Latest / Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast / Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping

Transcript

Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping · Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, I'm Nicole and I'm Ben and you're listening
0:06
Speaker 1: to Wicked and Grim, a.
0:08
Speaker 2: True crime podcast.
0:11
Speaker 1: Warning the following podcastle Maistre audience listener, this question, isn't
0:20
Speaker 1: that nice? Well? Hello there, how's everyone doing? Hey, welcome
0:40
Speaker 1: back to Wicked.
0:42
Speaker 2: And Grim, Wicked and Graham.
0:44
Speaker 1: Hope everyone's been staying wicked out there, but not too wicked,
0:49
Speaker 1: wicked enough that you stay at home, cozied up with sweatpants,
0:52
Speaker 1: your your cat or dog, and your couch, drinking some coffee,
0:56
Speaker 1: your tea and just listening to murder podcasts, watching murders jocumentaries. Yeah,
1:01
Speaker 1: you're living wicked life inside. You're not. You're not going
1:06
Speaker 1: out and performing said wicked deeds.
1:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're not like going full out wicked, just like
1:12
Speaker 2: slightly wicked, wicked at heart. There you go, yeah, there
1:15
Speaker 2: you go. Okay, I'm going to start this off with something,
1:18
Speaker 2: Bud to hear it?
1:19
Speaker 1: What is it?
1:21
Speaker 2: Well, neither of us have iPhones.
1:24
Speaker 1: Or Android people, because like andreid better, we just I
1:26
Speaker 1: don't know, we just are.
1:28
Speaker 2: I guess well it was all because like you were
1:30
Speaker 2: sewn on into not a mosquito.
1:32
Speaker 1: I think it is. Dang you slap my microphone.
1:36
Speaker 2: That's why you weren't into iTunes, So okay, but anyway,
1:39
Speaker 2: I don't know if we can, like if people can
1:41
Speaker 2: do reviews. Is it called Spotify? Yes, Spotify. I was
1:45
Speaker 2: good Jazam and all of those s is mixed up,
1:48
Speaker 2: so Spotify. I don't know if you can do reviews.
1:50
Speaker 2: But anyway, I was like on the Apple podcast review
1:54
Speaker 2: just I had to google it because podcast, right, yeah, which, yeah,
1:58
Speaker 2: it was weird that I'm googling. But anyway, so we
2:01
Speaker 2: have nine five stars whoop, which is freaking amazing. It
2:08
Speaker 2: is that's incredible, Thank you, Holy frick. And then there's
2:13
Speaker 2: a like a how would you say this, like an
2:16
Speaker 2: actual like submitted review like review? Yeah, and it's from
2:21
Speaker 2: Linda twenty three eighty nine.
2:23
Speaker 1: Linda twenty three eighty nine would you say about us?
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Speaker 2: Thank you? Linda? She said, fascinating, awesome podcast, very good storytelling,
2:31
Speaker 2: and your voices are very well suited for podcasts. Thank Yeah.
2:36
Speaker 1: You know what, I'm gonna throw this down right now.
2:38
Speaker 1: Linda is our badass of the day.
2:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, there's gonna be another one, but yeah, let's
2:43
Speaker 2: start with Linda's gonna story has another one too, but
2:47
Speaker 2: Linda can be the first one of the day.
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Speaker 1: Okay, we're gonna have two badasses of the day, one
2:52
Speaker 1: in the story and one out and Linda is the
2:54
Speaker 1: out of story badass.
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Speaker 2: Of the day.
2:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, thank you.
2:56
Speaker 2: Thank you Linda for like taking the time to go
2:59
Speaker 2: and review us. And we'd love for other people too,
3:01
Speaker 2: and even the people that just went into the five stars,
3:03
Speaker 2: like that's dope too. So thank you, guys. Thank you.
3:06
Speaker 1: Well, you guys are helping us actually push out episode
3:10
Speaker 1: after episode, like your kind words, your comments, your messages,
3:13
Speaker 1: your reviews are what keeps us going. It fuels us.
3:16
Speaker 1: So thank you very much. Everything you guys have done
3:18
Speaker 1: to support us is incredible. Thank you.
3:20
Speaker 2: Okay that is actually so true because this so this
3:23
Speaker 2: is a me episode if anyone didn't matter already. But
3:28
Speaker 2: I was just like, okay, so Ben and I are
3:30
Speaker 2: like busy, like we're kind of just busy right now,
3:33
Speaker 2: and I was working tired, and I was like, holy shit,
3:37
Speaker 2: I have to do this. And then I came across
3:39
Speaker 2: Linda's review and I was like, fuck, yeah, I'm doing this.
3:42
Speaker 1: Yeah you are.
3:43
Speaker 2: Thanks Linda. You just made my day.
3:45
Speaker 1: It's incredible that little bit can do for us.
3:49
Speaker 2: So yeah, that motivated the shit out of me. Yeah, anyway,
3:54
Speaker 2: we might have to take little breaks because our backs
3:57
Speaker 2: are like eighty year old people right now.
4:00
Speaker 1: Well, it's the long weekend officially still the long weekend
4:02
Speaker 1: up here in Canada. It is Victoria Day, So happy
4:05
Speaker 1: Victoria to day, Victoria Day all the Canadians out there.
4:08
Speaker 1: And yeah, so it's May Long weekend and we spent
4:11
Speaker 1: the not majority of the day, all day literally working
4:14
Speaker 1: in our backyard greenhouse, building, raking, shoveling, all that, like
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Speaker 1: a good ten hours of manual labor. We're fucked. We're
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Speaker 1: fucked right now.
4:23
Speaker 2: Well I was actually a bit prior to that too,
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Speaker 2: because I've had like a lot of photo shoots this
4:27
Speaker 2: weekend and I don't know why that would hurt my back,
4:31
Speaker 2: but anyway, it hurt my back.
4:34
Speaker 1: We're old.
4:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so I've if you hear us like uncomfortably moaning,
4:38
Speaker 2: it's because our backs are. Sure.
4:41
Speaker 1: I'm literally drinking coffee here at like nine thirty pm
4:44
Speaker 1: just to kind of keep my energy levels up for.
4:46
Speaker 2: You guys, so well, and you have to stay up, blakes,
4:49
Speaker 2: you're going on.
4:49
Speaker 1: Nights that too, I would be like staying up to
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Speaker 1: like what three am. So the caffeine is going to
4:55
Speaker 1: help me.
4:55
Speaker 2: That's going to help you. I need to start drinking coffee.
4:58
Speaker 1: Yeah you do.
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Speaker 2: It's delicious. It's not delicious, that's the problem.
5:02
Speaker 1: But all this aside, we're running on like five minutes
5:05
Speaker 1: of an intro here. That's like a long intro for us.
5:07
Speaker 1: We have so much to say, So what have we
5:09
Speaker 1: got to say about it?
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Speaker 2: My goodness, it's a why It's wild episode, babe.
5:14
Speaker 1: Okay, let's hear it.
