Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping | Vanished | 1

Against The Odds

Wondery

Cassie De Pecol, History, Society & Culture, Dolby, Mike Corey, Dolby Atmos, Atmos

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2022

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the summer of 1976, three masked gunmen hijack a school bus full of children in rural Chowchilla, California. The twenty-six kids and their bus driver are driven to a quarry and buried alive. Back in town, no one has any idea where the children went, who took them, or why. The local sheriff and the FBI launch a massive manhunt to track down the kidnappers and locate the children, but the trail quickly runs cold.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to against the odds at free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:07.0	A listener note this episode contains adult language.
0:20.8	Ed Ray steers his school bus down a lonely road that runs between long rows of almond trees.
0:27.7	He squints as he adjusts his visor to block the blazing afternoon sun.
0:33.8	It's July 15th,
0:35.8	1976. Ed is driving kids home from Dairyland Elementary School in Chauchilla, California.
0:43.8	Summer school is in session. To Ed, that doesn't qualify as real school, as far as he's concerned.
0:51.3	Summer school is more like babysitting.
0:53.8	He glances in the rear view mirror. There are a couple dozen kids. He still needs to drop off.
0:59.8	And all of them are hyped from a field trip they took to a local pool.
1:04.7	Ed shakes his head and smiles. He likes the kids in his route. And he thinks they like him.
1:12.5	Ed is 54 with a strong build, a stern face, and sandy, receding hair.
1:18.4	He's been driving this bus for about 20 years now. Before that, he grew corn and raised cattle.
1:26.5	He didn't make it far in school and can't really read or write.
1:30.8	But he's good with numbers and he can bail hay like nobody's business.
1:35.5	He could never imagine leaving Chauchilla.
1:39.2	It's a farming town in California, San Joaquin Valley, about a hundred miles east of San Jose.
1:45.2	Ed's lived around here his entire life.
1:48.8	The population is around 5,000. And that suits Ed just fine.
1:53.6	He likes the slow pace of living, having plenty of land to work, and the God-fearing country folk that call Chauchilla home.
2:01.8	He hangs a right onto Avenue 21, past another endless almond orchard.
2:07.2	As the road opens up in front of him, he spots a white Dodge van parked in the middle of the road with its door open.
	...

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