Texas Rangers allege manslaughter by Camp Mystic in sworn warrant affidavits

A Texas Ranger told a judge he believes Camp Mystic LLC committed manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and three other crimes in connection with the deaths of 25 campers and two counselors in the July 4, 2025, flood, according to 14 search warrant affidavits filed in Kerr County.

No one has been charged. The affidavits support warrants for Apple iCloud data, not arrests, and any criminal charges would require action by a grand jury.

The New York Times first reported the warrants. The Kerr County Lead obtained copies of the filings.

In the affidavits, Texas Ranger Brant C. Johnston wrote that he believes the camp company committed manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, injury to a child, abandoning or endangering a child, and deadly conduct. The affidavits name Camp Mystic LLC, not any individual, as the party he believes committed the offenses. They cite a state law that makes a company criminally responsible for the acts of its managers and agents.

Kirsten Cohoon, presiding judge of the 6th Administrative Judicial Region, signed the warrants Sept. 17 while sitting for the 216th District Court. They were filed with the Kerr County district clerk Sept. 18.

The warrants seek messages, photos, location data and other records from July 3 and 4, 2025. Among the accounts named are those of camp owner Richard “Dick” Eastland, who died in the flood; his widow, Willetta “Tweety” Eastland; their sons Edward, Britt and Richard Jr.; and Edward’s wife, Mary Liz Eastland. The warrant for Mary Liz Eastland’s account covers records through July 17, 2025.

Other warrants target accounts belonging to camp staff members who lived in the office cabin and to seasonal kitchen workers from Poland who photographed and recorded video during the flood.

Johnston wrote that the Rangers were directed in March 2026 to help the Texas Department of State Health Services review hundreds of complaints alleging child abuse or neglect at the camp during the flood. He wrote that six people, including Edward and Mary Liz Eastland, declined to be interviewed.

The 43-page affidavits draw heavily on the Texas Legislature’s investigative committee report and testimony in the civil lawsuits. They also include findings from the Rangers’ own investigation, such as staffing in two cabins that the affiant says fell below the state-required ratio of adults to campers.

The July 4, 2025, flood killed 119 people in Kerr County, including 28 at Camp Mystic: 25 campers, two counselors and Dick Eastland.