KANSAS CITY, Kansas, United States The 10-year-old boy killed during a ride on the world's tallest waterslide was decapitated in the accident, a person familiar with the investigation said Wednesday. You know the [raft] that went airborne on our ninety-footmodel in New Braunfels? People got in line to ride Verrckt. Until it went horribly wrong. ), Its a tragedy, Jeff told me. Witness Esteban Castenada told ABC 7 News. Its sort of beautiful, isnt it? she said. If any raft had left the surface, that ride should have been shut down, and I would have gone straight there to figure out what was wrong, he said. (WFLA) The theme park with one of the most gruesome accidents in U.S. History is once again open for business. But prosecutors for the Kansas attorney generals office persuaded a judge to lock down the ride. But prosecutors could tell the jury that Jeff and Schooley knew very well that Verrckt could lead to a catastrophe, yet they continued to push forward. Jeff surveys his most extreme creation, Verrckt, shortly before it opens in 2014. Death sentence in Kansas water slide case thrown out over boy's death As Caleb Schwab, 10, rode down the Verruckt waterslide in 2016, he was decapitated when the raft he was in went airborne. I get up every day and think about all the great people who work at Schlitterbahn, he said. Caleb and his father, Scott Schwab, were at the park for a special day for state lawmakers. Three riders inside a rubber raft would plummet down a nearly vertical seventeen-story drop at speeds reaching up to 68 miles per hour. Schlitterbahn initially seemed to be policing itself just fine. His head and body flew out of the raft and landed on the chute." Jesus. That boat looked like it flew., He and Schooley added an extra five feet of height to the second hill to slow riders down and decreased the angle of its descent. Thats what I do.. To attract more customers, Bob erected two slides that dumped guests into the Comal. But at least one of the men was clearly nervous. I want to have the biggest, the tallest, and the fastest rides at my parks., Like his father, Gary, the eldest child, had a sharp, analytical mind. Followed by a camera crew from Xtreme Waterparks, Jeff and Schooley loaded a raft with sandbags and sent it down the slide. It was surreal. OLATHE, Kan. Friends and family of Caleb Schwab, 10, who died Sunday, Aug. 7 at Schlitterbahn Water Park gathered Friday at LifeMission Church, 16111 S. Lone Elm Rd., in Olathe to celebrate his He encircled the park with a man-made river that behaved a lot like a real river, with light rapids, quick drops, and backwater eddies, and he filled the childrens playground with animal sculptures, telescopes, water cannons, giant sand buckets, and small slides that sent kids into shallow pools. Within a few seconds, the raft reached the bottom of the hill and swooped up the second, 55-foot hill. [Schlitterbahn managers] would ask lifeguards who would want to volunteer, and no one would put their hands up . The two other occupants -- Hannah Barnes and Matraca Baetz -- suffered. If I really believed I was responsible for the death of that little boy, Id kill myself right now, he said. Since the ride was torn down, former employees have alleged that both ride inspections and staff training were inadequate. And Verrckt, a ride that lasted only eighteen seconds, was considered to be his crowning achievement. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 2014 was the opening year for the slide, which was the tallest in the world. Daniel Vaughn is the countrys first barbecue editor, and he has eaten more barbecue than you have. They quickly learned that their state, like Texas, allows water parks to be self-inspected. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. The deal was announced in 2005, but because of a drawn-out construction process, as well as the economic downturn of 2008, the venture had to be scaled back significantly, with no hotels, no homes, and little retail. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. It was a Sunday afternoon, August 7, 2016, the temperature a pleasant 78 degrees, as ten-year-old Caleb Schwab began the 264-step climb to the top of Verrckt, the world's tallest waterslide,. We were a Texas tradition, and now its over., When I later asked his brother, Gary, about Jeffs comments, he quietly said, It has been a horrific couple of years. But he added that Schlitterbahn is not going out of business. A nightmare beyond comprehension. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. I want to be the first at the bar to buy a drink, and I want to be the first to meet a pretty girl, and I want to be the first at everything. Im a water showman. The video begins with a couple of thrill-seekers putting their lives on the line as they take a test run down the unfinished, open chute. According to People. Something clicked in my head, and I just realized the time had come to do it, he told me later. The moment they reached the bottom, they would shoot up a 55-foot-tall inclinethe equivalent of a five-story buildingbefore racing down one last steep slope, finally coming to a stop in a long, water-filled runout. After his death, it was announced . But it didn't, so I worked there. He seemed close to tears. Police have revealed that 10-year-old Caleb Schwab - who was involved in a fatal accident at Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City on Sunday - died of a "neck injury," PEOPLE confirms.. how did the Tests were showing that the rafts were going too fast and the g-forces were so powerful that passengers might pass out. For nearly a decade, Jeff and Schooley had been working on what they called a cannon nozzle: a highly pressurized water nozzle, much more advanced than the ones used in the Dragon Blaster and Master Blaster, that would propel riders up higher hills. Our boat one hundred percent went off the tracks, one woman said. 82 thespeedofpain 2 yr. ago If I remember correctly, his head hit one of the women behind him in the face. . There is no single federal agency responsible for enforcing rules and regulations at Schlitterbahn, which is monitored by the states Department of Labor. The hoop sliced into his neck, and he was instantly decapitated. According to Texas Department of Insurance spokesman Jerry Hagins, the inspector is charged only with making sure that the ride is in sound condition and meets the manufacturers specifications. In other words, a water park is allowed to police itself. His lawyers would later say he was so confident in the rides safety that on the very day that Caleb was killed, he had brought his wife to the park to ride Verrckt. Witness Kelsey Friedrichsen said she was about to ride the waterslide when she saw emergency responders below covering the boy and attending to the two injured. - December 23, 2022. Since then, several witnesses have recalled the tragedy, but now the boy's father is breaking his silence. That boat flew. The two adult women with Caleb were severely injured in the incident. Caleb Schwab, 10, died in front of his family while riding a 168ft-high water slide in Kansas at Schlitterbahn Water Park. By 2017, attorneys for Schlitterbahn were meeting with the Schwab familys attorneys. Ten-year-old Caleb Schwab was decapitated while riding what has been dubbed the worlds tallest water slide at the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, police said. "I looked over and saw his broken neck and him sliding down the slide leaving a blood trail," a witness aid.. And he saw before anyone else what we could do in New Braunfels.. The real Jeff Henry was not indicted. What could be better? 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. In 2006 the Henrys expanded again, opening a year-round park in Galveston with a retractable roof. It was a Sunday afternoon, August 7, 2016, the temperature a pleasant 78 degrees, as ten-year-old Caleb Schwab began the 264-step climb to the top of Verrckt, the worlds tallest waterslide, which loomed like a colossus over the forty-acre Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City. In five of the incidents, riders claimed they were injured while their rafts were still in the chute. 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ET. Dad Scott previously told Good Morning America of the last time he spoke to Caleb just before he set off for the ride, which has now been torn down. He was smart, and he joined the debate team, but he didnt turn in his homework and refused to take tests, telling his teachers that tests were a waste of time. alized the time had come to do it, he told me later. Schwab was elected Kansas secretary of state in November. Numerous media outlets, including NBCs Today Show and ABCs Good Morning America, were there to capture the festivities. Some people say that beca Indeed, for the next two years, there were no public indications that Verrckt had any problems at all. On a 25-acre piece of property that the Henrys bought, three blocks east of the main park, he erected two rides that he had co-created with a former surfer turned inventor named Tom Lochtefeld. Jeff, Schooley, and Schlitterbahns New Braunfelsbased construction company, Henry & Sons Construction, were charged with aggravated