5:15
Speaker 2: Buckle up, I think I say that every time.
5:17
Speaker 1: Let's click, I'm buckled up, safety belt.
5:20
Speaker 2: Okay, let's go. So this story takes place in Chachilla, California, Chowchilla.
5:28
Speaker 2: I like saying that, Chile.
5:29
Speaker 1: This is your first non Canadian episode.
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Speaker 2: Okay, actually, yeah, we do need to just address that
5:33
Speaker 2: really quickly. I ventured off from the Canadian crime For
5:38
Speaker 2: you guys, I'm going.
5:39
Speaker 1: To fuck with you in my next episode. Episode is
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Speaker 1: going to be.
5:43
Speaker 2: Okay, So Jilla, California, it's a relatively small town under
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Speaker 2: twenty thousand and just to like give a little bit
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Speaker 2: of a reference, it's about two hours from San Jose.
5:55
Speaker 1: Okay.
5:56
Speaker 2: At the time of the incident. I think it was
5:59
Speaker 2: much smaller though, like under five thousand people, so very small,
6:04
Speaker 2: very close knit town and a community where everyone kind
6:07
Speaker 2: of just like knew each other and looked out for
6:09
Speaker 2: one another. Okay, okay, sounds kind of like your typical
6:12
Speaker 2: small town.
6:13
Speaker 1: No need to lock your doors at night, but we're
6:15
Speaker 1: gonna learn that you probably should lock your door.
6:16
Speaker 2: It was actually, yeah, one thing that people said they
6:19
Speaker 2: never locked their doors and stuff, but this one is
6:22
Speaker 2: we're not going to well lock your doors people, but
6:24
Speaker 2: this one doesn't go there.
6:26
Speaker 1: Just just lock your doors.
6:29
Speaker 2: It was July fifteenth, nineteen seventy six, when school bus
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Speaker 2: driver Ed Ray was driving himself and twenty six children
6:38
Speaker 2: from Dairyland Elementary School. Like children were from Dairyland Elementary School,
6:43
Speaker 2: and he was driving them back home from summer school
6:46
Speaker 2: where they spent the day at the swimming pool.
6:49
Speaker 1: Nice nice afternoon.
6:50
Speaker 2: Yeah. The children on the bus range from ages five
6:55
Speaker 2: to fourteen. It's pretty young.
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Speaker 1: Little babies, little babies, little babies fourteen though you think
7:00
Speaker 1: you're a full blown.
7:01
Speaker 2: Adult, actually yeah, you definitely do. On their commute home,
7:06
Speaker 2: after already making a few stops dropping kids off up
7:09
Speaker 2: ahead was a white van that was blocking the road.
7:12
Speaker 1: Did it say free candy?
7:14
Speaker 2: It was a creeper van. I don't think it said
7:16
Speaker 2: free candy, though it didn't need to. I guess it
7:19
Speaker 2: still suck them up. So Ed, being the ridiculously nice
7:24
Speaker 2: man that he was, he stopped and opened the bus
7:27
Speaker 2: door to see if they needed any help. Which it's like,
7:32
Speaker 2: it sucks, but sometimes I feel like you should not
7:34
Speaker 2: offer help to people.
7:36
Speaker 1: I mean, you want to be a nice citizen, that's
7:38
Speaker 1: a good thing to do.
7:39
Speaker 2: Get sometimes you get like you get aft up offer.
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Speaker 1: Help from a distance with a baseball bat in hand.
7:48
Speaker 2: Oh because at that moment, three masks masked men confronted
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Speaker 2: ed two jumping onto the bus.
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Speaker 1: Oh shit.
8:00
Speaker 2: They had nylon stockings covering their faces, making their faces
8:04
Speaker 2: look very distorted and their eyes almost hollow. Like. One
8:09
Speaker 2: man carried a sawd off double barrel shotgun and held
8:13
Speaker 2: at gunpoint while the other, well, another took over driving
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Speaker 2: the bus.
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Speaker 1: What the fuck?
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Speaker 2: Key? But I actually needed to ask you this because
8:22
Speaker 2: what does that mean when it's like a sawd off
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Speaker 2: double barrel shotgun, Like, what's the point of that?
8:28
Speaker 1: Well, it it can be concealed a lot easier and
8:31
Speaker 1: it can be used at a closer range. It's it's
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Speaker 1: illegal to be doing that because now you can conceal
8:36
Speaker 1: a shotgun in like your jacket.
8:38
Speaker 2: Oh okay, because it makes it way shorter.
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Speaker 1: It makes it shorter, easier to conceal, and more dangerous
8:44
Speaker 1: because now like when you're pointing it, you have this
8:46
Speaker 1: longer barrel. That's like, if you're in close proximity to someone,
8:49
Speaker 1: they have to be at the end of the barrel.
8:51
Speaker 1: If the barrel shorter, you can be like face to
8:53
Speaker 1: face with someone touching their nose and the barrel can
8:55
Speaker 1: fit in between you and them. So it's a very
8:58
Speaker 1: very dangerous weapon then, so it's very illegal to do that.
9:02
Speaker 2: And it would like same kind of damage, same like
9:05
Speaker 2: kind of noise and stuff. Oh yeah, okay. For at
9:08
Speaker 2: one point I was like, does it make it quieter? Like,
9:10
Speaker 2: I don't know, I had no idea.
9:12
Speaker 1: It's strictly so that way you have a shotgun that
9:16
Speaker 1: you can conceal, handle easier, and aim easier, and it's
9:19
Speaker 1: just all around more dangerous.
9:21
Speaker 2: Wow that shit. Yeah, okay, So adds that gunpoint. Another
9:27
Speaker 2: one is taking over driving the bus and the third
9:30
Speaker 2: man is following behind a in The White Man. Gotcha,
9:34
Speaker 2: So that's a shit show.
9:35
Speaker 1: I'm still hung up on the shotgun now you got
9:37
Speaker 1: me going through that, I'm like thinking evil Dead, like
9:39
Speaker 1: oh yeah, Bruce Campbell saw that off and everything, so
9:42
Speaker 1: he could like shoot the dead heights easier.
9:44
Speaker 2: Oh boy, Well we're into this story, so get get
9:48
Speaker 2: out of the evil Dead mindset back.
9:50
Speaker 1: Onto the bus with the three assholes.
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Speaker 2: Got yeah, they're very much so assholes. All the children
9:55
Speaker 2: obviously like scared to death.
9:57
Speaker 1: Oh I'd be shitting myself right.
9:59
Speaker 2: They're young, wondering where these mass men were taking them
10:02
Speaker 2: and were they going to die? Yeah, Like, holy molly, could.
10:07
Speaker 1: You imagine being in that situation?
10:09
Speaker 2: Well, and remember like some kids had already got dropped off?
10:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh that's true, like.
10:15
Speaker 2: That, Like that's one of those moments where it's just like, uh,
10:18
Speaker 2: like you'd just be so unbelievably thankful that you had
10:22
Speaker 2: gotten already dropped off.
