At a Glance
- Kai Goodlander, 3, drowned in a dry detention pond at his Florida apartment complex in January 2024.
- Mother Autumn Goodlander secured a $15.5 million settlement from Huntington Reserve Apartments and TPI Management Services in October 2025.
- The pond was supposed to drain stormwater but held water due to poor maintenance.
- Why it matters: The complex has since fenced the pond, and the mother hopes her case spurs wider safety changes.
A Florida mother has broken her silence nearly two years after her toddler wandered outside their home and drowned in a retention pond that lawyers say was never meant to hold water,最终促成 $15.5 million 的和解。
The Day Kai Disappeared
Autumn Goodlander was at work on an otherwise ordinary January day in 2024 when her three-year-old son, Kai, slipped out of the apartment. Her boyfriend at the time was inside folding laundry. “What really did him in, though, is that he closed the door behind him,” Autumn told CBS Orlando.
Because the toddler shut the door, no adult realized he had left. Kai made his way to the nearby pond and was later found submerged. Autumn learned of her son’s death at the hospital.
> “The doctor came in and was like, ‘There’s nothing we can do for him,’ ” she recalled. “And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said, ‘Your son’s gone.’ ”
A Pond That Should Have Been Dry
Autumn told the local station she knew the only body of water Kai could reach inside the community was the retention pond. After the tragedy, she hired The Haggard Law Firm, which asserted in a news release that the pond “was not meant to hold water at all.” Instead, attorneys described it as a “dry detention pond” designed to temporarily store stormwater before draining it away.
The firm alleged that poor maintenance allowed water to remain, creating an undisclosed hazard for residents. “There was no reason this tragedy should have occurred,” the attorneys said. “Proper maintenance and adherence to safety standards could have saved Kai’s life.”
$15.5 Million Settlement
Huntington Reserve Apartments and its management company, TPI Management Services, agreed to pay Autumn $15.5 million in October 2025. The settlement did not include any admission of liability, according to the legal team.
As part of the agreement, the complex installed fencing around the pond. Neither Huntington Reserve nor TPI responded to News Of Losangeles‘s request for comment.
Mother’s Push for Change
Autumn continues to speak publicly in hopes of preventing similar deaths. She is urging apartment owners statewide to secure retention ponds with fences or other barriers.
> “I would like to see people put up perimeters around these retention ponds,” she told CBS Orlando.
Attorneys involved in the case emphasized that dry detention ponds are common throughout Florida, and many residents do not realize the areas can hold water if drains clog or maintenance lapses.
Key Takeaways
- Kai Goodlander’s death prompted a $15.5 million wrongful-death settlement, one of the largest of its kind in Florida involving an unfenced pond.
- The housing complex has since fenced the pond, fulfilling a condition negotiated in the settlement.
- Autumn hopes her story encourages other property managers to inspect and secure storm-water facilities before another child is lost.
Autumn describes Kai as “perfect,” and she says sharing his story keeps his memory alive while pushing for broader safety reforms.
