# Chowchilla kidnapping - where r they now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2002, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chowchilla-kidnapping-where-r-they-now/142894 "2002-12-15T15:53:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychotropic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/57b2e6/32.png) [@psychotropic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychotropic)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chowchilla-kidnapping-where-r-they-now/142894/1 "2002-12-15T15:53:27Z")
Having just recently watched the TVM “Vanished Without A Trace” (may have been called something else in the US), does anyone know what the main players are up to these days? I am quite sure Fred, James & Richard (the morons who carried out the wretched crime) have all been released on parole. Did they just merrily slip back into society? What about Ed Ray (poor old bloke’s probably passed away by now) or any of the children who were involved? Interested in even the tiniest bit of information. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chowchilla-kidnapping-where-r-they-now/142894/2 "2002-12-15T16:05:54Z")
Since you are interested in the tiniest bit of info, I can help. There was a feature that I read in the L.A. Times a few years ago on what was the 20th(?) Anniversary of the event. Many of the kids, who were young adults when the article was written, still suffered nightmares about the kidnapping. In fact, the whole communty still suffered from it. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chowchilla-kidnapping-where-r-they-now/142894/3 "2002-12-15T17:09:58Z")
But I was curious about another footnote person from another notable crime. Kenneth Parnell, the kidnapper of the late \*Steven Stayner (detailed in the movie "I Know My First Name Is Steven) was eventually released after a relatively short prison sentence. He has also served all his “parole” time, and therefore does not need to report his whereabouts anymore. There’s no reason to believe he’s even using the same name anymore, either. I suspect the same might apply to those kidnappers, too. \*Whose family’s woes continued with recently with the arrest of his brother Cary Stayner, the “Yosemite Murderer.” ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chowchilla-kidnapping-where-r-they-now/142894/4 "2002-12-15T17:21:11Z")
[According to this article](http://www.ci.chowchilla.ca.us/history.html), all three of them are serving life sentences and have been refused parole a bunch of times. [According to the second article here](http://www.stnonline.com/stn/industrynews/newsarchives/august99.htm), a suit against the producers of a TV movie was turned down by the California Supreme Court. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chowchilla-kidnapping-where-r-they-now/142894/5 "2002-12-15T17:23:44Z")
I would like to find out for certain the name of the school that the Chowchilla children attended. Was it Dairyland Elementary?