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Family of Camp Mystic victim asks judge to preserve damaged cabins as planned reopening approaches

KUT 90.5 | By Kailey Hunt

Published April 15, 2026 at 10:25 AM CDT

Will and CiCi Steward, whose daughter has not been found after the Fourth of July weekend floods, listen to testimony from camp director Edward Eastland.

The parents of a girl still missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' camp where 27 people died during last summer's deadly floods in the Texas Hill Country, are asking a judge to prevent the camp from reopening this summer.

More than 130 people died during the Fourth of July weekend floods when the Guadalupe River crested 37 feet, flattening summer camps, mobile home parks and communities along its banks. One of the victims was 8-year-old Cecilia "Cile" Steward.

State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble is expected to rule on extending an order requiring Camp Mystic to preserve cabins damaged by the flood within the coming days. The Stewards say they are worried that, if the camp were to reopen, evidence would be destroyed.

Cecilia "Cile" Steward, 8, remains missing following the July 4 flooding at Camp Mystic in the Texas Hill Country.

After a court hearing on Monday, Cile's mother, CiCi Steward, told KDFW-TV the state should deny the camp's application for a license to operate this summer.

"I believe now is the time for the state of Texas to step in and deny the license for Camp Mystic," she said.

The Stewards are one of several families to sue Camp Mystic. They accuse its leaders of negligence and argue that more could have been done to warn campers and counselors and move them to higher ground.

Three of the camp's directors testified in court on Monday and Tuesday.

Edward Eastland, one of the camp directors and a defendant in the lawsuit, said the camp did not have a written evacuation plan, which is required by the state.

In the courtroom, the Stewards' attorney, Brad Beckworth, asked Eastland whether he wished he had an evacuation plan.

"We had that plan," Eastland said. "We were implementing that plan."

Camp director Edward Eastland testified that he did not have a written evacuation plan for campers.

The attorney then asked Eastland, "You wish you had a written evacuation plan that everyone was trained in?"

Eastland said, "I wish we never had camp that summer."

On Tuesday, the camp director's wife, Mary Liz Eastland, who served as the camp's chief medical officer, told the court she didn't help campers because rushing water prevented her from reaching their cabins.

Outside the court on Monday, Cile's mother said the Eastlands' testimony proves the camp is not ready to reopen. "This is the same director of Camp Mystic that is asking 850 students to come join him in six weeks," she said.