The owners of a private Christian camp in Texas are reportedly under criminal investigation over the deaths of 25 campers, two counselors and a camp owner in catastrophic flooding last year. Investigators applied last week for search warrants to obtain the electronic communications from members of the Eastland family that owns Camp Mystic in Hunt and camp staff, the Associated Press reports.
Twenty-eight people died at the camp after flash floods from the Guadalupe River struck before dawn on July 4, 2025, including owner Dick Eastland. Investigators said the communications could provide evidence of crimes including manslaughter, child abandonment or negligent homicide. No charges have been filed in the case.
Brant Johnson of the Texas Rangers, the investigative division of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), said in an affidavit cited by AP that Camp Mystic’s emergency plans were inadequate. He said the owners failed to take precautions, such as moving campers out of cabins in low-lying areas, even though they had monitored flood warnings late into the night of the disaster.
They also allegedly failed to do emergency drills and didn't provide enough adult counselors in some cabins. “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,” the affidavit stated.
Johnson concluded that “Camp Mystic, LLC was aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death to the campers in their care” on the night in question. Johnson began looking into criminal complaints against Camp Mystic in March. He interviewed witnesses and flood victims, along with several operators, agents and others connected to Camp Mystic LLC.