Texas Rangers are probing possible manslaughter, negligent homicide or child abandonment charges after 27 Camp Mystic campers and counselors died in the July 4, 2025, flood. They sought the owners’ electronic communications; no charges have been filed.
In an affidavit, Texas Ranger Brant Johnston alleged that Camp Mystic lacked adequate emergency plans, failed to review drills or training, and had too few adult counselors in some cabins. He said the owners monitored late-night flood warnings but did not move children from low-lying cabins, and wrote that the camp consciously disregarded a substantial, unjustifiable risk of death.
Camp owner Richard Eastland also died in the flood; flooding killed at least 136 people along a several-mile stretch of the Guadalupe River. Authorities interviewed witnesses, flood survivors and people connected to the camp; Johnston wrote that some Eastland family members and senior camp officials declined interviews. Camp leaders have testified in court and before the Texas Legislature; director Edward Eastland offered an apology. Lawyers for Cile Steward’s family, whose body has not been recovered, accused the Eastlands of withholding answers from parents. The camp did not reopen this year and filed for bankruptcy reorganization.