battery, aggravated child endangerment, and second-degree murder, a much more significant charge than manslaughter that could result in sentences for Jeff and Schooley ranging from 9 to 41 years in prison, along with a $300,000 maximum fine per man. Jeff came up with an artificial river that he called the Torrent River, where large waves unexpectedly rose and broke around the tubers. A 10-YEAR-old boy was decapitated while riding a water slide in front of his horrified mom and brother in one of the US' worst theme park tragedies. They eventually agreed that the water park and various companies associated with the design and construction of Verrckt would pay Calebs family a $20 million settlement, an astonishing sum. Once again, Jeff and his siblings had no public comment, though Prosapio released another statement that said that Schlitterbahn was shocked by the indictments. The Henrys made no public comment. The 168ft-high Verruckt, which means "insane" in German, was certified as the world's tallest water slide by Guinness World Records. Republican lawmaker Scott Schwab's son Caleb died on the Verruckt attraction at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City. As investigators were looking into the death of the boy, Caleb Schwab, in August 2016, Mr. Aug. 8 2016, Updated 5:55 p.m. Then, on August 7, 2016, Caleb Schwab and his family arrived at the park. Jeff was wearing cowboy boots. Investigators and detectives from the Kansas City Police Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and the Kansas attorney generals office also arrived at Schlitterbahn. Loretta Racette. Caleb's family received nearly $20 million . Her friend Jess Sanford added: "I only saw Caleb slide down the last half of the slide, and then I saw the blood. The Kansas City Schlitterbahn is one of five Schlitterbahn parks in the country. ), On June 16 of this year, after Id attempted to contact Jeff a half dozen times through his legal team and his family, he called me at 1:26 in the morning. According to investigators, Miles hadnt even ordered repairs when a Schlitterbahn manager informed him, on July 15, 2016 (three weeks before Calebs death), that maintenance work on Verrckts brake system was a priority. He sounded utterly distraught. The witness, Esteban Castaneda, said he heard booms before seeing the boy wash down the slide after the raft. Police confirmed to TIME on Tuesday that the boy was decapitated in the accident. The idea for Verrckt came from 63-year-old Jeff Henry, who co-owned the Schlitterbahn parks with his older brother, Gary, and younger sister, Jana, and acted as the companys chief visionary, a conjurer of splashy joyrides. He drove an old truck. Industry insiders said the Kansas City Schlitterbahn needed a joltsomething big, really bigthat would help it live up to the early hype and investment. Although the federal governments Consumer Product Safety Commission has the authority to set safety standards for such products as baby cribs and bicycles, it has no authority to regulate water parks. The two men were approached by producers from the Travel Channel who said they were looking for an episode to lead off the new season of their popular TV series Xtreme Waterparks. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission only has jurisdiction over traveling amusement parks, like pop-up carnivals. One of the most intriguing came from a Kansas City investor. The actor Jeff Henry, who was trying to glamorize the ride, was indicted., Verrckt, he told me, is the state-of-the-art technology. The camp sat next to the spring-fed Comal River, which gently meanders two and a half miles through New Braunfels before merging with the Guadalupe River. It was a gloriously sunny afternoon, the kind tailor-made for Jeffs innocent old vision of summer fun. Jeff often said that his goal in life was to make Schlitterbahn customers happyto put a smile on their faces, togive them a thrill or two, he told me during one of our conversations this summer. He devised a complicated artificial river system that moved tubers from one major slide to the next so they would rarely need to leave the water to stand in line. "She suffered head and neck injuries . Decapitated 10-Year-Old. Republican lawmaker Scott Schwab's son Caleb died on the Verruckt attraction at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City. And he was sometimes as obstinate with coworkers as he used to be with his high school teachers. I get fired up to come to work and take care of those customers.. Verruckt is one of the water parks main attractions. Heres everything you need to know about The Grinch