Against The Odds: Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping | Vanished | Part 1

Podcast: Against The Odds
Host: Mike Corey (Wondery)
Release Date: December 23, 2025

Episode Overview

This gripping episode of Against The Odds recounts the shocking and meticulously orchestrated 1976 Chowchilla school bus kidnapping. Through immersive storytelling, host Mike Corey details the harrowing ordeal faced by 26 children and their bus driver, Ed Ray, as they are abducted by three men with a plan seemingly plucked from a Hollywood thriller but chillingly real in execution. The episode interweaves the perspectives of victims, perpetrators, and those desperately searching, offering an unflinching look at a crime that rocked a small town and made headlines worldwide.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing Chowchilla and Ed Ray (00:00–05:31)

• The episode opens with a vivid portrayal of Ed Ray, a longtime school bus driver in rural Chowchilla, California.
  • Ed’s modest background—farmer, unpolished education—contrasts with his deep sense of duty for the kids he drives.
• On July 15, 1976, the mood is routine, the kids are lively after a pool trip, and Ed’s connection to his small farming community is palpable.
• The tranquility shatters when Ed comes across a suspicious white Dodge van. Three masked, armed men emerge, and the bus and its 27 occupants are hijacked.

Memorable Quote:

“Ed feels his pulse accelerate as he tries to imagine what these men have in store for him and for the children in his charge.” (Mike Corey, 02:55)

2. The Kidnappers’ Pre-Meditation: From Movie Plot to Real Crime (05:31–13:55)

• Flashbacks unveil the backstory of Fred Woods, James Schoenfeld, and Rick Schoenfeld, affluent young men gripped by frustration, entitlement, and greed.
  • The idea for the crime is inspired by a casual conversation about a “heist,” influenced by films like Dirty Harry, and a fantasy of the “perfect”, non-violent kidnapping-for-ransom.
• Detailed planning sessions unfold, with James obsessively recording ideas in his notebook, and the trio scouting rural towns for the ideal target.
• Chowchilla, with its “one Main Street, a couple honky tonks, and a bunch of run down farmhouses,” becomes their chosen site.
  • “Look at these people, Rick. They won’t even know what hit 'em.” (Fred, 12:08)

3. The Day of the Kidnapping: Perspectives from the Bus (13:55–21:25)

• Mike Marshall, a 14-year-old student who normally doesn't take the bus, ends up on board as punishment for drinking.
• The bus, filled with kids aged 5 to 10, is hijacked efficiently by the three men.
• The perpetrators split the kids and Ed Ray into two vans, driving them for hours in stifling conditions to mask the true destination.
• Law enforcement’s confusion and the rapid escalation of fear in the Chowchilla community is depicted, highlighting the rarity and horror of the event.

Memorable Quote:

“He’s [Sheriff Bates] getting none of that. And then there's the press conferences, where he has to tell people the same thing every five minutes—we don’t know anything yet.” (Mike Corey, 28:41)

4. Discovery of the Abandoned Bus and the Growing Crisis (21:25–31:13)

• The abandoned bus is quickly found thanks to coordinated search efforts, but it yields few clues beyond tire tracks and fingerprints.
• Tensions rise as the town and families anxiously await word, fueled by media speculation, some of which even questions the bus driver’s innocence.
• Sheriff Ed Bates and his team are stymied by lack of evidence and a sudden rainstorm washes away any remaining traces.

Memorable Moment:

Odessa (Ed’s wife), slamming her hand down in outrage at TV news suggestions Ed may be involved:
“How dare you ask that? How dare you.” (~29:49)

5. The Underground Prison: Kidnappers' Ingenious Yet Fragile Plan (31:13–42:36)

• The children and Ed Ray eventually find themselves in a dark, buried moving truck at a quarry owned by Fred Woods’s family, nearly 100 miles from Chowchilla.
• The kidnappers go to elaborate lengths: they bury the truck, install an air vent with a battery-powered fan, and seal the only entrance with heavy metal and industrial batteries.
  • The plan hinges on everyone surviving long enough for a ransom demand, but structural weakness and limited supplies make the situation increasingly precarious.
• Inside, Ed Ray strives to keep the children calm, but everyone is terrified as the roof creaks under the weight.

Notable Quotes:

“Every muscle in Mike’s body screams at him not to go down there. Not to lose his freedom, not to lose his life. But he does it anyway.” (Mike Corey, 34:40)
“The moving van is reinforced with odd pieces of timber and wire. … Ed guesses that the kidnappers worried that the ceiling might not hold and this is their half-ass solution.” (Mike Corey, 40:47)

Memorable Quotes

• “Clint Eastwood characters don’t exist in real life.” (Mike Corey, 07:50)
• “Could someone pull off the perfect kidnapping for ransom? It’s worth thinking about. Worth planning for a while.” (Mike Corey, 11:12)
• “The kids are gone and that’s our only fact at this point.” (Sheriff Bates, 28:48)
• “It’s not a cave, not a box. It looks like the inside of a truck. A moving truck buried underground with a hole cut in the roof.” (Mike Corey, 35:15)

Important Timestamps & Segments

• 00:00–04:36 – Setting the scene: Ed Ray’s background, the bus route, and the initial hijacking
• 05:31–13:55 – Kidnappers’ backgrounds, origin of their plot, early planning
• 13:55–21:25 – The kidnapping unfolds, students’ perspectives, law enforcement’s first awareness
• 21:25–31:13 – Search for the missing, police and family reactions, media frenzy
• 31:13–35:06 – Victims’ journey to the underground prison, van ride ordeal
• 35:06–41:37 – Prisoner roll call, entering the buried truck, kidnappers sealing the chamber
• 41:37–end – The victims’ situation underground: conditions, fears, the fragile setup

Language & Tone

The episode is narrated in a cinematic, suspenseful style—balancing empathy, tension, and the sometimes casual or chilling tone of its real-life characters. The narrative adapts thought processes of the kidnappers (“Just planning it...just to see if someone could pull it off.”), and the raw fear and resourcefulness of the victims (“Shh, shh, shh. It’s okay. It’ll be okay.”).

Episode Summary

Against The Odds delivers a tense and meticulously detailed account of the Chowchilla school bus kidnapping, combining dramatic narrative with grounded reflections on bravery, trauma, and small-town America under siege. This first episode ends with the victims isolated in their underground prison, leaving listeners at the cusp of the event’s most desperate hours.