The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission only has jurisdiction over traveling amusement parks, like pop-up carnivals. They walked up the stairs to try the ride again. A few days later, Jeff ordered that two thirds of the slide be dismantled. Waiting for Caleb at the bottom of Verrckt was one of his brothers, along with numerous spectators. You go back, you fix it, you make it work, you keep it safe, he said. 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. No comment, Jeff said. When he was in meetings, he pulled off his boots and propped his bare feet up on the table. To get even more ideas, he pored over the history of Roman aqueducts and leafed through Jules Verne novels. (Bob died in October 2016, after a long illness, and Billye died in her sleep last year.) There are so many questions remaining about the rides construction. You know the [raft] that went airborne on our ninety-footmodel in New Braunfels? He seemed close to tears. The family had strong ties in the city, including at the LifeMission Church on South Lone . You really dont know.. 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. But prosecutors for the Kansas attorney generals office persuaded a judge to lock down the ride. Once again, Jeff and his siblings had no public comment, though Prosapio released another statement that said that Schlitterbahn was shocked by the indictments. This video is meant as a respectful look back documenting what happened.Caleb Scwab was in. But in the U.S., water park rides are not tightly regulated. Kelsey Friedrichsen was visiting the park . . (By this time, Bob had handed off the company to his three children, giving each of them a third of the voting shares.) But there is nothing in the law that requires the inspector to have any particular certifications. Today is the fifth anniversary of the traumatic death. The two adult women with Caleb were severely injured in the incident. I get up every day and think about all the great people who work at Schlitterbahn, he said. He was found dead at the . Schlitterbahn was perhaps not the scene of a freak horrific accident, the prosecutors were saying, but the scene of a crime. What happened. Visitors loved the fact that they could park for free and bring their own food and drinks to the picnic areas. After Calebs death, advocates urged officials to step in to change how the amusement park industry is run. Schwab was elected Kansas secretary of state in November. Jeffs job was to fill the park with new attractions, and he didnt disappoint. Some experts believe that his death was because of the uneven distribution of weight. The other is James 4:14. As you can see, at the time it was shot, there were no safety nets enclosing the chute to retain the rafts. He stepped into the front of the raft, and an employee secured him to his seat with a Velcro belt and a shoulder strap. And, of course, they loved Jeffs increasingly daring rides. From left: Jeff Henry with his father, Bob, mother, Billye, and siblings, Jana and Gary. The slide has been closed since Caleb's death on Aug. 7, 2016. Many of us, and our children and grandchildren, have ridden the ride with complete confidence as to its safety . 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. The others are in Texas: in New Braunfels, South Padre Island, Galveston, and Corpus Christi. 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. 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. I listened to the wind rustling through the cedar, oak, and cypress trees, and then I noticed Amber staring at me. Aug. 8 2016, Updated 5:55 p.m. You read it quietly and are reminded again that Caleb Schwab should still be here. 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. When Caleb reached the top of the platform, he could see the sprawl of Kansas City, including the downtown skyline, some sixteen miles away. When the park opened in 2009, expanses of dirt surrounded much of it. Jess Stanford and Melanie Gocke were at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas, on the same day a ten-year-old boy was killed on the 17-storey ride last week. After his death, it was announced . "She suffered head and neck injuries . Soon, reporters from an array of media outletsUSA Today, Wired, ESPNs Grantland, even Smithsonian magazinewere calling to ask Jeff about his latest adventure, and he was always ready with a good quote. 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. 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. Caleb was a brown-eyed boy, his nose dotted with freckles. (WFLA) The theme park with one of the most gruesome accidents in U.S. History is once again open for business. (Under the headline The making of Schlitterbahns Verrckt water slide: Too much, too fast? a Kansas City Star article concluded that the ultimate safety of [Verrckt] mostly began and ended with those inspired to build it.) The reporters quoted former Verrckt riders who said their shoulder straps had busted loose or that their rafts had caught air. Shocked theme park visitors were left traumatised after watching Caleb die. An engineering firm hired to inspect the ride right before its opening also issued a damning report that said it "guaranteed that rafts would occasionally go airborne in a manner that could severely injure or kill the occupants.. 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. The Kansas House representative's 10-year-old son Caleb was decapitated in front of his . Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. That is, until August 7, 2016, when the raft that 10-year-old Caleb Schwab was riding went airborne and hit a metal pole supporting a safety net, resulting in his decapitation and instant. Investigators and detectives from the Kansas City Police Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and the Kansas attorney generals office also arrived at Schlitterbahn. 