Camp Mystic chie f sobs admitting he doesn’t know what happened to still-missing 8-year-old — as camp already registering new girls
The director of the doomed Texas girls getaway Camp Mystic sobbed on the stand this week as he testified he has no idea what happened to a still-missing 8-year-old camper in last year’s killer floods.
Edward Eastland’s teary testimony came as it was revealed the camp hopes to reopen on higher ground in fewer than two months — and already has nearly 900 girls registered to attend.
Catastrophic flooding — helped along by a string of glaring devastating failures by camp officials — left 24 young campers, two staffers and another man dead July 4 at the locally renowned summer camp, which catered to the state’s rich and famous along the Guadalupe River in the tiny town of Hunt.
Camp Mystic director Edward Eastland sobs as he recounts the torrential downpours that inundated the camp last year, killing 27.AP
“I wish we never had camp that summer,” admitted Eastland, the co-director of Camp Mystic, during a hearing Monday tied to lawsuits filed against the camp by victims’ stricken parents, including the mom and dad of still-missing 8-year-old camper Cecilia “Cile” Steward.
Under a grilling by the family’s lawyer, Brad Beckworth, Eastland admitted that the camp had botched simple measures that could have saved lives that day, such as failing to use the loudspeaker to evacuate the grounds and not meeting ahead of time with staffers to discuss the coming storm.
Jennifer and Doug Getten lost their 9-year-old daughter Ellen that doomed night.AP
Eastland said he himself slept through a CodeRED text alert sent out July 3 warning about the local flash floods that were expected to last up to several hours.
Some of the more emotional moments of the hearing involved the playing of audio from the “Taps” that went over the camp’s loudspeakers telling its little residents it was lights out around 10 p.m. July 3.
Several victims’ family members also fled the courtroom as cell-phone footage was played in which a person could be heard yelling, “Help!”
Children’s belongings are grouped together at Camp Mystic on July 07, 2025 in Hunt, Texas.Getty Images
Eastland said he wished “we never had camp that summer.”AP
Eastland maintained he had no idea how bad the storm was going to be.
“We did not expect what was going to happen,” he testified.
Beckworth shot back, “You were warned.”
Brad Beckworth is thte lawyer repping a family of a girl whose body was never recovered.AP
Eastland recounted desperately going into one of the cabins and taking as many campers with him as he could as raging waters swirled around them.
“There were girls going out of the front door. I grabbed two girls, and there was a third one I didn’t grab,” Eastland testified.
He said another girl “jumped on my back — I don’t know who it was — before we got washed out.
Eastland admitted that he still has no idea what happened to Cecilia “Cile” Steward, 8, following the Camp Mystic Flood.
Janie Hunt has been confirmed dead by her mother.Anne Hunt via Fox News
Renee Smajstrla has been confirmed dead by her relatives in a Facebook post.Michelle Freed Salta /Facebook
“The water was over my head very quickly. The water was churning,” Eastland said.
“That part of the whole night has been a big blur for me,” he explained.
Beckworth asked, “What happened to Cile?”
Eastland responded, “I don’t know.”
The lawyer said, “Was she one of the girls with you when you were swept out?”
Eastland said, weeping, “I don’t know.
Sarah Marsh has been confirmed dead by her relatives in a Facebook post.Debbie Marsh /Facebook
Lila Bonner has been confirmed dead by her family to NBC News.via KSAT12
“I don’t know if she was on my back.”
The camp — whose past campers included the daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters of Lyndon B. Johnson, with former first lady Laura Bush among its previous counselors — has applied to the state to renew its license to reopen in a safer spot by this summer.
Cile’s mom, Cici Steward, said the camp should remain closed.
“Now is the time for the state of Texas to step in and deny the license for Camp Mystic because it is so clear they are incapable of keeping children safe,” the mom said after Monday’s hearing.
She blasted “reckless leadership of the Eastland family.”
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