KANSAS CITY, Kan. _ Caleb Schwab, killed Sunday afternoon while riding the world's tallest water slide at the Schlitterbahn Kansas City Water Park, was found dead with what police Monday evening termed a "fatal neck injury."
Numerous questions still remain over the death of the 10-year-old, the second oldest son of Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab of Olathe.
Kansas City, Kan. police 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, police noted, had been in the ride's three-person raft with two adult women who were unrelated to him. The women sustained minor facial injuries and were treated at area hospitals.
"The family will be in our thoughts," the statement said as police expressed its deepest condolences. Its investigation continues.
One day after the tragic death of the boy, the family has been left in grief. Neighbors and friends are in shock as are those who were at the park.
Leslie Castaneda of Kansas City, Kan., can't get the aftermath 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, blood on the white descending 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 his (Caleb's) brother. He was screaming."
Many are left wondering how the events of Sunday came to pass.
Among developments Monday:
In Wyandotte County, the medical examiner conducted an autopsy but the office said it was not yet ready to release preliminary results. The family's friend and spokesman, the Rev. Clint Sprague, held a press conference Monday evening announcing that a funeral for Caleb is scheduled for Friday afternoon. A Go Fund Me fundraising page for funeral and other expenses has been set and has already exceeded its $15,000 goal.
"It's just been amazing the people who have come together praying for them, encouraging them and supporting them," said Sprague, the lead pastor at LiveMission Church in Olathe. "They feel it."
Sprague said he has spent the last 24-plus hours with Caleb's parents Scott and Michele and their three other young children.
"As you can imagine, it's been devastating," Sprague said. "It's been devastating at every level. You know leave church, you go to a water park to be with family and to enjoy. And then you hit tragedy. There is just no way to prepare for this."
Sprague described Caleb as a boy who loved Jesus _ and not just a "going to church" kind of love.
"He loved Jesus," he said. "He loved to talk about Jesus. He loved to pray."
Michele Schwab told Sprague that anytime someone had a need or something like this happened to someone else, Caleb was the one to say that they had to pray.
"Caleb was a 10-year-old child, but in many ways, he was a man of God," Sprague said. "He's going to be missed for his energy, for his life, for his smile, for the way he lit up a room."
Sprague said he didn't have details about the accident that took Caleb's life.
"What I can tell you is that this family is coming together and grieving together," he said. "We are asking everybody to give us space to do that."
Although the Verruckt remains closed, Schlitterbahn on Monday afternoon said that the park would reopen Wednesday and that grief counselors were being provided at Schlitterbahn Kansas City for employees and guests.
Many of the details of the events of Sunday still remain unclear. According to those close to the family, the Schwabs attended church Sunday morning and even debated whether go to the water park, given the cool weather, early clouds and a forecast for possible rain. When the sun came out, Scott and Michele Schwab took their four boys to the water park for a day in which admittance was free to families of area elected officials.
Soon after arriving, Caleb and his brother, Nathan, age 12, set off into the park with friends. Scott and Michele Schwab attended to their two younger boys.
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 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 we don't know how his body got 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.
At one point, the ride did not have netting covering the flume. The netting is attached above the flume with a series of hard semicircular supports.
Mike Taylor, a spokesman for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., said it insisted upon the addition of netting to the top of Verruckt before the ride made its debut in 2014.
"We raised that issue," Taylor said Monday.
The sides of Verruckt aren't tall, designed that way so riders can see out of the chute.
"I think they realized we need to put that extra safety precaution," Taylor said. "The sides on that thing are really low."
Since opening in 2014, Schlitterbahn in has been sued three times in Kansas City for personal injury claims, although none was related to the Verruckt water slide.
Linda Stomboly filed suit in 2014 after suffering injuries to her leg as she rode King Kaw, a 3,000-foot river ride where visitors travel on rafts. Schlitterbahn denied wrongdoing. The case was settled for undisclosed terms in the case in which Stomboly alleged she was injured after a collision with another rider in front of her.
The collision allegedly threw her from her raft. As she tried to get back on her raft, she fell over a waterfall on the ride and suffered multiple spiral fractures to her leg. Schlitterbahn denied wrongdoing in its response to Stomboly's lawsuit and charged that her negligence contributed to her injuries.
Stomboly sought $223,934 in damages in that case, a sum that included lost wages, past and future medical expenses and non-economic damages. Schlitterbahn offered $20,000. The case later settled on terms that were not disclosed.
Frances Logan sued the water park the same year for injuries suffered on the same ride. Logan's lawsuit said that her inner-tube flipped over and that her left foot collided with a concrete wall. Her lawsuit added that no lifeguards were on duty to assist her, leaving other patrons to pull her off the ride.
Schlitterbahn denied her claims, and the case settled last year.
Robert Boepple also sued Schlitterbahn in 2014 for injuries he suffered in 2012.
Boepple claimed he injured his head, neck, arm and spine when he tripped over a protrusion on the Boogie Bahn ride. Schlitterbahn denied wrongdoing in that case, too.
Boepple sought $500,000 in damages in that case. The lawsuit settled in 2015.
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.
