Caleb Schachtschneider in Waupaca County court, February 11, 2025. (Waupaca County court/Zoom)
WAUPACA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Caleb Schachtschneider was convicted Tuesday for the 2021 death of his 2-year-old son in an incident with a skid steer on the family farm in St. Lawrence. He was placed on probation for one year.
Schachtschneider, 43, was originally charged with second-degree reckless homicide and neglecting a child-consequence his death. As part of the plea deal, the second count was reduced to misdemeanor child neglect. He entered no contest pleas Tuesday. If he completes all of the terms of probation, the reckless homicide count would be dismissed.
Additionally, Schachtschneider must complete a skid steer safety course, and spend ten hours speaking publicly about the injuries to his children and the death of his child.
District Attorney Kat Turner said the state was motivated to strike the plea deal to spare the other children in the home from having to testify at a trial. But given the repeated incidents with several children involving the same equipment, a resolution with a conviction, and the requirement he talk with others, was necessary, she said.
“When the inevitable happened, my office was left with no choice but to say, “You knew. You were reckless. You were negligent. You knew better.” This will not bring Mr. Schachtschneider’s son back from the dead. But I can certainly hope that him speaking out, sharing his grief, and sharing what, I hope to God he has learned finally, with other people in and around our rural community, will help prevent the unnecessary death of other children,” Turner said.
Defense attorney Nila Robinson noted Schachtneider was in a position being the primary caregiver for six children while running the farm. Often times, that meant keeping the children close by. Since then, he has had a farm safety assessment done at the property, and implemented many of the measures.
“This was an imaginably horrible experience for him. But to paint him as someone who was callous about that? Ms. Turner is in no position to know how many sleepless nights, how many tears, how much grief, how much horror all of this caused,” Robinson said.
Before the sentence was issued, Schachtschneider declined to address the court.
According to the criminal complaint: “Caleb said he was using it to clear manure and Victim was on his lap. Caleb was lowering the bucket, when Victim fell forward. Caleb said Victim’s head hit between the cross member on the bucket boom, and the frame of the skid steer. Caleb believed he was still lowering the bucket and Victim’s head got crushed Caleb said I did not have him secured and I should have. (An officer) asked Caleb how often The victim rides in the skid steer with him and he stated The victim rides with him 2 to 3 times a week in the skid steer. Caleb stated that when he purchased the skid steer it came with a front door but that he had removed the front door several years ago and the door is in one of the sheds.”
This was not the first incident in this family with the skid steer. In 2017, a 5-year-old boy was riding it with Schachtschneider, slipped, and injured his leg. Another time, a 6-year-old boy had driven the steer into his older brother, sending him to the hospital, the complaint states.
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