They believed it was a valuable piece of evidence that should not be touched. The Schwab family is mourning the death of their 10-year-old son, and the community is mourning as well. 2014 was the opening year for the slide, which was the tallest in the world. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Police confirmed to TIME on Tuesday that the boy was decapitated in the accident. 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In the water park business, Jeff was considered a genius of sortsan out of the box visionary of waterpark designs, wrote Tim OBrien in his 2006 book Legends: Pioneers of the Amusement Park Industry. He asked the Henrys to build a Schlitterbahn water park in Wyandotte County, Kansas, which covers the western half of metro Kansas City. Jeff was wearing cowboy boots. 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. Caleb Schwab, 10, was decapitated on a water slide in Kansas five years ago ( Image: KMBC.com) Caleb was killed when his raft became airborne over the slide's 50-foot hump and collided. It was quiet. Caleb Schwab, the son of a Kansas state . Jana, the youngest, would attend what was then known as Southwest Texas State University, in nearby San Marcos, and major in fashion merchandising. She said she witnessed what she thought to be the boy's crumpled shorts or bathing suit at the bottom of the 168-foot . Well, man, if I dont ever see you again, its been fun, he said to Schooley, trying to be lighthearted. The Henrys made no public comment. Some of his baseball teammates sat in the front row, wearing their jerseys. I could die going down this ride., Jeff told me later that he was making such statements only at the behest of the TV producers. Verruckt is one of the water parks main attractions. People got in line to ride Verrckt. Loretta Racette. 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. They then headed to Kansas City to build the 168-foot, 7-inch Verrckt. 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. | (Photo: Facebook) The Christian family of Republican Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab attended a worship service just hours before the lawmaker's 10-year-old son, Caleb, was decapitated on the Verrckt slide at the Schlitterbahn (Most amazing ride Ive ever ridden. Like dropping out of the sky. Terrifying and horrible and terrific.) By the time young Caleb climbed Verrckts stairs, some 100,000 adrenaline junkies, a few of whom had flown in from across the world, had ridden Verrckt, and Jeff was planning to build a second version of the slide at the Schlitterbahn in Galveston. That would be like someone being concerned that Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg doesnt have a college degree, his brother told me. And that never worried the people around him. How is that possible?, Jeff said that soon after Verrckt was up and running, he had left Kansas City to do some work on a Schlitterbahn park in Corpus Christi, which had opened in 2014, and he had never gone back. 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. 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. But watch as the video stops at the end, before the duo goes airborne. There are two Bible verses on the back of Caleb's headstone. Carolyn Wasilewski was a 14 year old girl who was found dead on the train tracks in Baltimore, Maryland. Something more has to be done. Have you been aware of any complaints regarding Verrckt the ride in the last season? the detective asked. And, of course, they loved Jeffs increasingly daring rides. Until it went horribly wrong. Thats what I do.. We added Rollerblade wheels to the boat to make it fly off., Maybe so (the Travel Channel declined to comment), but even if Jeff had been playacting for the cameras, there was something about Verrckt that bothered him. 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. He was decapitated on the Verrckt water slide (world's tallest water slide) of Schlitterbahn Water Park. He would later attend the University of Texas and major in accounting. Mum Michelle told the show about her eldest son's screams of terror after the fatal accident. One is a line from John 3:16. He returned to Texas and met with Gary and Jana. 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. 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). Waiting for Caleb at the bottom of Verrckt was one of his brothers, along with numerous spectators. ), Its a tragedy, Jeff told me. It looked like he must have somehow been ejected from his seat, bounced around between the netting and the slide and just slid down, she told PEOPLE. Families poured through the gates. If the total weight of the three riders was between 400 and 550 pounds, they were sent up the stairs. Schwab was elected Kansas secretary of state in November. It was. I recently drove to the original Schlitterbahn, in New Braunfels. 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. As you can see, at the time it was shot, there were no safety nets enclosing the chute to retain the rafts. The others are in Texas: in New Braunfels, South Padre Island, Galveston, and Corpus Christi. Plans to expand to other cities have been shelved. 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. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Caleb Schwab Death: Source Reveals Horrific Details of Boy's Water Slide Accident By Associated Press Nationwide PUBLISHED 4:32 PM ET Aug. 10, 2016 KANSAS CITY, Kan. A 10-year-old boy was decapitated as he rode a 168-foot tall waterslide at a water park in Kansas, a person familiar with the investigation said Wednesday. [2] On August 7th, 2016, Caleb tragically died in a Schlitterbahn Kansas Citywater park accident in Kansas City, Missouri. "And he said, "Yes, your son is dead'. Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston. 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. J. Groves reported that when his raft went airborne, his face and forehead struck the netting and a metal hoop, causing his right eye to swell shut for the rest of the day. Bring on the Shiplap? He stopped going to any of the Schlitterbahn parks he created, and the company laid off most of his design and construction staff. But nobody bothered to tell me something was wrong with it., As for the outside engineering firms finding that a raft with three passengers weighing between 400 and 550 pounds could go airborne, Jeff said he thought it relied on outdated information. As a boy, he was the classic river rat, a Huck Finn in cutoff shorts who spent almost all his free time on the Comal. Something clicked in my head, and I just re. They would need to determine what the minimum and maximum weights of the passengers in each raft should be, and they would need to find out what gravitational and centrifugal forces those passengers would be able to sustain. alized the time had come to do it, he told me later. In five other incidents, riders claimed their rafts went airborne over the crest of the second hill and that they suffered head, neck, and back injuries when their rafts slammed back down onto the chute. Caleb was a brown-eyed boy, his nose dotted with freckles. Plus, Jeff always surrounded himself with other knowledgeable people who were able to do the numbers work that he wasnt inclined to do.. Caleb Schwab died six years ago in the tragedy at Schlitterbahn Park, in Kansas, on a water slide called Verruckt, which means crazy in German. Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. 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. He said he wanted to raise their three children in a small town, just as he had been raised. If the completed ride still didnt meet his expectations, hed tear it down and start over. Here are 4 things you can do to improve, The State of Black Tampa Bay: An Exclusive Town Hall, New Ybor speakeasy honors Madame Fortune Taylor,, Does your ex have a warrant? All that came from Schlitterbahn was a statement from company spokesperson Winter Prosapio, who said, We honestly dont know what happened. She added that Schlitterbahn was deeply and intensely saddened for the Schwab family and all who were impacted by the tragic accident., Kansas City reporters began digging. 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 . Bearded and scruffy, he almost always wore a dirty, creased ball cap, an old fishing shirt, shorts, and muddy boots. Jeff came up with an artificial river that he called the Torrent River, where large waves unexpectedly rose and broke around the tubers. Once again, Jeff later insisted to me that he had been hamming it up for the camera and that he did not in fact see a raft fly off the chute on opening day. However, the particular ride that killed a 10-year old boy Sunday remains closed. That boat flew. 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. However, after a redesign and more tests, Henry said the ride, although still dangerous, was safe: its a safe dangerous now.. (Bob died in October 2016, after a long illness, and Billye died in her sleep last year.) Schlitterbahn was perhaps not the scene of a freak horrific accident, the prosecutors were saying, but the scene of a crime. I watched some other kids at a picnic table happily downing ice cream. A light breeze rattled the leaves. (At that point, there were fewer than a half dozen water parks around the U.S.) Jeff quickly got on the phone to tell Bob and Billye all about it. 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. Behind him were two young womenone 32 years old and the other 25sisters who lived near the Kansas-Nebraska state line. But the first time, you dont know. The Kansas House representative's 10-year-old son Caleb was decapitated in front of his . Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. Witness Esteban Castenada told ABC 7 News. It was reported that the boy died on the world's tallest water slide in Kansas. He also kept working for his father. By 2017, attorneys for Schlitterbahn were meeting with the Schwab familys attorneys. Heres everything you need to know about The Grinch sequel, plus the best books your kid can check out now. He never got a conventional education beyond high school and never formally studied physics or engineering. 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. You read it quietly and are reminded again that Caleb Schwab should still be here. 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. A source familiar with the investigation into the boy's death told the Associated Press that Caleb was decapitated. To get the project going, a real estate investment trust offered to loan the Henrys $174.3 million. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. Galveston's Schlitterbahn does not have the slide Schwab was killed on,. Caleb Schwab, son of Kansas state representative Scott Schwab, was visiting the park with his father, his mother, and his three brothers, as Kansas elected officials and their families were offered free admission that fateful Sunday. It emerged that the opening of the 17-storey water wide was pushed twice because test rides showed rafts flying from the huge ride. And the lawyers could argue that the two men were not criminally negligent. He said that he was never told about the eleven injuries on Verrckt prior to Calebs death, nor was he told about the 2016 maintenance problems. Schlitterbahn initially seemed to be policing itself just fine. Witnesses at the time said he went down the first drop, then flew out and hit the netting that enclosed the ride. 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. Jamie Lee Curtis upsets Angela Bassett at SAG Awards, Two FL beaches make Tripadvisors best of the best, Buffalo Wild Wings manager stole $72,000 from work:, Win $1M a year for life with new FL Lottery game, Where to find fish fries in Tampa Bay during Lent, Worlds largest bounce house coming to Tampa. Our boat one hundred percent went off the tracks, one woman said. It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes . 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. The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, The Campaign to Sabotage Texass Public Schools, West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country, Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians. Caleb's family received nearly $20 million . The case is being investigated as a civil rather than criminal matter, yet details are vague and authorities have disclosed little information about what caused the tragic accident. After Calebs death, advocates urged officials to step in to change how the amusement park industry is run. Caleb's family received nearly $20 million in . Around this time he noticed that some of the people going down his fathers slides were hitting the water too hard. But prosecutors for the Kansas attorney generals office persuaded a judge to lock down the ride. What happened. The first was the Boogie Bahn, which allowed riders to actually surf on boogie boards over a thin, fast-flowing sheet of water that shot over a sloped surface. And now, the Verrckt water slide at the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, Kansas, is the site of a horrible accident, in which 10-year-old Caleb Schwab died Sunday. He stepped into the front of the raft, and an employee secured him to his seat with a Velcro belt and a shoulder strap. Schwab was elected Kansas secretary of state in November. No one seemed to know, not even Jeff. 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. The fatal accident in to change how the amusement park industry is run would attend! 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