WATERFRONT DISASTER: Intoxicated grandfather arrested for reckless vessel homicide after pulling two dying grandchildren from Barnegat Bay
A sixty-four-year-old New Jersey boat owner has been taken into custody and charged with multiple homicide counts following a horrific nighttime maritime collision that claimed the lives of his only two grandchildren. Stephen Schneider was formally arrested nearly a month after the catastrophic July 19 disaster in Barnegat Bay near his million-dollar waterfront residence. Authorities confirmed the crash caused the immediate deaths of nine-year-old Mya Golabek and her seven-year-old brother Sigmund.
State prosecutors and marine investigators stated that Schneider was heavily intoxicated while piloting a thirty-foot Tidewater Custom 280 powerboat during a nine o’clock evening excursion. The high-speed vessel collided violently with a fixed navigation channel marker, sending severe shockwaves through the hull. The force of the impact instantly hurled both young siblings overboard into the pitch-black coastal waters.
Court documents disclose harrowing scenes immediately following the collision as Schneider and his wife Laurie desperately attempted rescue maneuvers. The grandparents managed to pull both children from the dark water back onto the damaged deck with their bare hands. However, attending first responders and medical teams confirmed both victims remained completely unresponsive and were later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The deceased children were the only offspring of Schneider’s daughter Jennifer Golabek and her husband Sigmund Golabek Sr. Public obituaries published by the devastated family honored Mya as a joyful, radiant presence whose sweet nature touched everyone around her. The tributes similarly remembered young Sigmund for his gentle heart and inseparable sibling bond with his sister throughout their short lives.
Investigative reports from regional maritime agencies revealed that the family had gathered at a local waterside restaurant and grill prior to boarding the vessel. Forensic toxicology assessments and subsequent collision reconstruction led prosecutors to elevate the charges against Schneider to reckless vessel homicide. Marine safety officials reiterated that operating high-powered watercraft under severe alcoholic impairment drastically impairs nighttime spatial awareness and navigation reaction times.
Schneider was transferred directly to the Ocean County Jail where initial booking orders placed him in secure custody pending formal judicial scheduling. The heartbreaking tragedy has left the local coastal community reeling from the catastrophic consequences of operating recreational watercraft while impaired. As the legal proceedings move forward, the surviving family remains engulfed in profound mourning over the loss of two vibrant young lives.
