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MARTINEZ — Family members of a Hollister mother and daughter who drowned in a Blackhawk pool have sued the man both victims were there to meet: the 4-year-old girl’s daughter and woman’s ex-boyfriend, who later told police he was taking a shower as they drowned in his backyard.
Charu Goyal is a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the mother and father of 31-year-old Llaneth Chavez, who drowned along with her daughter on Feb. 12, 2022. The suit names Goyal and a Blackhawk homeowners association as defendants, alleging that dangerous conditions — like the lack of a fence and slippery mildew — led to the fatal double drowning.
Goyal was the subject of a Contra Costa Sheriff’s investigation into the fatalities, but was never arrested or charged. Police tried but were never able to find home surveillance cameras that captured the drownings, nor were they able to locate eyewitnesses among the neighbors. Goyal told police he was inside showering in preparation to go get ice cream with Chavez and Mayala, and didn’t hear any signs of a commotion, according to authorities.
The day Chavez and Mayala drowned was supposed to be a monumental occasion in Mayala’s young life. She had never met her father, who according to police had kept her a secret from his family while discreetly providing Chavez with some form of informal child support. That day Mayala was supposed to meet Goyal for the first time, but things went awry.
Goyal would later tell police that after saying hello to his daughter and ex-girlfriend, he invited them to stay in the backyard while they got ready. He said he found them, unresponsive, in the pool after finishing his shower and attempted CPR, but that they were beyond saving.
A forensic pathologist was unable to determine manners of death, writing in his report that he couldn’t eliminate homicide nor accident as potential explanations. He noted in his report, though, that Chavez suffered multiple blunt force injuries on her back, hip and chest, while Malaya had a faint, half-inch by half-inch scrape.
Chavez’s brother later told police she was terrified of water and he had trouble believing she would have gone near a pool or allowed Malaya to do so.
The suit accuses Goyal of failing to “properly supervise the subject swimming pool area when he knew that his daughter could not swim, and that (Chavez) was not a strong swimmer.” It accuses Goyal and the homeowners association of failing to take steps to maintain basic pool safety and says the costs of doing so “would have been minimal.”
Goyal has not responded to the lawsuit, and it is unclear from court records whether he has retained an attorney. He has been served and noticed of the suit, according to court documents, which list him as now living in Porter Ranch, a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles County.
The Blackhawk homeowners association has responded, writing in a motion that the responsibility falls on Goyal — and his other relatives who live there — and that the plaintiffs have failed to explain specifically why they believe the association did anything wrong.
“There is no dispute that the Goyals had the sole responsibility for maintaining the Subject Property, including their swimming pool’s upkeep and maintenance,” the motion says.
A judge is set to rule on the association’s motion in a court hearing set for late April. The next hearing, a status conference, has been set for March 4, records show.