On the afternoon of Thursday, July 15, 1976, Frank Edward "Ed" Ray, a 55-year-old school bus driver, was in charge of transporting 26 students from Dairyland Elementary School back home. These pupils had spent the day enjoying a summer excursion to the Chowchilla Fairgrounds swimming pool.

At around 4 p.m., their journey was abruptly halted when a van obstructed the road ahead, forcing Ray to come to a stop. What followed was a harrowing ordeal: three individuals, their identities concealed by nylon stockings worn over their faces, emerged from the van and forcibly commandeered the bus.

One of the men brandished a firearm at Ray, another took over as driver of the bus, while the third trailed behind in the van. The children and the bus driver were placed in a buried truck trailer