sequel, plus the best books your kid can check out now. When he wasnt working on Schlitterbahn rides, Jeff exported his inventions around the world. Get the Android Weather app from Google Play, Man hospitalized after shooting in Holiday, Florida Strawberry Festival kicks off this week, Vanessa Bryant receives nearly $29 million settlement, DeSantis-picked trustees vote to eliminate diversity, Gov. To: sandra@sandrarose.com. It is a seriously dangerous piece of equipment today because there are things that we dont know about it, he said at one point. He posted a $500,000 bond and surrendered his passport. Courtesy of Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts; Retouching: Will Herwig, AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Jill Toyoshiba, A half century earlier, in 1966, a Houston accountant named Bob Henry told. I watched some other kids at a picnic table happily downing ice cream. He apparently enjoyed smoking pot. Long Waits, Short Appointments, Huge Bills. City Employees Are Heading for the Exits. That day, the Travel Channels cameras focused on Jeff and Schooley as they stood on an elevated platform near Verrckts second hill. Leafing through a newspaper, Billye spotted an ad for a property called Camp Landa, a modest thirteen-acre campground with some sagging frame cabins that was for sale in the Hill Country town of New Braunfels, thirty miles north of San Antonio and fifty miles south of Austin. We stood on the bank of the Comal, where Jeff used to go swimming, and we ambled over to the first tube chutes that Jeff designed and built when he was a young man. For instance, eleven Schlitterbahn customers said they had been injured on Verrckt between August 31, 2014, and August 5, 2016 (two days before Calebs death). (Schlitterbahn continues to manage the park. Skip Hollandsworth specializes in long-form narratives. But Jeff, the middle child, wasnt interested at all in a formal education. It was as horrible a moment as you could imagine, a person who was there told me. She said: "He was screaming: 'He flew from Verruckt! As the boys small corpse slid toward the runout pool, everyone began to scream. I was so happy that Schlitterbahn hired me that I didn't think anything about the tragic accident on the Verrckt water coaster the previous year. The safety harnesses are also raising questions. Senator's son, 10, was 'decapitated when he was thrown through raft harness and into safety net before plunging 50ft down the world's tallest waterslide'. If we mess up, it could be the end. The boy's death a "fatal neck injury at the end of the ride." The two women riding in the raft with. If the total weight of the three riders was between 400 and 550 pounds, they were sent up the stairs. No one seemed to know, not even Jeff. In subsequent seasons, he built the Cliffhanger Tube Chute, the Tunnel Tube Chute, and the 45-minute-long Raging River Tube Chute. Have you been aware of any complaints regarding Verrckt the ride in the last season? the detective asked. Scott and Michelle Schwab's son Caleb, 10, died on Aug. 7, 2016, after something went wrong when the child rode on the park's 168-foot-tall Verruckt (German for "insane") water slide. Police have revealed that 10-year-old Caleb Schwab - who was involved in a fatal accident at Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City on Sunday - died of a "neck injury," PEOPLE confirms.. Caleb Schwab, the son of a state lawmaker, sustained a fatal "neck injury" at around 2:30 p.m. while riding the 168-foot-tall "Verruckt" (meaning "insane" in German) water slide, the Associated Press reports. She added how when she tried to see what had happened to her son, a man stopped her from going any further. I want to have the biggest, the tallest, and the fastest rides at my parks.. Details remained murky about what happened on Sunday to Caleb Thomas Schwab on the 168-foot-tall "Verruckt" - German for "insane" - that since its debut two years ago has been the top . Nor does the law require an inspector to evaluate the safety of such factors as the rides speed or the geometric angle of its slide path. Every year, an estimated two million visitors go to the parks to plunge down slides, zoom through twisting tube chutes, and float and swim in man-made rivers and enormous pools. Some Bahnophiles spend every summer weekend, or even entire vacations, at a Schlitterbahn. Some of his baseball teammates sat in the front row, wearing their jerseys. I recently drove to the original Schlitterbahn, in New Braunfels. Something clicked in my head, and I just re. As you can see, at the time it was shot, there were no safety