10:23
Speaker 1: Or imagine like your stop is next or the next
10:25
Speaker 1: couple of months, and then like you're driving past your driveway.
10:29
Speaker 2: Oh Ben, you just went there.
10:32
Speaker 1: Sorry, Well, could you imagine that story?
10:34
Speaker 2: Is actually? Like going through the story, I kept almost
10:38
Speaker 2: like tearing up it's.
10:40
Speaker 1: A brutal situation.
10:41
Speaker 2: Oh my god, Oh it's dude, you don't even know.
10:44
Speaker 1: Well, I have a feeling of like the brutality that's
10:47
Speaker 1: about to happen, and I'm just saying, like the situation
10:50
Speaker 1: they're in and the fear that they're having to confront. No,
10:54
Speaker 1: thank you, Okay.
10:58
Speaker 2: The kidnappers eventually pulling off the road into a dry
11:01
Speaker 2: river bed, stop the bus in a bamboo patch where
11:05
Speaker 2: the bamboo was like taller than the bus. So basically feeling,
11:09
Speaker 2: I know, I actually thought that was really weird, but
11:11
Speaker 2: a few report said bamboo so and then I was
11:13
Speaker 2: just like, maybe I don't know anyway.
11:17
Speaker 1: All right, let's roll with it.
11:18
Speaker 2: I know, but if there is I want to go
11:19
Speaker 2: see it. There they met a second parked van. Both
11:25
Speaker 2: of these vans, I should note the back windows were
11:28
Speaker 2: painted black and their interiors and the interiors were reinforced
11:32
Speaker 2: with wood paneling. Like you could not see in or
11:36
Speaker 2: out of these vans.
11:37
Speaker 1: Damn was the door in the van red? No?
11:42
Speaker 2: Oh what does that mean?
11:43
Speaker 1: I see a red door and that want it painted black?
11:45
Speaker 1: Rolling stones?
11:46
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, sorry, oh gosh, at gunpoint, love you too,
11:53
Speaker 2: Ed and the twenty six children were forced from the
11:57
Speaker 2: bus into the two vans, and to avoid any footprint evidence,
12:04
Speaker 2: the vans were pulled right up to the bus door
12:07
Speaker 2: and everyone had to jump from the school bus into
12:10
Speaker 2: the van.
12:10
Speaker 1: Oh jeez, which I thought was like.
12:12
Speaker 2: Really weird because they left the van there or the
12:15
Speaker 2: bus there, But I mean, like I mean not seeing footprints.
12:19
Speaker 2: I don't know anyway, and they were off. The vans,
12:24
Speaker 2: like I said, were pitch black, had no water, no
12:28
Speaker 2: food or bathrooms. They were pretty much described as like
12:31
Speaker 2: a mobile prison. But I asked to actually feel like
12:34
Speaker 2: that's worse than like a prison cell. Yeah, no kidding,
12:37
Speaker 2: because a prison cell like you get fed, you get water,
12:41
Speaker 2: and you have a bathroom.
12:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's stationary, not moving around.
12:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like could you imagine just darkness yea, having no
12:48
Speaker 2: idea where the hell you were going, and you're and
12:51
Speaker 2: you're six years old.
12:52
Speaker 1: I turned the lights off in the hallway on the
12:54
Speaker 1: way to bed, and I like, pretend that I'm not
12:58
Speaker 1: they're picturing a demon chasing me on the hallway to
13:00
Speaker 1: the bedroom at night. I'm like, Nope, it's not there.
13:03
Speaker 1: Just don't look. If you don't look at it, it
13:04
Speaker 1: can't get you. So no, I can't imagine.
13:07
Speaker 2: I know, like just terrifying, good, just terrifying. So now
13:12
Speaker 2: at this point too, parents were starting to arrive home,
13:16
Speaker 2: arriving home to empty houses.
13:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, the kids not there.
13:20
Speaker 2: Extremely worried, they started helping police retreat retrace the school
13:24
Speaker 2: bus's route. Nothing was found until just before sunset, when
13:29
Speaker 2: the dirt deserted. Holy, I'm stumbling here. Sorry, I'm so
13:33
Speaker 2: into the story and I'm just like I want to
13:35
Speaker 2: get it out.
13:36
Speaker 1: You were like, what can you make that sound again?
13:38
Speaker 2: No? I got Okay. So the bus was found right
13:44
Speaker 2: before sunset by a police pilot. You could only see
13:48
Speaker 2: it by air, gotcha, and all that was left behind
13:52
Speaker 2: was tire tracks. No children don't like the parents must
13:57
Speaker 2: be like worried, sick.
13:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, kidding myself, Like I'd just be like, where
14:01
Speaker 1: the fuck is my kid?
14:02
Speaker 2: I know, Like that is just like so sorry to
14:06
Speaker 2: like people have children that like ride buses. Like, I'm
14:09
Speaker 2: just gonna apologize right now because this is probably like
14:12
Speaker 2: a bit traumatizing for you. So I am sorry to.
14:14
Speaker 1: Those parents who kids are taking the bus and they're
14:17
Speaker 1: not home from school yet.
14:19
Speaker 2: Home, the traumatic they will arrive home. Meanwhile, this hell
14:26
Speaker 2: was still continuing for Ed and the children. They were
14:30
Speaker 2: in the two vans for hours upon hours, all trying
14:34
Speaker 2: to comfort each other. There's a voice recording of a
14:38
Speaker 2: little girl describing her experience. It says, a few of
14:43
Speaker 2: my little friends that were five and six came over
14:46
Speaker 2: and started laying laying on me and crying. I said,
14:50
Speaker 2: to be brave, because everything's going to be all right.
14:54
Speaker 2: Oh shit, Like oh okay, that just like sick, like
14:58
Speaker 2: you're just inside sync, no kidding.
15:00
Speaker 1: And I'm just like, I don't think everything was all right,
15:05
Speaker 1: but we'll get there. Let's see. Don't give us any
15:08
Speaker 1: any hints. Just keep going, keep going.
15:11
Speaker 2: The van finally started to slow down, pulling off onto
15:14
Speaker 2: a much rougher road and finally stopping. The final destination
15:19
Speaker 2: was a rock quarry in Livermore, California, which was close
15:25
Speaker 2: to twelve hours. Holy oh wait, so these mofos drove
15:31
Speaker 2: them twelve hours away? Like no bathroom, bricks, no food,
15:35
Speaker 2: this this black pit that they're in. Damn Like that's
15:38
Speaker 2: a long freaking.
15:39
Speaker 1: Ways, no kidding.
15:41
Speaker 2: Now, being the early morning of July sixteenth, what came
15:45
Speaker 2: next for these victims? Did not get much better. They
15:49
Speaker 2: started with ed they'd opened the door of the van,
15:52
Speaker 2: grabbed one person, and then close the door and repeatedly
15:56
Speaker 2: keep doing this. Meanwhile, the kids are all like scooting
15:59
Speaker 2: to the back of the van trying to escape because
16:02
Speaker 2: they had no idea what was coming next, Like no idea,
16:06
Speaker 2: like just terror. Once pulled out of the van, they
16:10
Speaker 2: would get asked their name and their their age by
16:13
Speaker 2: the kidnappers, and very much showing that this crime was premeditated,
16:19
Speaker 2: they had a wooden ladder to climb down into a
16:22
Speaker 2: truck trailer that was buried six feet underground.
