A heartbreaking family tragedy on New Jersey’s Barnegat Bay took another emotional turn this week when a grandfather charged in the deaths of his two young grandchildren was released from jail, largely at the urging of the children’s own parents.

On the evening of July 19, 2026, what began as a simple family dinner near the Jersey Shore ended in unimaginable loss. Stephen Schneider, then 63 or 64, of Bayville in Berkeley Township, was at the helm of his 28- to 30-foot Tidewater center-console boat after a meal at MJ’s Restaurant Bar & Grill. Aboard with him were his wife Laurie and their two grandchildren — 9-year-old Mya Bella Golabek and her 7-year-old brother Sigmund Paul “Siggy” Golabek, both of Lacey Township. The children had arrived at the restaurant by boat with their parents and later chose to ride home with their grandparents, sitting in the front of the vessel while wearing life jackets.

Around 9 p.m., traveling at roughly 20 mph through the bay, the boat struck an illuminated Intracoastal Waterway channel marker (Marker No. 39). The collision ejected both children into the water. Schneider and his wife searched in the darkness, locating the boy first and then the girl, both face-down and unresponsive. First responders performed CPR and rushed the siblings to Community Medical Center in Toms River, but neither survived.

In the weeks that followed, investigators determined Schneider had been impaired. He told police he consumed three beers — specifically two Guinness and one Miller Lite — over about two hours during dinner. A blood sample taken hours later showed a blood-alcohol content of approximately 0.16 percent, twice New Jersey’s legal limit of 0.08. Toxicology experts concluded his alertness, judgment, perception, response time, and coordination were markedly impaired.

On August 14, Schneider was arrested and charged with two counts of reckless vessel homicide (second-degree offenses carrying a potential 20-year prison term if convicted), plus operating a vessel under the influence and reckless operation of a vessel. He was held at Ocean County Jail until a detention hearing on August 19.

At that hearing before Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels, ᴀssistant Prosecutor Kate Burke urged the court to keep Schneider detained. She emphasized the BAC level and the catastrophic outcome: “The defendant consumed enough alcohol to reach a BAC of approximately 0.16 and then operated a vessel and the result was catastrophic.” Two children had lost their lives, she noted.

Defense attorney William Cunningham painted a different picture. He stressed that Schneider had no significant criminal history and that the tragedy had devastated the entire family. Most powerfully, he presented letters from the children’s parents — Schneider’s daughter and son-in-law — pleading for his release. The father wrote that Schneider had been a wonderful father-in-law and loving grandfather who had supported the family in countless ways, loved the children deeply, and set a positive example. “I’m grateful for the way he loved my children,” the letter stated in part. Both parents, described as the primary victims, asked the court to free him.

Cunningham ᴀssured the judge that if released, Schneider would almost certainly never step onto a boat again and would never drink alcohol again, saying the loss had “cut to the root of his family.”

Judge Daniels granted conditional release. He cited Schneider’s clean record (setting aside a decades-old minor matter) and the family’s wishes. Conditions include temporary bans on operating boats or motor vehicles pending a court-ordered ᴀssessment.

The case remains ongoing. Schneider maintains he did not realize how impaired he was and saw the marker only at the last second. The children’s parents continue to mourn two lively siblings who shared an unbreakable bond and brought light to their family.

This remains one of the most painful boating tragedies of the summer on New Jersey waters — a collision of family love, a single evening’s decisions, and irreversible consequences.

Sources: https://nypost.com/2026/08/19/us-news/dad-of-nj-kids-killed-by-grandpa-in-dui-boating-accident-asks-for-him-to-be-released-from-jail-as-cops-reveal-how-drunk-he-was/