In a courtroom emotional with raw grief, the director of a summer camp where a tragic flood claimed the lives of 27 campers and staff last year, was visibly shaken as he confessed his uncertainty about the fate of one missing girl.
Edward Eastland, who oversees Camp Mystic, testified on Monday during a legal proceeding initiated by the parents of eight-year-old Cecilia ‘Cile’ Steward, who remains unaccounted for.
During his poignant testimony, Eastland described his frantic efforts to rescue as many children as possible when the Guadalupe River began to swell on the morning of July 4, 2025. He rushed into the cabins, ushering out campers as the waters rose.
Tragically, many of the young victims were asleep in cabins situated perilously close to the riverbank, less than 250 feet away.
Eastland recalled, “Girls were fleeing through the front door,” as reported by the Washington Post. “I managed to take hold of two, but there was a third I couldn’t reach.”
In the chaos, he also mentioned that another girl leapt onto his back, her identity unknown, just moments before they were swept away by the floodwaters.
‘The water was over my head very quickly,’ Edward noted. ‘The water was churning… That part of the whole night has been a big blur for me.’
Yet camp officials are hoping to reopen the all-girls camp on higher ground in less than two months – with nearly 900 girls already registered to attend.
They are now seeking to appeal a judge’s order mandating the camp preserve the damaged cabins and other parts of the campus.
Edward Eastland, the director of Camp Mystic, broke down in court on Monday as he admitted he does not know what happened to one young girl
Edward was seen being comforted by his wife, Mary Liz Eastland, and mother, Tweedy Eastland, following his testimony
The hearing on Monday came as camp officials seek to appeal a judge’s order mandating the camp preserve the damaged cabins and other parts of the campus – a move opposed by the parents of still-missing eight-year-old camper Cecilia Steward (pictured)
Steward’s family had argued that the camp could destroy evidence they need for their lawsuit as they asked Judge Maya Guerra Gamble to halt any construction on the Guadalupe River campus, which she granted last month, KVUE reports.
Lawyers for the camp, though, argue the ruling was ‘deeply flawed’ and said the camp would suffer harm if the destroyed cabins were allowed to remain in place.
They argued that the Stewards’ legal team has made multiple visits to Camp Mystic since the tragedy and has had ample time and opportunity to bring in experts and do whatever they need to do with the evidence field as Texas Rangers continue searching for the young girl.
But in court on Monday, Edward admitted he did not know what happened to Cile.
‘I don’t know if she was on my back,’ he said, weeping as he recounted the fateful night in which he also lost his father and wound up pushed into a tree.
He also admitted under cross examination that the camp had no detailed written flood evacuation plan and acknowledged that more campers would have survived the floods if he and his father, camp co-owner Richard Eastland, as well as the camp safety director, made quicker decisions to evacuate, the Texas Tribune reports.
Instead, Edward said he slept through a CodeRED text alert sent out on July 3 warning about the dangerous flash floods that were expected to last several hours.
He finally woke up when his father called him on his walkie-talkie shortly before 2am to tell him rain was falling hard and they needed to move the canoes and water equipment off the waterfront.
Steward’s family had argued that the camp could destroy evidence they need for their lawsuit as they asked Judge Maya Guerra Gamble to halt any construction on the Guadalupe River campus, which she granted last month
Items lie scattered inside a cabin at Camp Mystic after deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas, last July
The belongings of campers sit outside one of Camp Mystic’s cabins near the Guadalupe River after a deadly flash flood swept through the area
Yet they still did not move to evacuate the cabins at that point.
‘It was not reasonable to do that at the time,’ Edward said. ‘The water wasn’t out of the Guadalupe River. It was pouring down rain and lightning, and the cabins were safe at the time.’
But soon, the surging water raised the river from 14 feet to 29.5 feet in just an hour.
Lawyers for Camp Mystic now argue that they had little recourse because the flooding occurred so quickly as the Guadalupe River rose.
Still, to prevent another tragedy, camp officials said they have added a new flood warning system, installed sensors and sirens near campgrounds that will communicate with other sirens along the Guadalupe River.
As an extra precaution, the application to reopen the camp is for the Cypress Lake campus, which was not affected by the flood.
‘It’s not been an easy decision for our family at all, but we’ve been praying about it and we’ve heard from hundreds of Mystic families and Mystic alumni that it would be healing,’ Britt Eastland, who runs the Cypress Lake campus, said of reopening the site.
‘We’ve decided that this was a campus that did not have any flood damage, so we would try to make a very positive and healthy experience and safe experience for what looks to be as many as 825 enrolled families.’
Members of a search and rescue team look for people near Camp Mystic last July. The camp announced plans to reopen at its Cypress Lake location for the 2026 season
However, Brad Beckworth, the attorney representing the Stewards, said that when camp officials filed for their license with the state they said they would use all of the camp – and planned to do activities on the Guadalupe side as well, like having kids snorkeling in the river, which Beckworth argued was a ‘complete disregard’ for the judge’s injunction order.
Edward said on Monday that was a mistake, explaining that the camp submitted outdated material with an inaccurate list of activities they planned to do.
Following the hearing, Cile’s mom, Cici Steward, argued that state officials should not allow the camp to reopen.
‘It’s so clear they are incapable of keeping children safe,’ she told reporters.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick seemed to agree, sending a letter urging the Department of State Health Services not to renew Camp Mystic’s license for the 2026 summer season back in February.
‘Please do not renew a 2026 license for Camp Mystic until all legislative investigations are complete and any necessary corrective actions are taken,’ Patrick wrote.
‘Twenty-eight lives were taken, and until these deaths are investigated and any necessary corrective actions are taken to ensure this never happens again, a camp license should not be issued to Camp Mystic.’
The process to review the camp’s license renewal application will now take several weeks, during which time officials will review the application materials and emergency plan and conduct a pre-licensure inspection.
