What began as a family dinner on a summer evening at the Jersey Shore ended in an unimaginable tᩚraɢedy: two young siblings were ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, and their grandfather was facing homicide charges.

On July 19, 9-year-old Mya Bella Golabek and her 7-year-old brother, Sigmund “Siggy” Golabek, joined their parents and grandparents for dinner at MJ’s Restaurant & Bar in Bayville, New Jersey. The children and their parents had arrived on a separate boat, but afterward, the siblings chose to return to their grandparents’ home with Stephen Schneider, 64, and his wife, Laurie.

That decision would become the final chapter of their lives.

According to newly released court documents, Schneider told investigators he had consumed three beers during the roughly two-hour outing. Police later determined that his condition was consistent with significant alcohol impairment, saying his alertness, judgment, perception, coordination and response time were markedly affected. His reported blood-alcohol result has not been publicly released.

Shortly after 9 p.m., Schneider was piloting his approximately 30-foot Tidewater boat across Barnegat Bay when the vessel struck an Intracoastal Waterway channel marker. Investigators say he was traveling around 20 mph and reported seeing the marker only at the last moment. The impact threw both children from the boat.

Both children were wearing life jackets.

But the darkness and violent impact turned a family ride into a desperate rescue. Schneider and Laurie pulled the children from the water and began CPR while emergency responders rushed to the scene. Despite those efforts, Mya and Sigmund later died at the hospital.

Their deaths left a family shattered—and transformed a grandfather’s boat ride into a criminal investigation.

Schneider voluntarily surrendered to police in August and now faces two counts of second-degree reckless vessel homicide, along with charges of operating a vessel under the influence and reckless operation of a vessel. The charges are allegations, and Schneider is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

But perhaps the most heartbreaking detail is what happened immediately before the 𝔠r𝘢sh: there was nothing extraordinary about the evening at first.

There was dinner. Family. Two children deciding they wanted a little more time with their grandparents. Then came the boat ride home—and, within minutes, everything changed.

Mya was remembered as an energetic, athletic and creative girl who loved softball, basketball, swimming, crafting and drawing. Sigmund was described as adventurous, imaginative and gentle, with a love of baseball, basketball, swimming and animals. Their obituaries remembered them not simply as siblings, but as best friends who shared laughter, adventures and countless memories.

Now investigators must reconstruct those final minutes on Barnegat Bay, while a family is left with a question that can never truly be answered:

How did an ordinary family dinner become the last meal Mya and Siggy would ever share with the people they loved?

For their parents, the night began with a family gathering.

It ended with two children who should have been going home—gone forever.