Schlitterbahn co-owner arrested on charges in decapitation death of 10-year-old boy

Schlitterbahn Waterparks co-owner Jeffrey Wayne Henry was arrested Monday in Cameron County in connection with the 2016 decapitation death of a 10-year-old at the New Braunfels company’s Kansas City park. Schlitterbahn Waterparks co-owner Jeffrey Wayne Henry was arrested Monday in Cameron County in connection with the 2016 decapitation death of a 10-year-old at the New Braunfels company’s Kansas City park. Photo: Cameron County Sheriff's Office / Photo: Cameron County Sheriff's Office / Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close Schlitterbahn co-owner arrested on charges in decapitation death of 10-year-old boy 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

Schlitterbahn Waterparks co-owner Jeffrey Wayne Henry was arrested Monday in connection with the 2016 decapitation death of a 10-year-old at the New Braunfels company’s Kansas park.

Henry was jailed Monday in Cameron County on an arrest warrant out of Kansas, according to an online inmate listing. The charges listed on the Henry’s inmate page include murder, 12 counts of aggravated battery and five counts of aggravated endangerment of a child.

Representatives for the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office and Kansas Attorney General’s Office could not immediately be reached for comment regarding Henry’s arrest.

“We as a company and as a family will fight these allegations and have confidence that once the facts are presented it will be clear that what happened on the ride was an unforeseeable accident,” Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio said in an email.

RELATED: Indictment: Waterslide in fatal accident was 'deadly weapon'

Henry, who co-owns Schlitterbahn with his two siblings, is the second Schlitterbahn executive to be arrested on charges in the August 2016 death of Caleb Thomas Schwab, who died while riding the 168-foot Verrückt slide at Schlitterbahn’s Kansas City park. The 10-year-old was decapitated when he hit a hoop that held protective netting on the ride’s second hill.

A Wyandotte County grand jury indicted Schlitterbahn and Tyler Austin Miles, former director of operations at Schlitterbahn, on one count of involuntary manslaughter, a dozen counts of aggravated battery, five counts of aggravated endangerment of a child and one count of interfering with law enforcement by concealing evidence. Miles, 29, was also charged with allegedly giving false information to a detective.

Miles pleaded not guilty Friday after turning himself in to the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office in Kansas City.

A trove of corporate emails, memoranda, blueprints, video recordings, photographs and eyewitness statements given to the Kansas grand jury showed that Verrückt’s designers and operators knew the gargantuan water slide could cause severe bodily harm and even death but kept the ride open anyway, according to the March 23 indictment.

RELATED: This is what it looks like to ride the world's tallest water slide, the Verruckt

The indictment names Henry as the “visionary and designer” of the Verrückt slide and outlines a pattern of alleged behavior accusing the 62-year-old of ignoring warnings that the ride was unsafe for riders. The document also details alleged actions taken by the New Braunfels company and its employees to silence subordinates and cover up evidence of injuries to park visitors caused by the ride.

Schlitterbahn — which has parks in New Braunfels, Galveston, South Padre Island and Corpus Christi — has vehemently denied the accusations laid out in the 47-page indictment unsealed Friday.

“The allegation that we operated, and failed to maintain, a ride that could foreseeably cause such a tragic accident is beyond the pale of speculation,” Prosapio said in an emailed statement earlier Monday. “Many of us, and our children and grandchildren, have ridden the ride with complete confidence as to its safety.”

Prosapio blasted the grand jury’s allegations that Schlitterbahn “withheld information or altered evidence” as “completely false” and said the company has worked closely with law enforcement since Caleb Schwab’s Aug. 7, 2016 death.

Tom Bath and Tricia Bath, attorneys representing Miles, have decried the charges against their client.

“Not only had Tyler ridden the slide numerous times, but, as the state is aware, he had scheduled his wife, to ride it on the day of the accident,” the lawyers said in a statement provided by Schlitterbahn. “These are not the actions of someone who believed the ride to be dangerous.

“The allegation that Tyler knowingly obstructed the investigation is, likewise, false. From the moment of the accident, and continuing until the charges were filed, Tyler cooperated with law enforcement. He did not hide or destroy documents.”

Henry first conceived of building the world’s tallest and fastest water slide on Nov. 13, 2012 in a “spur-of-the-moment” effort to catch the attention of the producers of the Travel Channel’s Xtreme Waterparks series, the indictment says.

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