Numerous questions still remain over the death of the 10-year-old.
Authorities on Monday evening released a statement saying that when police and fire personnel arrived at the park about 2:30 p.m., the boy was found dead in the pool at the end of the water ride.
Caleb had been in the ride’s three-person raft with two adult women who were unrelated to him, police said. The women sustained minor facial injuries and were treated at area hospitals.
The investigation continues.
One day after the tragic death of the boy, the family was left in grief. Neighbors and friends were in shock as were those who were at the park.
Leslie Castaneda, of Kansas City, Kan., can’t get the image of Caleb Thomas Schwab’s death out of her head. She said she witnessed what she believed to be the 10-year-old’s crumpled shorts or bathing suit at the bottom of the 168-foot-tall Verruckt ride and blood streaks on the white flume of the world’s tallest water slide.
“I’m really having a tough time with it. I really am,” said Casteneda, who came upon the scene inside Schlitterbahn shortly after it occurred. “I saw (Caleb’s) brother. He was screaming.”
In Wyandotte County, the medical examiner conducted an autopsy on Monday, but the office said it was not yet ready to release preliminary results.
Although the Verruckt remains closed, Schlitterbahn on Monday afternoon said the park would reopen on Wednesday and that grief counselors were being provided at Schlitterbahn Kansas City for employees and guests.
Kansas City, Kan., police are investigating Caleb’s death as a criminal matter.
“It is a death investigation,” said Officer Cameron Morgan, police department spokesman. “Every death is technically a criminal matter until we clear it or categorized it as an accident. We are still investigating it and trying to figure it out what happened.”
Among the many questions yet to be answered:
How exactly did Caleb die? Pending an investigation, Schlitterbahn has released no information about the death, including at what point Caleb was injured, whether it was at the top of the ride, along its descending path, or somewhere along the ride’s second and much lower rise and fall. Investigators on Sunday removed a section of the netting attached to the final descending portion of the ride just before the ride ends in a pool.
Was he ejected from the raft, did he come loose from the raft or was he injured while still inside the craft? Police said responders found Caleb in the pool at the end of the ride, but it’s not clear how his body arrived there.
Did the ride somehow fail or malfunction?
Did the raft containing Caleb meet the required weight and/or height requirement? According to Schlitterbahn’s website, the ride holds two to three riders per raft with a required combined weight of at least 400 pounds. Riders have to be at least 54 inches tall.
Was Caleb properly secured into the raft? Or did he somehow come loose or somehow unfasten his restraint? The rafts use a Velcro lap belt and a single shoulder restraint. The belts are made of heavy fabric, secured with Velcro.
Caleb’s death is not the first at a Schlitterbahn facility. In 2013, a 20-year-old lifeguard, “Nico” Benavides, was killed at the company’s park on South Padre Island, Texas, when a mechanical door related to a wave generator slammed on his head.
Benavides was pronounced brain dead. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the park a half dozen citations with penalties exceeding $96,000. By 2015, the park’s parent company had settled for $66,000.
When the Verruckt water slide opened at Schlitterbahn in 2014 the rules for riding included a minimum age of 14, a minimum height of 54 inches and a combined weight of all riders in the raft to be between 400 and 550 pounds. Park officials told USA Today at the time, however, that the age requirement was being removed because the height requirement was deemed sufficient.
In the hours after the incident Sunday, Schlitterbahn removed references to the Verruckt from its Kansas City water park website. The company later tweeted that it had restored the page “for those who are interested in rider requirements.” In its statement Monday, the company referred readers to its Verruckt Fact Sheet.
Guinness World Records affirmed the Verruckt is the tallest water slide in the world at 168 feet, 7 inches. It surpassed the previous record holder, which was the Kilimanjaro water slide in Brazil at 163 feet, 9 inches. The Brazil slide has higher walls on the chute and is not covered by a net. Participants lay on their backs without a raft.