SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – After a local mom’s 3-year-old son died in an accidental drowning at their apartment complex almost two years ago, she’s now sharing her story to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
According to attorneys from The Haggard Law Firm, 3-year-old Kai Goodlander drowned in what’s called a ‘dry detention pond’ at the Huntington Reserve Apartments in January of 2024.
His mother, Autumn Goodlander, uses one word to describe her son: perfect.
“He was perfect,” Goodlander said. “I mean infectious laughter and vibrant and so artistic and smart.”
[WATCH: Seminole County first responders warn of child drownings]
Goodlander said Kai had gone out the front door while Autumn’s boyfriend at the time was watching him and went to fold laundry in another room while Kai ate a snack and watched a movie.
“Kai figured out how to unlock the front door, and he slipped out,” Goodlander said. “This is what really did it in, though, is that he closed the door behind him. Had that door been left ajar, David would have known immediately where Kai was.”
Autumn was at work when two officers came to tell her what had happened.
“I let him escort me on what was the longest car ride I’ve ever been in my life,” Goodlander recalled.
At the hospital, doctors delivered the heartbreaking news. Her little boy had drowned.
“The doctor came in and he was like; there was nothing we could do for him. And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said, Your son’s gone. Your son is gone. We tried for 30 minutes and we didn’t get so much as a heartbeat from him,” Goodlander said.
Her mind immediately went to the detention pond at the apartment complex where they lived. At the time, the pond was unsecured.
“I knew that the only body of water that he had access to in that community was that retention pond,” Goodlander said.
Goodlander eventually took legal action. According to her attorneys, the detention pond was not meant to hold water at all.
Unlike a retention pond, which is designed to hold water, a detention pond is usually dry, only temporarily holding water for flood control.
“Over the course of many, many, many years, erosion, the pipes not being actually cleaned or paid any attention to at all, the type of plant matter and soil was completely ignored,” said Goodlander’s attorney, Adam Finkle. “And so, it would start filling up with water when it wasn’t supposed to.”
The apartment complex and its management company, TPI Management Services, eventually settled with Autumn for more than $15 million.
But she wants to use her story to spark change and make sure this never happens again.
“I would like to see people put up perimeters around these retention ponds. You know, I think that a lot of our society is built on what can make people money and not what can protect people,” Autumn said.
News 6 reached out to TPI Management as well as the apartment complex for a statement on the settlement; we are still waiting to receive one. However, the law firm tells us a fence has been installed around the detention pond as a part of the settlement.