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 plans would eventually call for hotels, rental cabins, hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail outlets, and a residential area surrounding the park. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital If I really believed I was responsible for the death of that little boy, Id kill myself right now, he said. 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. 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. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Plus, Jeff always surrounded himself with other knowledgeable people who were able to do the numbers work that he wasnt inclined to do.. That smooth ride ended on Aug. 7, 2016, when 10-year-old Caleb Schwab died on Verrckt. A humid breeze presses down on the dead summer grass. Police confirmed to TIME on Tuesday that the boy was decapitated in the accident. 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. Galveston's Schlitterbahn does not have the slide Schwab was killed on,. Caleb Thomas Schwab, the son of Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab, was killed Sunday while riding "Verruckt" at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City. He was decapitated on the Verrckt water slide (world's tallest water slide) of Schlitterbahn Water Park. Until it went horribly wrong. . How do you indict someone for murder if you dont know what happened? he asked at one point. 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. It is a seriously dangerous piece of equipment today because there are things that we dont know about it, he said at one point. Bearded and scruffy, he almost always wore a dirty, creased ball cap, an old fishing shirt, shorts, and muddy boots. 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. Still, neither Jeff nor his siblings offered any public explanation for what had happened. Something clicked in my head, and I just re. If the completed ride still didnt meet his expectations, hed tear it down and start over. DeSantis launches new book in Sarasota County, Plant City High School Band preparing to fundraise, Hillsborough school board decides controversial school, Polk County Public Schools recruiters traveling to, 2022 Hurricane Guide: Prepare your family before a storm, City of Tampa removes speed hump in front of mans, More than 4,700 complaints filed against insurers, Bank accounts frozen years ago in multi-million dollar, Possible Florida hospital cyberattack shows increasing, Dunedin man discovers his house was stolen through, Buccaneers to release veteran RB Leonard Fournette,, Death of former star swimmer in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Penguins score 6 in 2nd period, beat Lightning 7-3, Jake Paul takes first ring defeat by split decision, Vasilevskiy makes 45 saves, Lightning beat Red Wings, Greatest thing Ive ever done in hockey: Founder, Turning 50? The slide is 168-feet tall and has 264. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Something went wrong, please try again later. 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. . The Lagoon at the original Schlitterbahn, in New Braunfels, in 1991. He said he wanted to raise their three children in a small town, just as he had been raised. He asked: "I just need to hear it from you, is my son dead." It lifted off the chute and went airborne, landing several yards away. He always thought he was right., Yet Jeff made no apologies. If the total weight of the three riders was between 400 and 550 pounds, they were sent up the stairs. The Henrys moved into a small house on the property, which they renamed the Landa Resort. So he invented what he described as a water brake, a dip at the end of the slide that slowed the guests down. (The same netting system had been placed on Schlitterbahns Master Blaster rides.) The gate swung open, and the conveyor belt underneath the raft began to move. For what is your life? Im a water showman. Whomever wrote and published the horrific article on the death of Caleb Schwab should be ashamed and fired! Two women that were also on the ride suffered minor injuries. He added, Neither did Henry Ford, and he built the car., Jeff returned to Texas and stayed out of public view, splitting his time between a condo he owns in South Padre and a home he owns outside New Braunfels on a remote piece of property a short walk away from the grave sites of his mother and father. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. What happened to Caleb Schwab is a tragic and heartbreaking story. Texas law, for instance, says that a park must obtain a $1 million liability policy for each of its rides and must have all rides inspected once a year by an inspector hired by the insurance company. Scott and Michelle Schwab have spoken out for the first time about the tragic death of their son Caleb. That would entitle the family to no more than $300,000 in additional non-economic damages, bringing recovery up to . 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. 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. "A lot of our math was based on rollercoasters at first, and that didn't translate to a water slide like this. He stopped going to any of the Schlitterbahn parks he created, and the company laid off most of his design and construction staff. And he was sometimes as obstinate with coworkers as he used to be with his high school teachers. She was known to be indulged in many petty crimes such as auto theft. | (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 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | all Rights Reserved placed on Schlitterbahns Master rides. Calebs death, advocates urged officials to step in to change how the amusement park industry is.... Aug. 8 2016, Updated 5:55 p.m. you read it quietly and are reminded that... Can see, at the LifeMission Church on South Lone nothing in the incident prosecutors were,! Suffered minor injuries to police itself and Corpus Christi and then I noticed staring! 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