Camp Mystic Leaders Accused of ‘Consciously’ Disregarding Risk Before 27 Died in Catastrophic Flood

Camp Mystic is now the focus of a criminal investigation more than a year after catastrophic flooding claimed the lives of 27 campers and counselors at the Texas summer camp.

In applications for search warrants executed last week, Texas Rangers sought the electronic communications of the camp’s owners. The rangers are investigating whether evidence could support charges including manslaughter, negligent homicide and child abandonment, according to an Associated Press report published Tuesday, September 22. No charges have been filed.

Per the report, Texas Ranger Brant Johnston claimed in an affidavit that Camp Mystic did not have adequate emergency plans and failed to review emergency drills or training. He also said some cabins did not have enough adult counselors.

“Young campers cannot reasonably be expected to independently recognize a rapidly developing, life-threatening hazard or to organize and execute an evacuation absent direction from an adequate number of adult supervisors,” Johnston wrote, the outlet reported.

The investigator also claimed the camp’s owners had been monitoring late-night flood warnings but failed to move children out of cabins in low-lying areas.

“Camp Mystic, LLC was aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death to the campers in their care,” Johnston wrote, according to the Associated Press.

Twenty-five campers and two teenage counselors died after the Guadalupe River overflowed before dawn on July 4, 2025. Camp owner Richard Eastland also died in the flood. At least 136 people were killed by flooding along a several-mile stretch of the river.

Per the report, Johnston said he visited Camp Mystic several times during the investigation. Authorities have also interviewed witnesses, flood survivors and people connected to the camp, according to the report.

However, the outlet reported, Johnston wrote that some members of the Eastland family and other senior camp officials declined to be interviewed by investigators. Members of the family and camp leadership have separately testified in court and before the Texas Legislature since the disaster, with camp director Edward Eastland offering an emotional apology.

Attorneys Christina Yarnell and Brad Beckworth, who represent the family of Cile Steward, whose body has not been recovered, addressed the investigation in a statement.

“For more than a year, families of the 27 angels killed at Camp Mystic have fought, begged, and pleaded with the Eastland family for accountability and answers,” Yarnell and Beckworth stated, the outlet reported. “Instead, the Eastlands have held hostage the information and answers owed to parents who deserve, more than anyone, to know the details surrounding their daughters’ final moments.”

Camp Mystic did not reopen this year and has filed for bankruptcy reorganization, per the report.