Episode
TCC 23: The Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping
- Podcast
- True Crime California
- Published
- Nov 18, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 2617
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/true-crime-california-7108644/episodes/tcc-23-the-chowchilla-bus-kidnapping/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/true-crime-california-7108644/tcc-23-the-chowchilla-bus-kidnapping.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
This week we're looking at a story of survival, which can be a great thing, but also has a lot of trauma related repercussions for the survivor, or in this case survivors - all 27 of them! This story, the Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping, was the biggest story - and largest mass kidnapping - California had ever seen, and to this day, there hasn't been a larger group of people kidnapped since. The worst part - 26 of the 27 captives were children, many as young and 5 or 6 years old. This tale is harrowing, terrifying, evil, and also, just plain stupid, as you'll see how unprepared, half assed, and dumb the kidnappers were (yes, they were absolutely caught). Tune in for this crazy tale, but beware - claustrophobia abounds! Sources: https://www.cityofchowchilla.org/300/1976-Bus-Kidnapping https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-frederick-woods-rare-photos-from-one-of-the-largest-kidnappings-in-u-s-history/32/ Join us on instagram: True Crime California Email case suggestions to: [email protected] A proud member of the Darkcast Networki