According to Wikipedia, Caleb Schwab's cause of death was internal decapitation. 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. In a documentary, The Water Slide, footage showed rafts filled with sandbags repeatedly becoming airborne during testing. I was hoping to meet Jeff, but he was still staying to himself. Revealed: Brother of 10-year-old Kansas boy who was decapitated on water slide cheated death when they were stopped from riding together Nate Schwab, 12, was planning on riding the Verrckt. Schlitterbahn opened in 1979, drawing approximately five thousand visitors in its first season (the park is open full-time only from Memorial Day until Labor Day). If we mess up, it could be the end. Jeff came up with an artificial river that he called the Torrent River, where large waves unexpectedly rose and broke around the tubers. 10-year-old Caleb Schwab, the son of Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab, was decapitated Sunday on the Verrckt water slide at the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City. For the most devoted fans, Schlitterbahn is an aquatic version of Disney World, with something for everyone, from huge playgrounds for children to swim-up bars for adults that serve beer and margaritas. Theres a whole bunch of factors that crept in on this one that we just didnt know about., Whenever he did interviews for the TV show, Jeff seemed obsessed with Verrckt, as if it were his white whale. He pedaled his bicycle across town to buy busted car-tire inner tubes at gas stations, which he patched up and rented to tourists who wanted to float the river. The boy's death a "fatal neck injury at the end of the ride." The two women riding in the raft with. The other is James 4:14. The Henrys moved into a small house on the property, which they renamed the Landa Resort. He apparently enjoyed smoking pot. One is a line from John 3:16. Miles and the Kansas City Schlitterbahn itself were indicted for aggravated battery, aggravated endangerment of a child, interference with law enforcement, and involuntary manslaughter. He asked the Henrys to build a Schlitterbahn water park in Wyandotte County, Kansas, which covers the western half of metro Kansas City. A humid breeze presses down on the dead summer grass. 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. This is paradise, Bob said, and he struck a deal to buy the Landa that day. From left: Jeff Henry with his father, Bob, mother, Billye, and siblings, Jana and Gary. Verruckt is one of the water parks main attractions. Caleb Thomas Schwab, 10, died Sunday . Questions remain over how exactly Caleb died, including whether the ride or safety equipment as well as the Velcro straps and belt holding him into the raft malfunctioned. He returned to Texas and met with Gary and Jana. Decapitated 10-Year-Old. 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. Followed by a camera crew from Xtreme Waterparks, Jeff and Schooley loaded a raft with sandbags and sent it down the slide. When the slide opened to the public, in July 2014, riders reviews were a publicists dream. 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. In 2016, what was supposed to be a fun day out for a family became an utter tragedy when 10-year-old Caleb Schwab was . What are those large pyramids next to the Skyway? 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. In 1998 the New Braunfels Schlitterbahn was named the countrys Best Waterpark in a poll conducted by, In October 2012, Jeff was at an amusement park industry trade show with his chief collaborator, John Schooley, a soft-spoken, silver-haired former yacht builder who had constructed slides at water parks in Asia before coming to New Braunfels to work for Jeff in 1998. 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. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Consumed with hubris, they were determined to be known as the creators of the tallest and fastest ride in all of water park history. You read it quietly and are reminded again that Caleb Schwab should still be here. One is a line from John 3:16. Caleb Schwab, 10, Decapitated in Water Slide Accident, Police Confirm After a 10-Year-Old's Waterslide Decapitation, Why Were the Ride Designers Charged with Murder? On their first attempt, the cannon nozzle misfired, and the raft never made it up the five-story hill: it slid back down to the bottom. It was as horrible a moment as you could imagine, a person who was there told me. There was no age restrictiononly the height requirementso kids joined the line. During construction, the men had ordered that a net be placed above the chute, propped up every few feet by semicircular poles, to keep people from flying out. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital A half century earlier, in 1966, a Houston accountant named Bob Henry toldhis wife, Billye, that he was tired of city life. When they reached the runout pool, the three men in the raft shouted and pumped their fists in the air. (Schlitterbahn continues to manage the park. Although Jeff and Schooley said they used engineers and architects to help them design Verrckt, they also continued to depend on traditional trial and error. In 1998 the New Braunfels Schlitterbahn was named the countrys Best Waterpark in a poll conducted by Amusement Today. A Right-wing Cabal Took Over Odessas Municipal Government. However, after a redesign and more tests, Henry said the ride, although still dangerous, was safe: its a safe dangerous now.. 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. Children frolicked in watery playgrounds, teenagers lined up to ride the Boogie Bahn and the water coasters, and parents floated on the artificial rivers. He bought a piece of property next door to the Landa, built a sixty-foot replica of a German castle (to reflect New Braunfelss heritage), and had four blue fiberglass waterslides erected around the castle. This is the best life I could ever imagine., Jeff was so busy with his own projects that he barely had time to go to New Braunfels High School, and when he did, he often showed up for class barefoot. The riders were divided into groups of three and ordered to step on a large scale. Jeff never made any secret of how he built his rides. Carolyn Wasilewski was a 14 year old girl who was found dead on the train tracks in Baltimore, Maryland. The Kanas . I always set out to break all therecords, Jeff told USA Today. Schwab boarded the raft with two women who were not related to him. Schlitterbahn initially seemed to be policing itself just fine. The raft tipped forward. 