1976 Chowchilla kidnapping
Mass child abduction in California, US
1976 Chowchilla kidnapping
On July 15, 1976, in Chowchilla, California, three armed men hijacked a school bus. They abducted the driver and 26 children, ages 5 to 14, and imprisoned them in a truck trailer buried in a quarry in Livermore, California. The bus driver and children managed to escape before the kidnappers could issue their ransom demands. All of the victims survived, but many suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. The kidnappers intended to use ransom money from the kidnapping to restore the Victorian Rengstorff House in Mountain View, California. The kidnappers were caught, convicted, and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. An appellate court overturned the finding of bodily harm, and the kidnappers were subsequently resentenced to life with the possibility of parole. The incident led to major changes in California laws regarding bodily injury and psychological trauma. By 2022, all three kidnappers had been paroled.
Read on Wikipedia · Image Rick Meyer, Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0
Open boosters, collect cards and trade them. Free to play.
Play for free