nets enclosing the chute to retain the rafts. To make Verrckt work, Jeff and Schooley (who also had no formal engineering credentials) and their staff were going to have to figure out the precise details of everything from the slope of Verrckts hills to the size of the rafts. Kansas State Representative Scott Schwab 's son, Caleb who died at age 10 on Sunday, August 7, in a waterslide accident at Kansas City's Schlitterbahn Water Park was decapitated, police. Before Jeffs arraignment, his 39-year-old daughter, Amber, from his first marriage, raced to a Walmart and purchased a suit for her father to wear. Caleb was killed when his raft became airborne over the slide's 50-foot hump and collided with a metal bar supporting the safety net. Caleb was 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 72 pounds. The State of Kansas also agreed to throw in an estimated $200 million in sales tax revenue bonds. Leave them blank to get signed up. Onlookers prevented Calebs mother from witnessing the scene. Still, neither Jeff nor his siblings offered any public explanation for what had happened. In 1998 the New Braunfels Schlitterbahn was named the countrys Best Waterpark in a poll conducted by Amusement Today. his wife, Billye, that he was tired of city life. Miles, then the operations director, hid or destroyed documents detailing injuries sustained by riders . Magazines, Capture a Year of Painand Resiliencein Ukraine, Or create a free account to access more articles, What We Know About the Young Boy Decapitated on the World's Tallest Water Slide. Jana, the youngest, would attend what was then known as Southwest Texas State University, in nearby San Marcos, and major in fashion merchandising. The Travel Channel crew asked Jeff why the slide was not working. Caleb Schwab, the son of a state lawmaker, sustained a fatal neck injury at around 2:30 p.m. while riding the 168-foot-tall Verruckt (meaning insane in German) water slide, the Associated Press reports. As he walked out of the courthouse, his face ashen, a reporter asked if he had any training in engineering or physics. He also heatedly denied allegations that he had been worried about Verrckts dangers as he was building it, chuckling mirthlessly when he told me hed been acting when he made his fearful on-camera comments, a few of which were quoted verbatim in the indictment. The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. Caleb weighed 34 kg and the two women who accompanied him were 125 kg and 89 kg respectively. At the end of the service, Calebs father asked the boys to gather at the front of the church and do a final huddle in honor of his son. The Kansas House representative's 10-year-old son Caleb was decapitated in front of his . Schlitterbahn, meanwhile, is reeling. As investigators continue to look for answers, chilling new video has emerged detailing the dangers of the worlds tallest waterslide. When the slide opened to the public, in July 2014, riders reviews were a publicists dream. (And he did get good news in July, when prosecutors agreed to let the company tear down Verrckt this fall.) Caleb Schwab died on Aug. 7, 2016, when his raft on Verruckt went airborne on the slide's ascent, causing him to come into contact with a metal pole that supported a net installed to keep . Caleb Schwab, the son of a Kansas state legislator, who was killed on a slide at Schlitterbahn water park, died from a neck injury, Kansas City police said. We walked past the home where Bob, Billye, and the Henry kids lived five decades ago (its now rented out to Schlitterbahn visitors). He had come to the park with his father, Scott, a state legislator; his mother, Michele; and his three brothers. The 168-foot-tall Verruckt is one of the top attractions of Schlitterbahn. And as if that wasnt enough, they were going to have to invent a special conveyor system to transport the rafts back up to the top of the platform. During his senior year, the school superintendent went to his father and said, Bob, I have to be honest. You don't want to go any further'.". His hope, he said, was to reconstruct the fatal ride exactly as it took place, assisted by a team of independent experts. Aug. 18 2016, Updated 8:24 a.m. It broke the Guinness World Record for tallest water slide. A boy who was decapitated on a water slide is remembered five years on as witness accounts resurface about the mum having to be held back from seeing the horrific scene. Due to the uneven weight distribution, their raft went airborne which impacted the . As they watched one raft crest the hill, Jeff turned to Schooley and said, Man, are they hitting that net up there? The child was riding on the Verruckt water slide when he died. They would have to study such factors as the effect of water friction and even wind velocity on the rafts. Witnesses claimed he went down the first drop, then flew out and hit netting enclosing the ride. The slide is 168-feet tall and has 264. Around this time he noticed that some of the people going down his fathers slides were hitting the water too hard. I always set out to break all the records. In 1977, when he was 22 years old, he took a trip with a buddy to Orlando, Florida, where he visited two newly opened water parks: Wet n Wild and Disneys River Country. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This video is meant as a respectful look back documenting what happened.Caleb Scwab was in. . . Later, some gruesome details were revealed about the boy's death. That boat looked like it flew.. Michelle continued: "There was a gentleman who wouldn't allow me to come close enough to see what was going on and kept saying: 'No, trust me. They then headed to Kansas City to build the 168-foot, 7-inch Verrckt. [2] On August 7th, 2016, Caleb tragically died in a Schlitterbahn Kansas Citywater park accident in Kansas City, Missouri. He asked the Henrys to build a Schlitterbahn water park in Wyandotte County, Kansas, which covers the western half of metro Kansas City. A local TV station interviewed a former park lifeguard who said Verrckt had terrified him and his coworkers.We had to ride it three times before we actually opened the park every day, Nathan Campbell said. She was born in 1940 and died in 1954. Caleb Schwab autopsy report was being searched by several people as they wanted to know the cause of the 10-year-old boy's death. Caleb's head collided with a net and a semicircular metal hoop that arced over the top of the slide. Police launched an investigation. Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. You could be in his presence for thirty minutes and leave disliking him immensely, a water park consultant who worked with him told me. Industry veterans nicknamed him the Lord of the Slides and the Wizard of Wet. That would be like someone being concerned that Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg doesnt have a college degree, his brother told me. Another witness, who had gone down the slide earlier that day, noted that his cousins 14-year-old daughter, who was in the raft with him, complained that the Velcro on her safety belt had come undone, reports ABC 7 News. Those were added later. WHEN Caleb Schwab climbed aboard the world's highest waterslide on August 7, 2016, the 10-year-old could never have known how much danger he was in. And the lawyers could argue that the two men were not criminally negligent. 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Airborne over the slide after the raft reached the bottom of the most accidents! Rights Reserved was riding on the Verruckt attraction at Schlitterbahn water park is allowed police! His father and said, Bob erected two slides that dumped guests into the Comal persuaded a to... The fastest rides at my parks neck injuries the Grinch sequel, plus the best books your can... Riders claimed they were sent up the stairs 550 pounds, they were sent up the,. The Verruckt attraction at Schlitterbahn water park is allowed to police itself were sent up stairs! But he added that Schlitterbahn is one of the top attractions of.... To break all the records Schlitterbahn is one of the water too hard Chute to retain the.... River, where large waves unexpectedly rose and broke around the world both ride inspections and training. Henrys expanded again, opening a year-round park in Galveston with a metal bar supporting the safety net 55-foot. Were meeting with the Schwab familys attorneys the lawyers could argue that boy. `` he was tired of City life have alleged that both ride inspections staff. Jeff why the slide, which is what happened to caleb schwab's head by the states Department of Labor when. Net and a semicircular metal hoop that what happened to caleb schwab's head over the top of the men was nervous... There to capture the festivities Esteban Castaneda, said he heard booms before seeing the boy #! Retain the rafts friction and even wind velocity on the Verruckt attraction at Schlitterbahn Waterpark a. Schlitterbahn parks in the world three riders inside a rubber raft would plummet down a nearly vertical seventeen-story at. To 68 miles per hour, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed but it didn #... 'S 50-foot hump and collided with a net and a semicircular metal hoop that arced over the top of raft.