16:25
Speaker 1: Holy shit, yeah.
16:28
Speaker 2: My shocking.
16:30
Speaker 1: Damn. I'm like, I'm expecting these guys to, like, I
16:34
Speaker 1: don't know, just like start popping these kids off with
16:37
Speaker 1: a shotgun for some reason. But clearly this.
16:39
Speaker 2: Is like a traffic they're expecting that too.
16:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a trafficking situation by the sounds of it.
16:46
Speaker 2: In the buried truck trailer was a very small amount
16:49
Speaker 2: of food, water and some mattresses, only about enough food
16:53
Speaker 2: for a day. And remember they had already gone like
16:56
Speaker 2: quite a bit of time without food or water. Right,
17:00
Speaker 2: there were cut holes in the wheel wells for toilets
17:04
Speaker 2: and you could hear fans for ventilation. I actually have.
17:08
Speaker 2: There was quite a few photos of this. Sorry, I
17:11
Speaker 2: at online, so I'll post some, okay, so that you
17:16
Speaker 2: can see, but like, I don't know if you want
17:18
Speaker 2: to see, because it's like pretty nasty. That just that
17:21
Speaker 2: this amount of people were in this truck trailer a.
17:25
Speaker 1: Whole new freaking situation, like a whole new perspective on
17:29
Speaker 1: tiny home living.
17:30
Speaker 2: Hey, yeah, our tiny home will look like a freaking mansion.
17:34
Speaker 1: No kidding. Wow.
17:37
Speaker 2: Michael was one of the last kids to enter down
17:39
Speaker 2: into the truck trailer and was beyond thrilled to hear
17:43
Speaker 2: and see the children. They had no idea as they
17:46
Speaker 2: were being taken one from one from the van what
17:49
Speaker 2: exactly was happening, And like you kind of said, they
17:51
Speaker 2: all thought they were just like getting taken out, like executed. Right.
17:58
Speaker 2: That sense of relief of seeing everyone still alive was, however,
18:02
Speaker 2: very short lived. Eventually the latter was removed, the opening
18:08
Speaker 2: was covered with a heavy sheet of metal, and the
18:11
Speaker 2: kids could hear dirt being thrown on top of the trailer.
18:15
Speaker 2: Essentially they were being buried alive.
18:18
Speaker 1: What the fuck?
18:20
Speaker 2: Like, holy shit?
18:23
Speaker 1: Why?
18:24
Speaker 2: Oh? Well, honestly, you'll find out, and it's fucked because.
18:28
Speaker 1: That's the thing for me, Like, I'm a big why person.
18:30
Speaker 1: I like to try and understand why. Even if I
18:33
Speaker 1: don't grasp their thought process or concept or reasoning why,
18:38
Speaker 1: I just I just need to know why. And this
18:41
Speaker 1: is not making any sense why so far, And.
18:44
Speaker 2: Even when I tell you you're probably it's just not going
18:46
Speaker 2: to be satisfying.
18:47
Speaker 1: For well, I'm sure it's not. But to understand, to
18:50
Speaker 1: at least have a motive is some sort of yeah,
18:55
Speaker 1: some sort of lifeline to own.
18:56
Speaker 2: There is a motive. I'm just going to leave it
19:00
Speaker 2: at that.
19:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, no worries. Well wait we can wait.
19:04
Speaker 2: Can you wait? Do you have any patients? Whatsoever?
19:06
Speaker 1: I do as long as there is motive.
19:11
Speaker 2: After being underground for twelve hours, you can imagine that
19:15
Speaker 2: the conditions in this tractor trailer were starting to deteriorate. Right, yep,
19:21
Speaker 2: the food was gone? Oh did I just lose my spot?
19:25
Speaker 1: Oh jumped? What jumped? Like the page jumped?
19:29
Speaker 2: Yeah? Smooth, Okay, I found it again. And I could
19:32
Speaker 2: have just like kept going because I actually like almost
19:34
Speaker 2: memories this case. But I'm like, no, let's just let's
19:37
Speaker 2: just find the notes.
19:38
Speaker 1: Reset, reset good.
19:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, So the food was gone, the fans for
19:44
Speaker 2: ventilation had stopped.
19:46
Speaker 1: So it would be so hot and humid in there
19:48
Speaker 1: and like no oxygen.
19:50
Speaker 2: Well, and they're like going to the bathroom the wheelwrows
19:53
Speaker 2: and the roof was starting to cave in.
19:56
Speaker 1: Oh shit, so the.
19:57
Speaker 2: Freaking tear the I just can't even imagine. So it
20:02
Speaker 2: was at this point that I think a lot of
20:05
Speaker 2: them were finally grasping that they like may not go home.
20:08
Speaker 2: Like they're just like little teeny tiny babies, right, and
20:11
Speaker 2: they're just oh so Michael, that was the fourteen year
20:15
Speaker 2: old who I had mentioned earlier. Yeah, he was like
20:18
Speaker 2: one of the last ones that went into the truck. Trailer.
20:22
Speaker 2: Him and Ed decided, if we're going to die in here,
20:25
Speaker 2: let's at least diet, or let's at least what am
20:31
Speaker 2: I trying to say? Holy okay, I have it so
20:36
Speaker 2: written wrong, and I'm like in my brain and then
20:38
Speaker 2: I'm trying of all this.
20:39
Speaker 1: I've done that a film.
20:40
Speaker 2: Okay, So if they're gonna die, let's like at least
20:42
Speaker 2: attempt to get the fuck out.
20:44
Speaker 1: Of there, and let's not just sit back again.
20:46
Speaker 2: And die that way versus just like sitting back, you know.
20:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's try and do something about this.
20:51
Speaker 2: So they started stacking the mattresses on top of each
20:54
Speaker 2: other so that they could reach the opening at the
20:57
Speaker 2: top of the truck and take turns pushing on it.
21:00
Speaker 2: Right now, remember the opening was covered with heavy sheets
21:05
Speaker 2: of metal and it was also weighted down with two
21:08
Speaker 2: truck batteries.
21:09
Speaker 1: Oh dang, what about the dirt though.
21:12
Speaker 2: And buried jeez, So they were attempting. I mean, there
21:18
Speaker 2: was sheet metal, there's two truck betterers and they're buried.
21:21
Speaker 1: Yeah.
21:21
Speaker 2: They were literally giving it all they had, and all
21:24
Speaker 2: the little kiddles were like cheering them on.
21:27
Speaker 1: Nice.
21:28
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Like I feel like that's just like
21:30
Speaker 2: such a like cute little visual.
