Salvatore Anello’s video will shake you to your core. The footage initially surfaced on the internet in 2019 and showed Salvatore dangling and throwing his eighteen months old granddaughter from the 11th floor of a cruise. 

The unfortunate 18-month-old baby’s name was Chloe Wiegand. Salvatore Anello was playing with his granddaughter in the “Kids Water Zone” of the Freedom of the Seas ship when he lifted her from the 11th-story window he knew to be open. 

In the days following Chloe’s tragic death, Salvatore claimed he did not know the window was open. 

The Wiegand family had sued the cruise line after Chloe’s death in July, arguing the company failed to protect Chloe and other vacationers from potentially dangerous open windows.

Anello has denied knowing the window was open, insisting he had picked up Chloe so she could bang on the glass as she would at her older brother’s hockey games.

Management of the Royal Caribbean took it upon itself to closely examine the matter. A thorough investigation revealed that Salvatore Anello, clad in a dark shirt, put his head out the window for 8 seconds before picking up Chloe in her white sunhat from the floor. 

“When he arrives at the open window, and while Chloe is on the floor, Mr. Anello leans his upper torso over the wooden railing and out of the window frame for approximately eight seconds. Because Mr. Anello had himself leaned out the window, he was well aware that the window was open,” stated the papers, according to WTHR.

Royal Caribbean said the video shows Anello lifting his granddaughter over the wooden rail to the open window, holding her dangerously for approximately 34 seconds, during which time she unfortunately fell.

The Caribbean further said that Anello’s act of lifting and dangling Chloe out the window classifies as reckless endangerment of her life. 

Anello was facing criminal charges in Puerto Rico, where prosecutors charged him with negligent homicide in Chloe’s death.

The case against the Royal Caribbean took a turn when Anello pleaded guilty in court. 

What happened to Salvatore Anello?

After pleading guilty to the death of his 18-month-old granddaughter aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in 2019, Salvatore was sentenced to three years of probation, according to a statement from the Puerto Rican government.

He will be serving his sentence in Michigan, where he lives. 

In a statement after the sentencing, Anello said he agreed to plead guilty so he and the girl’s family could focus on a civil case against the cruise line.

Anello was charged with negligent homicide months after the incident and initially pleaded not guilty, but he changed his plea as part of a deal with the prosecutors.