Texas investigators issued search warrants last week against the family that runs Camp Mystic, detailing what the owners could be charged with if new evidence arises.
Law enforcement issued 14 warrants on Friday, allowing investigators to search electronic data from the Camp Mystic owners, the Eastland family, and several counselors and employees.
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The search warrants reflect an escalation in the probe into whether the family or staff members can be held criminally liable for the death of camp counselors and more than two dozen campers during last year’s flooding.
What the warrants state
According to The New York Times, which obtained the warrants, no charges have been filed against camp leadership, but the warrants seek to obtain evidence of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and child abandonment.
“These offenses were committed against child campers — including both deceased victims and surviving campers of the flood event,” an investigator from the Texas Rangers, Brant C. Johnston, wrote in affidavits, according to The Times.
Johnston said he began investigating the family and leadership about eight months after the floods, but leadership and the Eastland family refused interviews. Now, he’s sought their Apple devices, saying the data contains “evidence demonstrating a conscious disregard of recognized risks or reckless deviation from standard safety protocols.”
He claims Camp Mystic had inadequate emergency plans, didn’t conduct emergency drills or training, and didn’t have enough counselors in some cabins.
He also said Camp Mystic owners monitored late-night flood warnings but still neglected to move campers from low-lying cabins.
“Under Texas law, a person who has assumed care, custody or control of a child may be held criminally responsible for an omission that causes injury to that child,” Johnston wrote in the affidavit.
Pending litigation and camp status
The new warrants come as Camp Mystic remains closed for the summer, and after the facility filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Camp Mystic leadership spent months going back and forth, debating whether it would open at all, open only portions of the camp, or remain closed entirely. But in April, officials confirmed the camp withdrew its application to the Department of State Health Services to continue operations for 2026.
The camp is also facing numerous lawsuits from victims’ families and lawmakers, who are making similar claims to what the warrants are searching for evidence of: negligence and a lack of emergency planning.
Camp leadership has already admitted to some errors, and state investigators have faulted the camp for inadequate planning, storm preparation, evacuations and incident management.
Now, investigators are looking into whether those errors resulted in the deaths of 25 campers, two counselors and a member of the Eastland family.
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