Seven takeaways from Day 2 of the Camp Mystic hearing

Day two of the three-day evidentiary hearing before Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble produced a sustained effort by Camp Mystic’s defense attorney Mikal Watts to explain the July 4 flood response and continued witness testimony.

In addition to further testimony by Edward Eastland, Mary Liz Eastland, the camp’s health officer and a director, testified about her actions, emergency protocols and the camp’s response during the flood and Britt Eastland, Camp Mystic Cypress Lake director, testified about weather alerts, interactions with state officials and his movements during the flood.   

The plaintiff’s attorney, Brad Beckworth, led much of the questioning and Christina Yarnell, another attorney representing the family of Cile Steward, questioned Mary Liz Eastland regarding the 911 calls made by stranded campers. Here are seven takeaways from today’s testimony. 

1. The defense made a case for the sudden appearance and magnitude of the storm, citing expert testimony in support. 

Defense attorney Mikal Watts established that when the camp went to sleep after taps at 10 p.m. on July 3, it was not raining at Camp Mystic. The catastrophic storm stalled over the watershed after midnight. Watts played audio from the late Kerr County Engineer Charlie Hastings describing a river that exploded from 264 gallons per second to 125,000 gallons per second in 30 minutes — a 500-fold surge that Eastland confirmed matched what he experienced. The defense also established that TDEM and a state-contracted agency called Gothams took control of the property from July 5, directing the cleanup and remediation, and that FEMA and the U.S. Geological Survey documented the site before volunteers moved in. These are legitimate points that will factor into any ultimate judgment about liability.

2. A Texas Ranger captain’s affidavit, signed March 2, 2026, confirmed an active criminal investigation.

Plaintiffs introduced an affidavit from Texas Ranger Captain John J. Miller, signed March 2, 2026, stating that the July 4 flood event is under a criminal investigation that may be referred to the 216th District Attorney’s office in Kerr County. The Ranger declined to testify in the civil case to protect the integrity of the criminal justice process. Plaintiffs challenged Edward Eastland’s claim that he was unaware of any criminal investigation when Camp Mystic filed its license renewal application March 31, 2026 — seven days before Lt. Governor Dan Patrick publicly announced a criminal probe.

3. Senior Hill girls went more than four hours without contact from camp leadership.

Girls at Senior Hill placed 911 calls at approximately 3:57 a.m. and again at 8:29 a.m., a gap of roughly four and a half hours. Mary Liz Eastland, the camp’s designated health office and a registered nurse, testified she did not know Senior Hill was trying to reach her. A recording of the 8:29 a.m. call, in which a counselor reported an injured woman (the gatekeeper, Francis) and no communication with the main office, was admitted into evidence. The plaintiffs’ attorney argued the girls had been “alone and unattended” long enough that they reportedly tried to break into a locked shed on the hill, looking for food.

Mary Liz also testified that she sent her own children to Tonk Hill, a known high-ground landmark, while the more than 150 girls remained stranded on Senior Hill. 

4. The camp health officer never reported camper deaths to DSHS, as required by state administrative code.

Texas administrative code requires camp operators to report camper deaths to the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) within 24 hours. Mary Liz Eastland acknowledged under oath that neither she nor the camp has ever filed that report and that, as of the hearing, the camp was currently seeking license renewal from the same agency while the deaths remain unreported. She acknowledged she had not considered the requirement in the aftermath of the flood.

5. Two of Cile Steward’s cabinmates were swept downstream and the camp didn’t know they were missing. 

Britt Eastland confirmed that two girls from Cile Steward’s cabin were swept downstream and rescued by a neighboring family, who texted Britt at approximately 4:45 a.m. Camp leadership did not realize the girls were missing. Britt could not recall the names of either girl and did not know that one of them was Cile Steward’s best friend. Beckworth accused a camp staff member of initially turning the girls away when the family tried to pick them up. Britt denied the claim, saying the decision to leave them with the family was made on safety grounds.

6. Britt Eastland, a licensed criminal attorney since 2005, admitted he knew on the morning of July 4 that he had a duty to preserve evidence. 

Recognizing the flood as a potentially mass casualty event, Eastland admitted he knew he had a duty to preserve evidence. That admission allowed Beckworth to press hard on what happened next. The volunteer liability waiver prepared by the camp contained no instructions regarding the preservation of the evidence field. Britt claimed he gave verbal instructions, but could not document them. And while Britt attributed cabin remediation to TDEM, he conceded that the complete remodeling of the camp’s main office months later was a decision made entirely by the camp, separate from any government direction.

7. Four days after the flood, defense attorney Mikal Watts posted a message discouraging litigation against the camp in the TTLA listserve. 

Beckworth revealed that Mikal Watts posted a message on the Texas Trial Lawyers Association listserv on July 8, 2025 actively discouraging other lawyers from suing Camp Mystic, citing the likelihood of an unsympathetic jury, “low insurance limits and charitable immunity caps,” and arguing the “real culprit” was the lack of an early warning siren system. “The juice will likely not be worth the squeeze,” the post claimed, further explaining that the families running the camps have done so for generations and are revered in Kerr County, making it unlikely to “find a sympathetic jury pool.” 

Beckworth used the message to counter the defense’s accusation that the Steward family waited too long to act, noting they were taking the careful, deliberate pause that Watts himself had recommended. Edward Eastland had already broken with his own attorneys on this point the day before, testifying he does not believe the Steward family did anything wrong.

The hearing will continue tomorrow for a third day of testimony.