21:32
Speaker 1: Well, it's like the only hope you have, and that
21:35
Speaker 1: cheering is just going to like help your adrenaline too. Man,
21:39
Speaker 1: it's just such a dire situation.
21:41
Speaker 2: It's unbelievable, like unbelievable, this whole case. I'm just like,
21:45
Speaker 2: it's still I know so much about it, but it
21:46
Speaker 2: still just shocks me. And then eventually, after hours of effort,
21:52
Speaker 2: they managed to wedge the lid open with a piece
21:55
Speaker 2: of wood and were able to move the batteries. This
22:01
Speaker 2: was just one piece of the puzzle, though. They then
22:04
Speaker 2: had to dig away the remainder of the debris blocking
22:07
Speaker 2: the entrance because okay, because I don't really describe it
22:11
Speaker 2: super well, but it was like they had this sheet
22:13
Speaker 2: metal and then there was like a box, like a
22:16
Speaker 2: wooden box over top so that you could kind of
22:19
Speaker 2: get up, and then you had to like move the
22:21
Speaker 2: box and like start digging.
22:23
Speaker 1: Gotcha, Okay, Yeah, And the nice thing is is I'm
22:25
Speaker 1: assuming there's enough room inside this trailer that you can
22:29
Speaker 1: pull dirt in, push it aside, and you can tunnel
22:32
Speaker 1: your way out.
22:33
Speaker 2: Yeah.
22:33
Speaker 1: That's the thing with like being buried alive in like
22:36
Speaker 1: a coffin or something. If you do break through that
22:37
Speaker 1: coffin lid, dirt's just pouring in. There's no room for
22:41
Speaker 1: you to tunnel out, you know what I mean.
22:43
Speaker 2: Oh, there's like, yeah, there's tons of room in there
22:47
Speaker 2: for the dirt to go into. Yeah. Oh gosh, thanks
22:50
Speaker 2: for just like giving me that coughin visual.
22:52
Speaker 1: Well, I've always thought about that because I love I
22:54
Speaker 1: love the movie Kill Bill, the Quentin Tarantino film. Okay,
22:57
Speaker 1: and there's one scene where she gets buried alive and
23:00
Speaker 1: she breaks out. But I'm just like, I always thought
23:03
Speaker 1: that was just so bogus.
23:04
Speaker 2: I mean, I know it's just a movie, but like
23:06
Speaker 2: she said, wouldn't that wouldn't be how it would be.
23:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, as soon as you break through the lid of
23:09
Speaker 1: the coffin, the dirt's just gonna clapse in on you
23:11
Speaker 1: and you're fucked.
23:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's very true.
23:15
Speaker 1: Actually, yeah.
23:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that there's that little bit of hope there.
23:19
Speaker 2: So there was no stop in Michael. He kept digging
23:23
Speaker 2: and digging until finally, sixteen hours after they had entered
23:27
Speaker 2: the truck, a ray of sunlight came pouring down into
23:32
Speaker 2: the opening.
23:33
Speaker 1: Michael.
23:33
Speaker 2: So, Michael badass, Michael Days, the badass of the day.
23:38
Speaker 1: Story there we go.
23:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, like fourteen years old man, and just like no stop,
23:43
Speaker 2: Like he just kept.
23:44
Speaker 1: Digging and digging and dating for him.
23:46
Speaker 2: Like, I just am so impressed with that. That is incredible, incredible.
23:51
Speaker 1: You're a hero.
23:52
Speaker 2: He totally is absolutely Okay. So they had no idea
23:58
Speaker 2: what was going to be out there when they emerge, though, Hm,
24:01
Speaker 2: were the kidnappers just outside with their guns or was
24:05
Speaker 2: this or like, how was this going to go down.
24:08
Speaker 1: I'm feeling they're alone, that's my guess.
24:10
Speaker 2: So little Michael, being the badass of the day, stuck
24:15
Speaker 2: his head out first and there was no one around,
24:18
Speaker 2: not a soul in sight.
24:20
Speaker 1: Good good, they can make their escape.
24:24
Speaker 2: When they finally all fully emerged, they got a full
24:27
Speaker 2: grass of exactly how camouflaged the trailer was hidden. There
24:32
Speaker 2: would have been absolutely no way that they would have
24:35
Speaker 2: been able to like anyone looking for them would have
24:37
Speaker 2: been able to know that there was a trailer buried there,
24:40
Speaker 2: damn Like it was unbelievable from the photo.
24:44
Speaker 1: So are you going to post said photo on Instagram?
24:46
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know how what have I already said?
24:48
Speaker 2: I'm posting what we can post, Like I have to
24:50
Speaker 2: post a few so like the inside and then like
24:52
Speaker 2: the out how it looked.
24:53
Speaker 1: But you can post like the multiple shots right, so
24:55
Speaker 1: you can like slide and see a bunch of shots.
24:57
Speaker 2: Because I know, I think people are gonna want to
24:58
Speaker 2: see these photos.
24:59
Speaker 1: I want to see them. Definitely.
25:00
Speaker 2: It's honestly basically a miracle that they got out. Really like,
25:04
Speaker 2: I think it's a freaking mirror.
25:07
Speaker 1: Especially like if you have a bunch of kids, like this,
25:11
Speaker 1: chances are you're not going to have the muscle power
25:14
Speaker 1: or you think you have the muscle power to even
25:16
Speaker 1: attempt to escape.
25:17
Speaker 2: I know, like, it's it's amazing that they got out,
25:20
Speaker 2: Like it's just holy moly.
25:22
Speaker 1: No kidding, good for them, good for Michael.
25:24
Speaker 2: Mm hmm and ed and ed. So it was eight
25:28
Speaker 2: pm on July sixteen when the group emerged and started
25:32
Speaker 2: walking to find help. They heard some equipment operating up ahead,
25:36
Speaker 2: and obviously we're worried that it could be the kidnappers,
25:40
Speaker 2: like frig but feeling like they had no other choice,
25:43
Speaker 2: they walked ahead. They eventually entered into this work site
25:48
Speaker 2: and were approached by like some very stun workers in
25:51
Speaker 2: hard hats. Remember they were in liver Livermore I think, yeah, Livermore, California,
25:56
Speaker 2: which was one hundred miles from Chichilla, at a Corey
26:00
Speaker 2: work site, and that's where they were finally saved. They
26:05
Speaker 2: were saved. Yes, these were not bad people, these were
26:08
Speaker 2: just workers.
26:09
Speaker 1: Not a single casualty, right, No, well, I mean I'm
26:12
Speaker 1: sure there's like minor injuries, is that casualty?
26:14
Speaker 2: But no, no one died. No one died.
26:16
Speaker 1: Oh that's incredible, Like amazing. Wow.
26:21
Speaker 2: Police arrived and the children were taking taken to Santa
26:25
Speaker 2: Rita Rehabilitation Center. So it's like a jail, but it
26:29
Speaker 2: was the closest place they could hold them safely while
26:31
Speaker 2: they collected evidence and while they were being examined by doctors.
