they stake out a Vancouver Post Office that the letters were sent from and then just six hours after James was arrested They have Fred and custody too when they finally have all three of them together is when the full picture comes into focus The night skimming look endless, but its secrets could be closer than we think because in this universe you're never truly alone I'm Evangentile and I'm her sister Rasha Pecarero every Friday on so supernatural we investigate alien encounters haunting tales of the unknown and Cosmic mysteries that defy explanation ready to discover what's out there listen to so supernatural wherever you get your podcast James would tell authorities that despite coming from wealthy families he and Fred were actually in a lot of debt
Specifically they were in debt to their parents for loans that they gave them sounds like their car business wasn't doing so hot And that box article also talks about how getting the ransom money would give them freedom and they think respect But clearly like nobody was supposed to know how they got the money they wanted to respect Yeah, they just stumbled into five million dollars got it Yeah, and they also wanted to do what a lot of young people their age wanted to do they just wanted to buy cool shit Now James says the kidnapping wasn't their first plan to make money They had planned to make a movie to like make a little cash they even wrote this script No surprise the script involved kidnapping and while the movie idea didn't work out They hoped a real estate investment that they got into would work out but that also was a bust So they kind of revisited this idea of a kidnapping But instead of doing it in a movie they're like well What if we just do it's time for real and the reason they got here is they had learned that California had a surplus of money in the Budget for that year according to the Chauchilla documentary They thought that if they kidnapped a school bus that the state would pay for the ransom out of that surplus so they started Planning and plotting I mean we know the trailer was purchased in November of 75
So this plan was at least in the works for roughly eight months This feels like a prime example of like work smarter not harder Like if they put honestly all this time it just a fraction of this time and effort into getting normal jobs Standing jobs jobs and stop they could have a lot of people a lot of payment trauma and still made money not to mention They wouldn't have gotten locked up in prison Yeah, well according to that box article the kidnappers help police that once news broke that Ed and the children had escaped They made plans to just get out of Dodge although Richard opted to stay behind So Fred and James drove to Reno to Laylow for a little while before making their way to Canada Fred was the first to go He I think used a fake passport to fly into Vancouver and then James planned to drive over the border But he was turned around when guns were found in his car So he sold the guns then returned to the border and was again denied because there were still some guns in his car How many guns does I have?
Apparently enough that he can't even find them all I don't know Once he was unable to get into Canada It sounds like he was out of options and at that point he decided to just go back home And you know what happens from there So when the men are finally brought to court the people of Chauchilla are so angry that the police have to Put snipers on the roof to protect the men And one night while the three kidnappers sit in a local jail the windows are actually shot out in some kind of effort to send them a message And there was lots of talk around town about how some old-fashioned Western justice was in order But legal justice would finally start to come in July of 77 when all three men pled guilty to 27 counts each of kidnapping for ransom without inflicting bodily injury But they refused to plead guilty to five counts of kidnapping with bodily harm because that included an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole So they would have to eventually go to trial for those charges and those started in the fall They waved their right to a jury trial which meant that things would be left up to the judge So I guess I'm a little confused Why are they pleading not guilty on some of the charges?
Um, I again I think it's just because of the sentence that came with them The one and that was the one for the charge with the bodily harm like they're deciding what they would rather fight that And their defense attorney strategy is one you're gonna hate for it because they're basically arguing that the victims So 26 children and Ed were totally unharmed by the kidnapping They're like yes, we did the kidnapping but we're not willing to say that they were harmed in the kidnapping The same kids that were basically tortured and traumatized because they were married alive during the kidnapping They weren't harmed. That's what they're saying. They certainly weren't off on a field trip to check each ease Yeah, yeah, I don't I mean they're basically saying like well none of them lost in arm So they're not harmed that's the argument and I've I've heard some clever defense arguments in my day But honestly this one kind of takes the cake and this kind of proves why I would make a horrible defense attorney the same Now several victims have to testify to the level of harm that they were subjected to having to relive their trauma all over again And because of this, I mean their story has clearly had an impact on the judge He felt that the terror they endured constituted harm like we all would probably agree and he sentenced all three kidnappers to life in prison
Without the possibility of parole But that sentence is short lived because according to a cnn article by holly yann And appeals panel overturned the men's original sentences and rules that they should have the chance of parole on what grounds Well, they This panel's agreeing with the original defense attorney. I guess that while the crimes were horrible terrible all those things That technically under the law. It was not considered bodily harm Basically, they were claiming that the mental trauma didn't count and because of his ruling I think you know what happens next in 2012 Richard Schoenfeld is granted parole and released and then a few years later in 2015 Richard's brother James is released from prison on parole as well But Fred woods actually gets denied parole when it's discovered that he was using cell phones in prison to run outside businesses like a goldmine And a Christmas tree farm what I know but eventually like the other two Fred was granted parole in actually pretty recently 2022 After several prominent people began to campaign for his release Some of them thought he had paid his debt other seemed to talk a whole thing up to just them being the youth at the time
Did any of these guys apologize for what they did? Well, I mean we know Fred had read an apology at his parole hearing but how apologetic he was I think is up for debate because In that child chiller documentary they talked about how Fred still owned the two vans that he used in the kidnapping because he thought they were going to Increase in value due to their connection with the case So what he's planning on selling them who is buying vans that were using the kidnapping of 26 kids Nobody I want to be friends with and you won't believe this the court document suggested that his trust Fred's trust was worth wait for this over a hundred million dollars What yeah, so this dude is like loaded and he's saving a momento from the crime he committed because he thinks it'd be worth something someday Like a crying he committed to get five million. You can't be that freaking sorry I mean, please tell me the survivors got some of that money They did according to a CBS news article by George oster cam the trust settled a suit with survivors in 2016 Now regarding the settlement one survivor was quoted as saying that it was enough to pay for some serious therapy
But not enough to buy a house and I think that quote points out something lost in all of this You see in the aftermath of their kidnapping the children of chauchilla were given parades and even a trip to disneyland But what happened to them wasn't something that many and niki could fix many of them are still struggling and we hear the word survivor I think we sometimes forget that there's another side to that story. It's not just surviving the event It's also about surviving the trauma in the days and weeks and years that come after but from what I've read and seen of the chauchilla victims They are strong and resilient continuing to fight no matter what life might throw at them much like they did on that summer day in 1976 So if you're interested in supporting victims and families who have experienced severe trauma like those in chauchilla, then I encourage you to check out the jay Foundation. It's a great organization founded by jc doogard whose story we've covered in a previous episode Jc also helped co-found the polyvagal equine institute another incredible organization that focuses on growth and healing through interacting Connecting and learning from horses and human bonds and this year actually audio chuck support will allow them to further their online resources that can be utilized by survivors
Who are seeking out animal assisted therapy programs? So we'll have ways that you can lend your support linked right in the show notes You can find all the source material for this episode on our website crime junkie podcast calm You can also follow us on instagram at crime junkie podcast. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode Crime junkie is an audio chuck production. So what do you think Chuck do you approve?
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