KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Just hours after leaving the Wyandotte County Court, the co-owner of Schlitterbahn Water Parks was accused of threatening a woman in his Texas hometown.
Jeff Henry made his first court appearance in Wyandotte County on Thursday. He is charged with second-degree murder and several other charges in relation to the water slide death of a 10-year-old metro boy at the KCK water park. Henry pleaded not guilty to the charges Thursday.
On Friday, officials in New Braunfels, Texas, confirmed to FOX4 that police were called to a property owned by Henry’s family Thursday night. A woman at the property said Henry threatened her.
New Braunfels police said when they arrived, Henry was gone.
Henry’s attorney Ron Barroso told FOX4 when Henry returned to Texas, he found his property on the family estate looted of items of personal value to him. He went to confront the person or persons he thought were responsible.
Barroso said it’s his understanding Henry plans to go to the New Braunfels Police Department on Friday to speak to detectives.
He didn’t know whether this could affect bond, but stressed Henry wasn’t under arrest. New Braunfels police confirmed the Schlitterbahn co-owner has not been charged with anything in connection to the alleged incident. But police said, if arrested and charged, it would be a misdemeanor charge under Texas law.
Henry was not ready to share his side of the story when he left the Wyandotte County Court on Thursday.
“I am not making any more comments. Do you mind? Just let me go home?” Henry said when confronted by reporters.
He told FOX4 off camera that he is incredibly sorry for Caleb Schwab’s family and soon, he will share his thoughts on facing criminal charges in the 10-year-old’s death on the Verruckt water slide he helped create.
“In his words, told me there’s not a day goes by he doesn’t think about Caleb Schwab,” Henry’s defense attorney Ron Barroso said. “He’s torn apart by what happened out there.”
A judge ordered Henry to turn over his passport Thursday but denied the prosecution’s request he wear a GPS ankle monitor.
“He’s not going anywhere. He wants to come and defend himself against these charges,” Barroso said. “I can tell you the allegations I read in the indictment are ludicrous.”
The indictment against Henry shows from August 2014 until Caleb’s death in August 2016, more than a dozen people reported injuries from the ride including concussions, whiplash and herniated spinal disk injuries.
The indictment also says emails from Henry shows he had a desire to rush the timeline and in the process skipped fundamental steps in the design process of the ride.
If convicted of murder, Henry could spend anywhere from nine to more than 40 years in prison.
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