logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2022
1h 9m

The Chowchilla Kidnapping

Emash Digital / Wondery
About this episode
On July 15th, 1976, a school bus driven by 55-year-old Frank Edward Ray, for Dairyland Elementary, in the school district of Chowchilla, California, was hijacked by three armed men. Ed Ray was driving 26 children, ranging in age from 5 to 14, home from a summer class trip to the Chowchilla Fairgrounds swimming pool. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss the C ... Show More
Up next
Yesterday
Frank McAlister
19-year-old Frank McAlister was reported missing on May 7th, 1993, by his fiancée, who told police he left the house to meet friends and never came back. Investigators suspected foul play when they found blood in the vehicle Frank was driving. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss ... Show More
57m 18s
Jan 26
Joe Gliniewicz
On September 1st, 2015, Officer Joe Gliniewicz was found shot to death minutes after he called for backup during a pursuit of three suspects. Gliniewicz was considered a hero killed in the line of duty until investigators took a closer look at the crime scene, Gliniewicz’s phone ... Show More
1h 4m
Jan 19
Jermaine Ross
47-year-old Jermaine L. Ross was a popular barber from Cahokia, Illinois. After missing an appointment, his body was found inside his home. Leading up to his death, Jermaine had alluded to having problems with unspecified people. Authorities worked to narrow down a wide suspect p ... Show More
58m 20s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2022
Wondery Presents Against The Odds: Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping
When an entire school bus full of children goes missing from a rural California town, local law enforcement, the feds, and the media mount an enormous manhunt. The kidnappers locked the children and their bus driver in a storage container, burying them alive in a quarry. With no ... Show More
6m 23s
Nov 2022
Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping | Vanished | 1
<p>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. ... Show More
41m 44s
Mar 2024
The Country Club Murders
In March 2008, Charlene and Ernest Scherer were murdered in their Castlewood Country Club home in Pleasanton, California. Their son, Ernie Scherer III, was a professional poker player and the chief suspect. Police suspected Ernie killed his parents to inherit money to pay off his ... Show More
44m 51s
Feb 2024
Secrets of the River
In February 2010, Mackenzie Cowell was a high school senior and aspiring model who was studying at a Washington beauty school. After missing a dinner date with her father, he received a call from police saying his daughter’s car was found abandoned on a ranch, 40 miles from their ... Show More
45m 54s
Sep 2022
S2 Ep93: Connie Dabate: "The Masked Intruder" (Part 1)
It was December 23rd, 2015, the morning before Christmas Eve, and most residents of Ellington Connecticut were getting their last minute holiday tasks completed before the season went into full swing. Richard and Connie Dabate got their two young sons on the school bus and then g ... Show More
1h 36m