{"id":324794,"date":"2026-08-19T09:50:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T09:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/324794\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T09:50:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T09:50:40","slug":"heartbreaking-reason-nj-kids-were-on-grandpas-boat-before-they-were-killed-in-dui-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/324794\/","title":{"rendered":"Heartbreaking reason NJ kids were on grandpa&#8217;s boat before they were killed in &#8216;DUI&#8217; crash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A New Jersey sister and brother were thrown from their grandfather\u2019s boat and killed after the kids asked to go back to his house after a family dinner out, according to court docs.<\/p>\n<p>Stephen Schneider, 64, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/14\/us-news\/grandfather-in-fatal-jersey-shore-boat-crash-that-killed-his-two-grandkids-was-impaired-by-alcohol-charged-with-homicide\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">charged with double homicide<\/a> last week, insisted to police he\u2019d had only three beers at the two-hour outing on Barnegat Bay.<\/p>\n<p>New Jersey courts redacted his blood alcohol level in the documents, but State Police confirmed after the fatal crash Schneider \u201cwas unfit to operate a motor vehicle and that his alertness, sense of care and caution, perception, judgment, response time and coordination were markedly impaired by alcohol.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stephen Schneider was charged with two counts of reckless vessel homicide\/death by vessel. Ocean County Jail<\/p>\n<p>The children and their parents had taken their own separate boat to meet up with Schneider in his wife at MJ\u2019s Restaurant in Bayville on July 19.<\/p>\n<p>After dinner, the children, Mya Golabek, 9, and her brother Sigmund Paul Golabek, 7, wanted to go back to their grandparents\u2019 house and the families split up.<\/p>\n<p>On the way back, Schneider smashed his 30-foot Tidewater 280 into a wood channel marker and <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/23\/us-news\/nj-couple-loses-their-only-two-children-after-jersey-shore-boating-trip-with-grandparents-ends-in-tragedy-reports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">sent the kids flying into the waters<\/a> around 9 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>Both the kids were wearing life jackets, but they were found face-down in the water.<\/p>\n<p>Sigmund Golabek beams with his son Siggy years before Sunday\u2019s fatal crash. Facebook \/ Siggy Golabek<\/p>\n<p>Sigmund Golabek and Mya Golabek were described as \u201cbest friends\u201d with a strong \u201csibling bond.\u201d Facebook \/ Jennifer Cisecki Golabek<\/p>\n<p>The family smiled for a photo together by the water. Facebook \/ Siggy Golabek<\/p>\n<p>Schneider and his wife pulled the children from the water and started performing CPR, but they later both died at the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Schneider was charged Friday with two counts of reckless vessel homicide\/death by vessel \u2014 a second-degree charge \u2014 as well as operating a vessel under the influence and reckless operation of a vessel.<\/p>\n<p>Public records show that Schneider lives in a ritzy waterfront two bedroom three bath $1 million home in Bayville, Ocean County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New Jersey sister and brother were thrown from their grandfather\u2019s boat and killed after the kids asked&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8948,775,1066,9,11,10,1843,58],"class_list":["post-324794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-boat-crashes","tag-jersey-shore","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-tragedy","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}