A family day out at a water park ended in unimaginable tragedy when a 10-year-old boy was killed on what was then the world's tallest water slide, an incident that exposed severe safety failures and led to criminal charges.
A Day of Fun Turns to Tragedy
In the summer of 2016, Caleb Schwab, aged 10, visited the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City with his family. Caleb and his 12-year-old brother, Nathan, intended to ride the Verrückt slide together. The slide, whose name means "insane" in German, held a Guinness World Record, standing taller than Niagara Falls with a 168-foot drop and speeds approaching 70 mph.
Due to weight requirements, the brothers were separated into different rafts. Their father, US politician Scott Schwab, recalled his final words to Caleb: "Brothers stick together," to which Caleb replied, "I know, Dad." Nathan reached the bottom first and waited for his younger brother.
The Horrific Incident and Immediate Aftermath
Caleb's raft became airborne as it ascended the second hump of the ride. The boy, who weighed 34kg and was seated at the front, struck a metal support within the safety netting and was decapitated. It was Nathan who had to break the devastating news to his parents.
"He was screaming, 'He flew from Verrückt, he flew Verrückt'," the boys' mother, Michelle Schwab, later told Good Morning America. A witness, Leslie Castaneda, described seeing Caleb's crumpled shorts and blood on the slide's flume. When emergency services arrived, they found Caleb dead in the pool at the base.
Two women riding in the same raft survived but sustained serious injuries, including a broken jaw and facial fractures requiring stitches. An investigation later revealed the raft's total weight was 248kg, just under the 250kg recommended minimum, contributing to an unstable weight distribution.
Legal Reckoning and Safety Failures
The tragedy sparked outrage and a criminal investigation. A grand jury indictment on 23 March 2018 charged Schlitterbahn and its former director of operations, Tyler Austin Miles, with offences including involuntary manslaughter and aggravated child endangerment. The park was accused of negligence, concealing design flaws, and downplaying previous injuries.
Engineers criticised the ride's netting as a hazard itself, noting a high-speed impact could easily sever a limb. The slide's visionary, Jeff Henry, who had no formal engineering credentials, had aimed simply to build "the fastest, tallest water slide in the world." A 2018 documentary showed Henry during testing, remarking callously after a mishap: "It fell backwards and killed every sandbag in there."
A whistleblower revealed a "lack of training for employees" and that inspections were cursory at best. Criminal charges against Henry and co-designer John Schooley were dismissed on 22 February 2019 due to inadmissible evidence being presented to the grand jury. The Verrückt slide was permanently closed, though Schlitterbahn remains open under new management.
The death of Caleb Schwab remains a harrowing case study in the catastrophic consequences of prioritising thrill over rigorous safety engineering and regulation.
