Daniel Jay Arroyo
Arroyo, circa 2006; Christina MacNees; Alan Dingwall; Aurora Dingwall; James Pflueger
- Missing Since 03/14/2006
- Missing From Kauai County, Hawaii
- Classification Lost/Injured Missing
- Sex Male
- Race White
- Age 33 years old
- Height and Weight 5'11, 175 pounds
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, blue eyes. Arroyo's nickname is Danny.
Details of Disappearance
Arroyo was last seen in Kauai County, Hawaii on March 14, 2006. He and his pregnant fiancee, Christina Michelle MacNees, were staying with MacNees's friend, Aurora Solveig Fehring Dingwall, and Aurora's husband, Alan Gareth Dingwall, and their son, Rowan Dingwall, on the Dingwall family's six-acre property.
Another friend, Timothy Noonan, was also staying with the family. Aurora's business partner was a landscaper, Carl Rotstein. They were all going to celebrate MacNees and Arroyo's wedding, and Rowan's second birthday was a few days later.
That morning, after forty days of rain, the Kaloko Dam was breached and spilled an estimated 400 million gallons of water on the Kauai North Shore community below it. Arroyo, MacNees, Rotstein, Noonan and the Dingwall family were all swept away.
Alan, Aurora and MacNees's bodies were later found; photos of them are posted with this case summary. The other four victims have never been located.
The dam, which was over a century old, was owned by James Pflueger, one of the wealthiest and most prominent businessmen in Hawaii.
After its collapse, authorities determined it had never been inspected by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), although state law requires all dams to be inspected at least once every five years. The DLNR said Pflueger had refused to let them conduct any inspections.
A grand jury subsequently indicted Pflueger for seven counts of manslaughter and one count of reckless endangerment because he had allegedly covered the dam's spillway, an emergency feature used to keep water from flowing over the top of the dam, and caused the disaster.
A photo of Pflueger, who was in his eighties at the time, is posted with this case summary. In July 2013, seven years after the dam break, he reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. Pflueger pleaded guilty to one felony count of first-degree reckless endangerment.
His company, Pacific 808 Properties, took responsibility for the manslaughter charges and agreed to pay a $50,000 fine for each victim, a total of $350,000. None of that money will go to the victims' families; instead, it will go to the state and be used to pay for dam inspections.
Pflueger was sentenced to seven months in jail, five years of probation and a $7,000 fine for his role in the disaster. Just a few weeks into his sentence, however, he was released and put on home detention because of health reasons.
Arroyo, Noonan, Rotstein and Rowan are all presumed drowned, but their bodies have never been located.
Investigating Agency
- Kauai Police Department 808-241-1696
Updated 4 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated August 6, 2015; details of disappearance updated.