26:35
Speaker 2: After four hours from from being from escaping, the children
26:41
Speaker 2: boarded yet another bus to head home. I was like,
26:43
Speaker 2: oh my gosh. Boarding that bus probably was just like terrifying.
26:48
Speaker 2: Hey yeah, like, oh my goodness to have to climb
26:50
Speaker 2: in there, like after just that happened. H And the
26:54
Speaker 2: reunion with their parents was so sweet.
26:57
Speaker 1: Oh, I can only imagine.
26:59
Speaker 2: I don't have a bunch to say about it. One
27:01
Speaker 2: little boy came from the bus, got placed into his
27:05
Speaker 2: mom's arms, said hi mom, and instantly fell asleep on
27:09
Speaker 2: her shoulder, just like finally feeling like safe.
27:13
Speaker 1: And I'm just like, oh my, that's that is heart wrenching.
27:18
Speaker 2: Finally getting in your parents' arms and just like feeling
27:21
Speaker 2: like you're you lactually survived and you're safe.
27:24
Speaker 1: It's it's over.
27:25
Speaker 2: Oh, just like my heart. Okay. So, and you're probably
27:30
Speaker 2: wondering at this point what the ship was all about, Right.
27:35
Speaker 1: I've been wondering that this whole fucking time. What do
27:37
Speaker 1: you mean that at this point, Like, what the fuck?
27:39
Speaker 1: I even like granted about it for like a minute.
27:42
Speaker 2: No, you're just starting to wonder.
27:44
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm just starting now, Yeah, you know what I
27:45
Speaker 1: am actually, now that you mentioned it, I'm starting to
27:47
Speaker 1: get a little curious, Yes, a bit, just a teasy
27:53
Speaker 1: weep it.
27:54
Speaker 2: So obviously, immediately the police went to where the trailer
27:57
Speaker 2: was buried and started digging for evidence. It was about
28:01
Speaker 2: a two week investigation, but finally twenty four year old
28:06
Speaker 2: Frederick Newell Woods, who was the son of the owner
28:10
Speaker 2: of the rock quarry and had keys to get in
28:14
Speaker 2: and enough access to have buried a trailer in there,
28:18
Speaker 2: and his two friends, twenty four year old James this
28:21
Speaker 2: is gonna be a tough one Scotenfield or something, I
28:25
Speaker 2: think is how you.
28:26
Speaker 1: Say his last name, James asshole.
28:29
Speaker 2: Pretty much, and his younger brother, twenty two year old Richard,
28:33
Speaker 2: were arrested.
28:35
Speaker 1: Richard Asshole Junior.
28:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like these guys, Oh, and they're like I showed
28:41
Speaker 2: you a picture of them. They just look fre geting nasty.
28:44
Speaker 1: So did they ever return to the crime scene at all?
28:48
Speaker 1: Like the buried trailer.
28:49
Speaker 2: Getting there? Okay, okay, we're getting there because it's actually
28:52
Speaker 2: quite hilarious.
28:54
Speaker 1: Oh hilarious.
28:55
Speaker 2: Oh, so the kicker. All these men came from wealthy families.
28:59
Speaker 2: They were like wealthy af After a warrant was issued
29:04
Speaker 2: to search the woods estate, they came across a piece
29:07
Speaker 2: of paper laying out the plan of the kidnapping. Oh,
29:10
Speaker 2: a draft ransom note, and the list of children's names
29:15
Speaker 2: and ages they had collected when they were transferring them
29:17
Speaker 2: from the bus or from the van to the buried trailer.
29:22
Speaker 2: The plan was that they were going to ask for
29:25
Speaker 2: a five million dollar ransom ransom in exchange for the children.
29:31
Speaker 1: What the fuck?
29:32
Speaker 2: The ransom was never actually asked for, though they attempted
29:37
Speaker 2: to phone in, but the phone lines to the Chichilla
29:41
Speaker 2: Police Department were so inundated with calls from like parents
29:45
Speaker 2: media that they couldn't get through, so they decided to
29:49
Speaker 2: go to sleep instead, and when they woke up, they
29:52
Speaker 2: found through the news that the victims had freed themselves.
29:56
Speaker 1: Oh my fucking god, what the f fuck?
30:01
Speaker 2: Like, isn't that just fucked up? So they can get
30:06
Speaker 2: through and they're just like, fuck it, they've been up
30:09
Speaker 2: like pretty much all night. I guess let's just go
30:10
Speaker 2: to bed.
30:11
Speaker 1: Okay. Want to know how I picture this going down.
30:13
Speaker 1: The three of them are sitting in their fucking parents'
30:15
Speaker 1: basement or whatever the fuck it is and.
30:17
Speaker 2: Their parents mansion.
30:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, well yeah, and they're sitting here just like having
30:21
Speaker 1: a fucking beer and they're like, Okay, I'm gonna try
30:22
Speaker 1: call again. Dude, it it's busy. Oka's try again. It's busy.
30:26
Speaker 1: They try like maybe like five times, and like, dude,
30:30
Speaker 1: is it just I can't we can't get through. We
30:33
Speaker 1: just can't get through. You know what. Fuck it, Let's
30:35
Speaker 1: just go to bed. Let's I'm tired, dude, Like we
30:38
Speaker 1: spent all day driving. Fuck it. Let should go to bed.
30:42
Speaker 1: It'll be fine. And they wake up in the morning
30:44
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh shit, and they're just fucked.
30:47
Speaker 2: Yeah. But meanwhile, to even go to bed, like I mean, okay,
30:51
Speaker 2: they're not good people. We already know they're they're shit.
30:53
Speaker 2: But it's like those people those if they had left
30:56
Speaker 2: the men much longer, like they could have just died
30:58
Speaker 2: in there.
30:59
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and.
31:00
Speaker 2: Like do they not give a shit about that? Like
31:03
Speaker 2: God is just like holy heck.
31:06
Speaker 1: So were they specifically targeting that bus or were they
31:09
Speaker 1: just waiting for a bus or what?
31:11
Speaker 2: Okay, well, what I'm about to say might help you here.
31:14
Speaker 2: So James later stated that despite coming from wealthy families,
31:19
Speaker 2: both he and Woods were deeply in debt. We needed
31:24
Speaker 2: multiple victims to get multiple millions, and we picked children
31:29
Speaker 2: because children are precious. The state would be willing to
31:33
Speaker 2: pay ransom for them, and they don't fight back.
31:36
Speaker 1: They're vulnerable, fucking trash like.
31:40
Speaker 2: Isn't that brutal?
31:42
Speaker 1: God?
31:44
Speaker 2: So, Fred, James, and Richard all pleaded guilty to kidnapping
31:48
Speaker 2: for ransom and robbery, but pleaded not guilty to bodily harm,
31:56
Speaker 2: as a conviction on that count in conjunction with the
31:59
Speaker 2: kidnapping charge, carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison
32:03
Speaker 2: without the possibility of parole.
