Jeff Henry and his longtime friend and business partner, John Schooley, had coupled an ambitious goal with an impossible timeline: Build the world’s tallest waterslide and get it featured on a Travel Channel show about water parks, all in a few short months.
What the two men did not have, prosecutors say, were credentials in mathematics, physics or engineering — things needed to safely bring their dream to fruition.
It ended tragically in August 2016. Ten-year-old Caleb Schwab was decapitated on the ride named Verruckt — the German word for “insane.” The ensuing swarm of investigators said they found signs of rushed construction and a trail of negligence leading back to Henry and Schooley, prosecutors say.
Now, the two men — magnates of the American water park industry — face second-degree murder charges. The 51-metre-38-centimetre tall ride — taller than Niagara Falls — has been closed, and the Guinness Book of World Records page that featured Verruckt as the world’s tallest waterslide .
Henry was arrested March 26. Schooley, who was out of the country when the grand jury indictment was unsealed, was arrested by U.S. Marshals when he landed at Dallas/Fort Worth airport Monday night, according to Dallas NBC-affiliate KXAS.
Henry, who owned the Schlitterbahn water park and several others with his siblings, was called a visionary before he opened the world’s tallest waterslide.
He helped design a record-breaking waterslide. He was just arrested after it decapitated a boy | Toronto Star
What the two men did not have, prosecutors say, were credentials in mathematics, physics or engineering — things needed to safely bring their dream to fruition.
It ended tragically in August 2016. Ten-year-old Caleb Schwab was decapitated on the ride named Verruckt — the German word for “insane.” The ensuing swarm of investigators said they found signs of rushed construction and a trail of negligence leading back to Henry and Schooley, prosecutors say.
Now, the two men — magnates of the American water park industry — face second-degree murder charges. The 51-metre-38-centimetre tall ride — taller than Niagara Falls — has been closed, and the Guinness Book of World Records page that featured Verruckt as the world’s tallest waterslide .
Henry was arrested March 26. Schooley, who was out of the country when the grand jury indictment was unsealed, was arrested by U.S. Marshals when he landed at Dallas/Fort Worth airport Monday night, according to Dallas NBC-affiliate KXAS.
Henry, who owned the Schlitterbahn water park and several others with his siblings, was called a visionary before he opened the world’s tallest waterslide.
He helped design a record-breaking waterslide. He was just arrested after it decapitated a boy | Toronto Star
