Timothy Noonan, known as Tim, was 36 and homeless on Kauai when friends Aurora and Alan Dingwall invited him to stay on their six-acre property. Also on the property were engaged couple Daniel Arroyo and Christina MacNees, and landscaper Carl Rotstein; the group had been preparing for the Dingwalls’ son Rowan’s second birthday.

On the morning of March 14, 2006, after about 40 days of rain, the aging Kaloko Dam breached and an estimated 400 million gallons of water swept down onto the North Shore community. The flood carried away Noonan, the Dingwalls, Arroyo, MacNees, Rotstein and young Rowan. Bodies of Alan and Aurora Dingwall and Christina MacNees were recovered; Timothy Noonan, Daniel Arroyo, Carl Rotstein and Rowan Dingwall were never found and are presumed drowned.

Investigators later pointed to a history of negligence involving the century-old dam and its owner, James Pflueger; a grand jury returned manslaughter and reckless endangerment indictments, and a 2013 plea resolved some charges.