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. What Happened To The Boy On The Water Slide? 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. Then, on August 7, 2016, Caleb Schwab and his family arrived at the park. He said he wanted to raise their three children in a small town, just as he had been raised. In October 2012, Jeff was at an amusement park industry trade show with his chief collaborator, John Schooley, a soft-spoken, silver-haired former yacht builder who had constructed slides at water parks in Asia before coming to New Braunfels to work for Jeff in 1998. (Bob died in October 2016, after a long illness, and Billye died in her sleep last year.) Caleb was 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 72 pounds. 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. Over the next two days, we spoke four times, despite his lawyers demanding we stop. 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. And he saw before anyone else what we could do in New Braunfels.. Riders must be at least 54 inches tall and the group cannot weigh more than a combined total of 400 to 550 pounds, according to the parks website. But at least one of the men was clearly nervous. Schlitterbahn initially seemed to be policing itself just fine. An investigator spoke to a seventeen-year-old lifeguard who said that Miles had ordered him to write a report that downplayed the severity of the Groves incident. 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). He was found dead at the . 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. You could be in his presence for thirty minutes and leave disliking him immensely, a water park consultant who worked with him told me. Today is the five-year anniversary of when Caleb Schwab, 10, died while riding a 168ft-high water slide in Kansas at Schlitterbahn Water Park. She said she witnessed what she thought to be the boy's crumpled shorts or bathing suit at the bottom of the 168-foot . The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. Miles, then the operations director, hid or destroyed documents detailing injuries sustained by riders . As investigators continue to look for answers, chilling new video has emerged detailing the dangers of the worlds tallest waterslide. EPR Properties, the real estate investment trust in Kansas City that loaned Schlitterbahn $174 million for its Kansas park, has warned its investors that the criminal indictments could hurt Schlitterbahns chances of repaying its loan, which might force EPR to foreclose on the park, along with the parks in New Braunfels and South Padre Island, which had been put up as collateral for the loan. I didnt hear anyone mention the indictments in Kansas City. Calebs head collided with a net and a semicircular metal hoop that arced over the top of the slide. Jeff, Schooley, and the brother of Jeffs assistant piled into a raft. The 168ft-high Verruckt, which means "insane" in German, was certified as the world's tallest water slide by Guinness World Records. 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. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. There is no single federal agency responsible for enforcing rules and regulations at Schlitterbahn, which is monitored by the states Department of Labor. He flew from Verruckt!'". Jana, the youngest, would attend what was then known as Southwest Texas State University, in nearby San Marcos, and major in fashion merchandising. And the lawyers could argue that the two men were not criminally negligent. A pair of black tights are a necessity, rather than just an accessory, to stay stylish and comfortable when temperatures drop. We owe it to this childs family, said Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids in Danger, a nonprofit that works to improve safety related to childrens products. We walked past the home where Bob, Billye, and the Henry kids lived five decades ago (its now rented out to Schlitterbahn visitors). Verrckt ( German meaning "crazy" or "insane", listen) was a water slide located at the Schlitterbahn Kansas City water park in Kansas City, Kansas, United States. In a field near Schlitterbahns corporate headquarters, in New Braunfels, they constructed a small model of Verrckt, one twelfth the size of the real thing, and they sent a model car down the slide, along with cantaloupes and watermelons, to test it. This video is meant as a respectful look back documenting what happened.Caleb Scwab was in. [Schlitterbahn managers] would ask lifeguards who would want to volunteer, and no one would put their hands up . . The Travel Channel crew asked Jeff why the slide was not working. The Verrckt slide in Kansas is billed as the world's tallest water slide. 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. He had the ability to see what other people were doing and then take that to the next level, Gary told me. Sign up for our daily newsletter to keep up to date with all the essential information at www.mirror.co.uk/email . Caleb Thomas Schwab, the son of State Representative Scott Schwab and his wife, Michele, of Olathe, died of a fatal neck injury, police said Monday. That day, the Travel Channels cameras focused on Jeff and Schooley as they stood on an elevated platform near Verrckts second hill. Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. By 2017, attorneys for Schlitterbahn were meeting with the Schwab familys attorneys. The others are in Texas: in New Braunfels, South Padre Island, Galveston, and Corpus Christi. 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