News Briefs

Chowchilla School Bus Hijacking

The most infamous incident of school bus hijacking occured more than a quarter century ago in Chowchilla, Calif. There, at 4:15 p.m. on the afternoon of July 15, 1976, three young men hijacked a school bus with 26 children onboard.

The children, including their driver, were herded into a moving van that was buried -- yes BURIED -- in a quarry near Livermore, California. The kidnappers demanded $5 million ransom. The school bus driver and students eventually burrowed their way to safety after being trapped for 16 hours in the van. Their captors were captured within two weeks.

The three young men convicted of the crime, Richard Schoenfeld, then 22, his brother James, 24, and Newhall Woods also 24, were sentenced to life in prison where they continue to serve to this day. A TV movie was made of the event and the kidnappers have tried to profit from the film, but to no avail.

Bus Driver Charged with Kidnapping Says He was "Set Up"

GREENBELT, Md. (Jan. 25, 2002) -- A school bus driver with an apparent history of psychiatric problems who allegedly drove his bus filled with 13 children - and a loaded rifle -- 150 miles off course believes he was "set up," a federal public defender said Friday.

Otto Nuss, 63, appeared briefly in Greenbelt federal court before agreeing to be transferred to Philadelphia, where federal kidnapping charges would be filed at a hearing later in the day.

Public defender Daniel Stiller said after the hearing that Nuss believes there was a "setup." U.S. Magistrate Charles B. Day asked Nuss if he understood the case against him. Nuss replied, "I'm not totally involved in it, is what I'm saying."

Police said they found 48 weapons in Nuss' house, including three dozen handguns and 75 rounds of ammunition on the bus.

Nuss took the students, ages 7 to 15, on a six-hour trek Thursday, departing from their usual route in Oley, Pa., to Landover Hills, Md., just outside Washington, D.C. The private-school students said Nuss told them they were going on a field trip to the White House.

Nearly 12 hours later, they were reunited with their parents unharmed.

A friend of Nuss' told the Associated Press he and his wife had taken Nuss for psychiatric help in the 1970s, and he had admitted himself to Reading Hospital. The friend, Earl Derr, said Nuss recently quit his prescribed medication.

School officials said Nuss passed a criminal background check and a child-abuse check before he began driving in September for Quigley Bus Service, which contracts with Oley Valley School District.

The students said they remained calm during the journey. Nuss asked some to help plan the route and even treated the kids to lunch at Burger King, the students said.

After spotting the .308-caliber Springfield semiautomatic rifle wrapped in a coat behind the driver's seat, the older students sent the younger kids to the back of the bus. One of the students, fearing what might happen, reportedly wrote "911" in a fogged bus window. Eighth-grader Josh Pletscher, in a move reminiscent of Sept. 11, said the older students had a "half-joking, half-serious" plan to jump the driver if he reached for the rifle.

The ordeal began shortly after 7:30 a.m. Thursday when Nuss picked up the students in Oley, headed for Berks Christian School in Birdsboro, Pa. When the bus did not arrive as schedule, concerned school officials attempted to contact Nuss via a two-way radio. Nuss, however, did not respond to the dispatches.

Soon a massive police search was under way, complete with helicopters, but the bus wasn't found until Nuss walked into a Family Dollar discount store in Landover Hills and turned himself in to an off-duty police officer working as a security guard. Nuss told the officer of the abducted children and of the loaded gun. The officer, Milton Chabla, placed Nuss in handcuffs.

Source: STNOnline.com, January 2001

Bus-jacking Youths Found Guilty

PENTICTON, British Columbia - (4/9/97) Two 16-year-old youths boarded a school bus last May and ordered the driver to take them to Ontario. There were 14 students onboard at the time. The duo used a knife and handgun in the hijacking.

They forced the school bus driver to drive to a nearby town where they hopped to obtain a motor home for their cross-Canada tour. The owner of the motor home dealership refused to give the pair a motor home and convinced them to release the eight younger students.

An attempt by Crown counsel to have the two youths tried as adults failed. Both boys were 16 at the time of the hostage-taking.

Judge Barry Grannary found the pair, both now 17 years of age, each guilty of all seven charges in relation to the school bus hijacking

School bus driver Edgar Scheer received Canada's Medal of Bravery for his conduct during the hijacking incident.