Camp Mystic mothers say deaths were avoidable in Friday ‘Dateline’ special

Eight mothers who lost daughters at Camp Mystic say the July 4, 2025, flood that killed their children could have been prevented, speaking together publicly for the first time in an hour-long “Dateline” special airing Friday on NBC.

“After the Flood,” anchored by Lester Holt, airs at 9 p.m. CT, as Kerr County approaches the one-year anniversary of the Guadalupe River flood and days after the Eastland family entities’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which has frozen wrongful-death litigation tied to the disaster.

According to NBC, the mothers gathered at the Houston-area home of Jennie Getten and told Holt in unison that the tragedy could “100%” have been averted. They also said the Eastland family, which owns the camp, stayed largely silent after the flood. Patricia Bellows, whose daughter Margaret died, said the families “never received a debrief.” Getten added that the Eastlands “have never called us.”

“The person you were before is gone,” Bellows told Holt. “That person is dead.”

The Eastlands’ attorney, Mikal Watts, defended the camp in an exclusive interview, telling Holt the camp did have a flood policy. “It’s called shelter in place,” Watts said, arguing that keeping campers in their cabins “until help can come” saved hundreds of lives. He described the event as a 1,000-year flood “that nobody’s ever seen before.”

Watts placed blame for the missing warning on the state, noting that lawmakers nearly a decade ago declined to fund a flood-detection system with sirens. A 1:14 a.m. warning “wasn’t delivered,” he said. “There was no siren.” An upstream detection system tied to sirens, he argued, would have given the camp time to act and “saved all the lives downriver.”

The special also features Lindsey McCrory, whose daughter Blakely died, along with flood survivors including a 10-year-old camper and a camp counselor. NBC said the broadcast addresses the latest developments in the investigation, including the bankruptcy filing.

“After the Flood” airs at 9 p.m. CT Friday on NBC.