32:05
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm I'm sure you're gonna get to it here,
32:08
Speaker 1: but no bodily harm was done. Are you're fucking kidding me?
32:13
Speaker 1: You had him at shotgun point, You had him fucking
32:18
Speaker 1: in a mobile, locked up prison. Ye buried them under
32:22
Speaker 1: fucking ground where they are literally about to fucking suffocate
32:27
Speaker 1: to death or fucking get carved in on dirt. How
32:30
Speaker 1: the fuck is that not bodily harm? You starve them? Like,
32:34
Speaker 1: what the fuck?
32:35
Speaker 2: I know they have got like that traumatized the fuck
32:40
Speaker 2: out of these children.
32:41
Speaker 1: No shit, they better have gotten slapped with that.
32:44
Speaker 2: Hum. So they were tried on the bodily harm charge,
32:48
Speaker 2: found guilty good, and given the mandatory sentence of life
32:52
Speaker 2: in prison without the possibility of parole.
32:55
Speaker 1: Yes, you fucking trash, You're gonna fucking rot. But for
33:00
Speaker 1: fuck's sakes, of course, there's a butt. God damn it.
33:03
Speaker 1: What okay, what what is it? Oh my gosh, you
33:07
Speaker 1: had to do that to me?
33:09
Speaker 2: I know, I feel absolutely terrible. Just a few years later,
33:14
Speaker 2: their convictions were overturned by an appeal which found that
33:19
Speaker 2: physical injuries subtained sustained by the children, like mostly cuts
33:23
Speaker 2: and bruises, did not meet the standard for bodily harm
33:28
Speaker 2: under the law. They were resentenced to life with the
33:33
Speaker 2: possibility of parole.
33:34
Speaker 1: They better not fucking end up getting parole.
33:37
Speaker 2: So and it's okay, and this, okay, this is like
33:40
Speaker 2: their lawyers, they had freaking awesome lawyers.
33:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, their parents have money.
33:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, And like, could you imagine being that lawyer that
33:47
Speaker 2: has to put that up I mean we've talked about
33:49
Speaker 2: this before. That puts that appeal in like freak, Like,
33:54
Speaker 2: I don't even know how you could do that. I
33:56
Speaker 2: don't know because now these mofos get I don't even
34:02
Speaker 2: have it in here. But there was like sixty times
34:06
Speaker 2: where it would come up were they their parole came up,
34:09
Speaker 2: and so all these freaking victims have to relive their
34:12
Speaker 2: goddamn trauma and go and like testify.
34:16
Speaker 1: Can you imagine having to? Fuck you're one of those
34:19
Speaker 1: rich parents whose kid fucking buried children alive because they
34:23
Speaker 1: were in debt just because they were irresponsible with their money,
34:26
Speaker 1: And you are paying money to get your kid out
34:29
Speaker 1: of jail because you believe that, oh, he didn't actually
34:32
Speaker 1: do that much wrong. He deserves to freedom. Fuck that.
34:36
Speaker 1: I know. You're my kid, I love you. I'm going
34:38
Speaker 1: to fucking visit you in prison where you're rotting for
34:40
Speaker 1: the rest of your life.
34:41
Speaker 2: I know. Like it's too much Yeah, like they did.
34:44
Speaker 2: That's too much wrong. Yeah, it's too much wrong. Okay,
34:49
Speaker 2: So you ready for this?
34:51
Speaker 1: Oh God.
34:52
Speaker 2: Richard was released in twenty twelve and James in twenty fifteen.
35:00
Speaker 2: Those are the brothers Fred the I just keep going here. Fred,
35:07
Speaker 2: the ring leader of the whole operation, is still in jail.
35:11
Speaker 2: He continues to minimize his crime as well as continues
35:15
Speaker 2: to get caught with contrabround, porn, and cell phones. He
35:21
Speaker 2: also is apparently running several businesses in prison and hasn't
35:25
Speaker 2: been I guess when you do that, you have to
35:27
Speaker 2: notify the prison authorities about it, which he hasn't. He
35:31
Speaker 2: has a gold mine and a car dealership. I'm going
35:38
Speaker 2: to keep going here because it gets a little worse.
35:40
Speaker 1: Okay, keep going.
35:41
Speaker 2: Also, coming from a wealthy family, this piece of shit,
35:47
Speaker 2: So that's why I'm like, do his parents not actually
35:49
Speaker 2: think he's a piece of shit? Inherited a trust fund,
35:52
Speaker 2: so he inherited trust him from his parents, described in
35:55
Speaker 2: one court filing as being worth one hundred million dollar.
36:00
Speaker 1: Fucking god.
36:02
Speaker 2: He's been married three times while in prison and has
36:05
Speaker 2: purchased a mansion about thirty minutes away from the prison. Like,
36:10
Speaker 2: I just can't believe that someone does something so shitty
36:13
Speaker 2: and still like this rich mofol.
36:15
Speaker 1: No shit, Holy fuck.
36:22
Speaker 2: You just look like you're just like been put through
36:25
Speaker 2: the ringer.
36:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a fucking roller coaster, fucking episode. Holy shit.
36:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, by your f bombs like in Dell.
36:34
Speaker 1: Yeah.
36:35
Speaker 2: Fuck thanks, Okay, enough about them, enough about them, like
36:43
Speaker 2: just enough. Yeah, back to the victims. We're gonna be
36:46
Speaker 2: wrapping up here soon. But it's not great, as you
36:50
Speaker 2: can expect. The victims, a lot of them had suffered
36:54
Speaker 2: from panic attacks, nightmares involving kidnappings and death. Many developed
37:01
Speaker 2: fears of such things like cars and the dark.
37:04
Speaker 1: Yeah.
37:05
Speaker 2: Symptoms of trauma were reported at least twenty five years
37:08
Speaker 2: after the kidnapping, including many of them with substance abuse
37:13
Speaker 2: and depression, and a number of them have also been
37:16
Speaker 2: in prisoned themselves for doing something controlling to somebody else.
37:22
Speaker 1: These guys fuck these kids up.
37:24
Speaker 2: I know, Like it was just such a ridiculous like
37:26
Speaker 2: the how traumatized they would have been, like from this,
37:29
Speaker 2: and that's not something that you just like get over really, no,
37:33
Speaker 2: not at all. Like they got buried freaking alive. Yeah,
37:38
Speaker 2: So I mean I know, some like some even though
37:42
Speaker 2: they had all this trauma, like they still went and
37:43
Speaker 2: had kids and families and stuff. But then, like one
37:48
Speaker 2: lady even said after she had her kid, it almost
37:51
Speaker 2: got a little worse because she's just like fearful for them, right,
37:55
Speaker 2: it might happen to kid that would she ever be
37:58
Speaker 2: able to put that kid on af briagain school boss? Yeah,
38:00
Speaker 2: you know without thinking twice? Probably not damn.
