Larry Park, who was just 6 years old when he was kidnapped told "48 Hours," "Everyone thought that was great because the good memories of Disneyland would overshadow the bad memories of the kidnapping." Five weeks after being buried alive, the gutsy children of Chowchilla and their bus driver Ed Ray were hailed as heroes. At that time, sending them to the "Happiest Place on Earth" – Disneyland - was a way many felt could help the children forget the trauma they endured. "Īlthough most of the children didn't have any physical injuries from the kidnapping, they all had been through an unimaginable emotional ordeal. Heffington painfully recalled being reunited with her family, "Nothing was ever the same. They were questioned for four hours and then finally taken home. I thought he was going to shoot me," Heffington told "48 Hours" in this week's episode, "Remembering the Chowchilla Kidnapping," airing Saturday, March 18 at 10/9c* on CBS and streaming on Paramount +.īut instead of taking the survivors to a hospital or hotel, police decided to put them all back on a bus and transported them to the closest place that could hold them – the Santa Rita Rehabilitation Center - a local jail. You only see bad guys in the movies with stockings on, so I knew it wasn't good. "And this man came up with a stocking over his head with a gun and said 'open the door'. Jodi Heffington, 10, left, with other survivors of the 1976 Chowchilla bus kidnapping. In a never-before-seen interview, Heffington spoke in detail about her memories from the horrific experience. Jodi Heffington was one of the kids on the bus. It is believed to be the largest kidnapping ever in the United States. Twenty-six children ages 5 through 14 and their bus driver were on their way home from summer school when they were taken hostage at gunpoint. ![]() In the summer of 1976 three young men from wealthy families kidnapped a school bus full of children in the small town of Chowchilla, California.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |