Editing 1976 Chowchilla kidnappers (section)

== Arrests and convictions ==
The quarry owner's son, 24-year-old Frederick Newhall Woods IV, quickly came under suspicion as one of the people who had keys to the quarry and enough access to have buried the moving truck there; he and two of his friends, brothers James and Richard Schoenfeld (aged 24 and 22 respectively) had previously been convicted of grand theft auto, for which they had been sentenced to probation. A warrant was executed on the estate of Woods' father, and there police recovered one of the guns used in the kidnapping as well as a draft of a ransom note, but the three men had fled. Woods was caught two weeks after the kidnapping in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. James Schoenfeld had been captured earlier the same day in Menlo Park, California, while Richard Schoenfeld had voluntarily turned himself in to authorities eight days after the kidnapping.

The kidnappers had been unable to call in their intended ransom demand of $5 million because telephone lines to the Chowchilla Police Department were tied up by media calls and families searching for their children. They went to sleep at some point on Friday the 16th and woke late that night to television news reports informing them that the victims had freed themselves and were safe. James Schoenfeld later stated that despite coming from wealthy families, both he and Woods were deeply in debt: "We needed multiple victims to get multiple millions, and we picked children because children are precious. The state would be willing to pay ransom for them.  And they don't fight back. They're vulnerable. They will mind."

Some details of the crime corresponded to details in "The Day the Children Vanished", a story by Hugh Pentecost that was published in ''Alfred Hitchcock's Daring Detectives'' (1969). A copy of this book was in the Chowchilla public library, and police theorized that it had inspired the kidnappers.<sup> </sup>

All three perpetrators pleaded guilty to kidnapping for ransom and robbery, but they refused to plead guilty to infliction of bodily harm, as a conviction on that count in conjunction with the kidnapping charge carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. They were tried on the bodily harm charge, found guilty and given the mandatory sentence, but their convictions were overturned by an appellate court which found that physical injuries sustained by the children (mostly cuts and bruises) did not meet the standard for bodily harm under the law. They were re-sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. Richard Schoenfeld was released in 2012 and James Schoenfeld was paroled on August 7, 2015.<sup> </sup>

In October 2019, Frederick Woods was denied parole for the 19th time; his next parole hearing was set for 2024.<sup> </sup> Over the years, reasons given for the denials have included his continued minimization of his crime as well as disciplinary infractions for possession of contraband pornography and cellphones.

In 2016, a worker's compensation lawsuit filed against Woods also revealed that he had been running several businesses, including a gold mine and a car dealership, from behind bars without notifying prison authorities as required. The heir to two wealthy California families, the Newhalls and the Woods, he inherited a trust fund from his parents that was described in one court filing as being worth $100 million (although Woods' lawyer disputed that amount). He has married three times while in prison and has purchased a mansion about 30 minutes away from the prison.