38:05
Speaker 1: So yeah, to be fair though, like I'm sure a
38:08
Speaker 1: lot of that PTSD and anxiety stuff is in trauma
38:12
Speaker 1: is connected to the incident. But I mean, you have,
38:14
Speaker 1: what was it, twenty six kids. Yeah, I'm sure that
38:17
Speaker 1: there's going to be some some of those kids might
38:21
Speaker 1: have gone to jail anyways regardless, or had bad lives
38:24
Speaker 1: or done things like you know, I'm sure majority of
38:28
Speaker 1: that stuff is related to the incident, but there's going.
38:31
Speaker 2: To be some stuff that they could have ended doing
38:34
Speaker 2: something bad anyway. Yeah, like one or two of the
38:37
Speaker 2: twenty six.
38:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, some of them might have ended up going to
38:40
Speaker 1: prison anyways or being bad people or doing bad things.
38:43
Speaker 2: Some six But then like a lot of that, like
38:46
Speaker 2: the substance abuse too cause them to do like bad things.
38:50
Speaker 1: But I mean substance abuse as well, Like you, out
38:52
Speaker 1: of twenty six people, you're going to have substance abuse
38:54
Speaker 1: most likely. Yeah, So it might not be correlated to
38:58
Speaker 1: that specifically. I'm just playing Devil's advocate, you are.
39:00
Speaker 2: Because I'm like, no, these pieces of shit ruin their life.
39:04
Speaker 1: Well they did, don't get me wrong. And most likely
39:06
Speaker 1: this substance abuse, the jail time, whatever occurred to these
39:09
Speaker 1: kids is most likely tied to that. But who's to
39:12
Speaker 1: say that all of it was so just playing devil's
39:15
Speaker 1: advocate there, just to keep a neutral perspective.
39:18
Speaker 2: That's fair. That's fair. In twenty sixteen, so not too
39:23
Speaker 2: long ago, the kidnapped children settled a lawsuit they had
39:26
Speaker 2: filed against their kidnappers. The exact settlement amount was not disclosed,
39:32
Speaker 2: but one survivor said it was enough to pay for
39:34
Speaker 2: some serious therapy, but not enough to buy a house.
39:38
Speaker 2: So they got a little bit of money, like wave
39:41
Speaker 2: down the road. But I just don't even think any
39:46
Speaker 2: amount of money could.
39:47
Speaker 1: Considering that fucking ring leader now has over one hundred
39:50
Speaker 1: million dollars.
39:51
Speaker 2: Well, it apparently came from his trust or something.
39:56
Speaker 1: Well he should be liking what here's.
39:59
Speaker 2: Like, he's you'd leave all his money to that?
40:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I'm sure he wouldn't, but.
40:03
Speaker 2: But he he's a terrible person. Like the other ones,
40:06
Speaker 2: I think did some rehabilitation and like got it. Maybe
40:11
Speaker 2: I don't know if i'd say better, but like even
40:13
Speaker 2: some of one of the victims went and visited them
40:17
Speaker 2: and like met him because that's what he needed to
40:19
Speaker 2: help with him dealing with his trauma. But this Fred dude,
40:23
Speaker 2: I think is just an all around piece of shit.
40:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's fucking trash. Would you would think that, Oh,
40:28
Speaker 1: I did this because I was in debt and I need
40:30
Speaker 1: five million dollars to get out of debt. Now you
40:32
Speaker 1: have over one hundred million dollars. Maybe you should, I
40:35
Speaker 1: don't know, pay it forward to the damage you caused
40:38
Speaker 1: in these kids. Yeah, but clearly not. He's fucking trash,
40:42
Speaker 1: total trash.
40:44
Speaker 2: And the last thing I'm going to say is about
40:46
Speaker 2: Ed Ed is the bus driver. Yeah, okay, just making
40:50
Speaker 2: sure you remember. I remember Ed in twenty two so
40:54
Speaker 2: he died in twenty twelve. And before he died, though,
40:58
Speaker 2: he was visited by many of this school children he
41:01
Speaker 2: had help save, which I thought was adorable.
41:04
Speaker 1: I like that. Yeah.
41:05
Speaker 2: And every February twenty sixth or February twenty sixth, so
41:10
Speaker 2: I don't know why that's so hard to say, which
41:16
Speaker 2: was his birthday has been declared Edward ray Day in Chechilla.
41:21
Speaker 1: I like that, Yeah, Ray Day, love it.
41:24
Speaker 2: I know, it even just sounds like a glorious day.
41:26
Speaker 1: It does a little ray of sunshine in February.
41:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, so there we go.
41:32
Speaker 1: That was a fucking roller coaster.
41:33
Speaker 2: I know. That was like okay, and I tried to
41:36
Speaker 2: just do that case a bit different and like keep
41:38
Speaker 2: it a little bit more suspenseful and boom.
41:41
Speaker 1: I mean like clearly, like you were telling the story
41:44
Speaker 1: from the very beginning, so it's like, clearly there's they
41:47
Speaker 1: get caught. Clearly there's some survivors, but it was still like, okay,
41:52
Speaker 1: do they all fucking survive or it just like one
41:55
Speaker 1: manages to survive somehow.
41:56
Speaker 2: It's actually amazing. I even listening to that, you're reading
42:00
Speaker 2: like you would have thought one some of them might
42:02
Speaker 2: have died, you know.
42:03
Speaker 1: Yeah that my assumption was that they were going to
42:05
Speaker 1: start getting executed, and I was.
42:07
Speaker 2: Like, why could you imagine? Oh that's not that's disgusting.
42:11
Speaker 2: I mean, all the whole thing is disgusting already.
42:13
Speaker 1: But yeah, well I'm glad they made it out, I know.
42:17
Speaker 2: Yeah. So it's like it's a good ending, not a
42:21
Speaker 2: great ending, but a lot better than it could have been.
42:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot better than it could have been. Although
42:27
Speaker 1: that one hundred million dollars.
42:28
Speaker 2: Should not h fuck freakin' Fred.
42:32
Speaker 1: Dude's fucking trash? Fred or was it Frank?
42:34
Speaker 2: I don't even remember. That's how little I give a
42:38
Speaker 2: shit about him.
42:39
Speaker 1: How fuck that guy?
42:42
Speaker 2: Is it? Fred? Or Frank? Do we care? Should I look?
42:45
Speaker 1: No? Fuck it?
42:45
Speaker 2: Okay, we're done with him.
42:46
Speaker 1: Fuck Fred, Frank fucker.
42:50
Speaker 2: Anyway, Thanks for listening. We'll post some pictures up on
42:55
Speaker 2: Instagram so you can uh check out it if you want.
43:02
Speaker 2: It is intriguing, Like, definitely go go check it out
43:05
Speaker 2: and let us know what you think.
43:09
Speaker 1: I'm I'm scared to see these photos, but I want
43:11
Speaker 1: to see them.
43:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're They're not great, but they're interesting. It kind
43:15
Speaker 2: of like rounds out the story. Well, so do take
43:18
Speaker 2: a look. Go take a look. And with that being said,
43:22
Speaker 2: make sure you stay wicked.