Clever way young children avoided being buried alive by kidnappers

05 November 2023 , 20:43

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Michael Marshall, 14 at the time, whose heroics played a key role in the escape (Image: CNN)

The clever plan that 26 children and their school bus driver came up with to avoid being buried alive has emerged in a new documentary.

The incident occurred on July 15, 1976, when a group of armed kidnappers abducted the children and their 55-year-old bus driver, Ed Ray, in Chowchilla, California. The captivating story is set to be unveiled in an upcoming CNN documentary scheduled to premiere on December 3, shedding light on the ingenious escape plan devised by the young victims.

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Amidst the 16-hour standoff, the kidnappers drove the terrified children, ranging from ages five to 14, in two locked vans for over 100 miles before burying them alive in a makeshift bunker in a rock quarry.

Three of the 26 children abducted from a school bus near Chowchilla

Demanding a ransom of $5 million, the kidnappers' scheme was foiled by the bravery and quick thinking of the captives, particularly 14-year-old Michael Marshall, whose heroics played a key role in the escape.

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In a never-before-heard account from the documentary, Marshall revealed how he took charge of the situation as the air ran thin and the roof of their makeshift prison threatened to crush them. Determined not to meet their demise without a fight, Marshall devised a plan and shared it with his fellow captives and Ed Ray.

The Dairyland Union School bus from which the children and their bus driver were kidnapped (Getty Images)

With creativity and bravery, they stacked mattresses left behind by the kidnappers, eventually clawing their way out as dirt funnelled in. "Mike was Hercules. Mike was Samson. Mike was the man that slayed the beast," recalled young Larry Park, another survivor, emphasizing Marshall's bravery.

The escape took place before the kidnappers could even make their ransom demands, as the Chowchilla Police Department phone lines were overloaded with calls from media and frantic family members. The kidnappers, identified as Frederick Woods and the Schoenfeld brothers, were later captured, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison.

The victims of the Chowchilla bus kidnapping (48 hours)

Woods, the mastermind behind the plot, had even considered turning the horrific incident into a movie shortly after his arrest. The documentary also uncovers cryptic evidence found at the scene, including a journal belonging to one of the kidnappers filled with mystifying cyphers, adding an element of mystery to the already chilling story. Despite the passage of nearly five decades, the survivors of the Chowchilla kidnapping continue to grapple with the trauma of that fateful day.

Vassia Barba