Camp Mystic owners fight Texas Rangers' search warrants in deadly flood investigation
New developments have emerged in the criminal investigation into the deadly Camp Mystic flood.
The Texas Rangers are seeking cellphone data from members of the Eastland family that owns and operates the camp, and now, the family is trying to halt investigators from reviewing that information.
More than a year after 25 campers and two counselors died over the July 4th weekend at the camp, the family that owns the summer camp along the Guadalupe River is challenging some of the search warrants filed by investigators. Attorneys for the Eastland family filed a motion to stop the requested review of the cellphone data.
The Texas Rangers recently filed 14 search warrants for cellphone data, including seven for members of the Eastland family, seeking text messages, calls, emails, deleted history, and more, from July 3, 2025, to Oct. 17, 2025. Investigators are looking for evidence of possible criminal conduct, including whether anyone failed to act quickly enough before or during the flooding. The warrants also seek information that could shed light on what happened in the hours leading up to the deadly flash flood.
Attorneys for the family are now calling those requests a "fishing expedition," adding that they are too broad and should be narrowed. The motion also argues that the warrants could expose privileged attorney-client communications.
Mark Lanier, an attorney representing some of the victims' families, sent CBS News Texas a statement saying, "I'm always suspicious of anyone dodging subpoenas."
Another attorney, Sam Taylor, sent this statement saying, "Since July 4, 2025, when 27 young girls died at Camp Mystic, the Eastlands have done everything they can to avoid accountability and disclosure of their actions that caused those deaths. They tried to hide their actions from the public by requesting a secret arbitration rather than a public trial. They have resisted providing documents and evidence in the civil cases. They filed a bankruptcy to try to avoid a public trial by jury. And now they are dodging subpoenas from the Texas Rangers, who are investigating the Eastlands for possible criminal charges. Why are they afraid of a jury trial that is open to the public? Why are they resisting criminal investigations into their conduct? Accountability and justice are not in the Eastlands' vocabulary."
No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the Camp Mystic flood.
