LITTLE SUAMICO (NBC 26) — In an exclusive interview, the grandmother of the children who were found dead in waters off of Door County shares her agony as the search continues for her missing son.
- Charlotte, 5, and Joshua, 3, were found dead Monday after a weekend boating trip. Their father, Billy Salnik, is still missing.
- See the unanswered text messages which prompted Billy's friend to eventually file a police report.
- Billy's mother, Tina Salnik, has started a crowdfunding page to cover the cost of funeral expenses for her grandchildren.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story, with additional details for the web.)
This home, filled with children's toys, is now a painful reminder. I'm Pari Apostolakos in Little Suamico. Here, a woman waits for news of her son after he went missing and his children were found dead in waters off of Door County.
"In the house, if you look around the yard, it's a place where kids were loved," Lori Koblarczyk, aunt of missing boater Billy Salnik, said on the porch of the home he shared with his mother and children Tuesday.
When you step into Tina Salnik's home, it's evident children lived here.
She says the bodies of her grandchildren, five-year-old Charlotte and three-year-old Joshua, were found in the water Monday, their life jackets tied together.
They'd disappeared Saturday while boating with their father, Billy Salnik, in the Bay of Green Bay.
Billy is still missing.
"He was so proud of his sailboat, and he loved to take them out sailing," Tina Salnik, Billy's mother, said through tears.
I spoke with Tina and other family members in an exclusive interview.
"He loved them kids more than life itself," Kevin Koblarczyk, Billy's uncle, said. "He couldn't get enough of the kids ... He was always with them when he was home, when he was able to be, being a single dad it's hard, you know."
I also spoke with Billy's friend John Milatzo, who says he was the last person to see Billy and the kids.
John says he took his jet ski and met Billy on the water Saturday to visit Green Island. There, John says they had lunch and left, with Billy heading toward Oconto, the place where he first launched his boat that day.
John shared his text messages to Billy, first asking if he made it home around 6:40 p.m.
Billy never responded, and his sailboat the "My Lady Blue," was later found capsized.
"I feel he's never coming out of the water," Tina said. "I feel he held on to those babies as long as he could and he was not going to leave the water without those babies. There's no way he would have left."
The Door County Sheriff's Office says they're still searching, and this may still be a rescue as someone could survive in current water temperatures for up to 121 hours.
The family says they will wait to schedule any celebration of life until they hear news of Billy. In Little Suamico Pari Apostolakos NBC 26.
Editor's note: a previous version of this story stated John Milatzo and Billy Salnik were on Green Island with Charlotte and Joshua for a few hours. Paul tells NBC 26 they were not on the island for more than one hour. NBC 26 apologizes for the error.
