Parents of missing 8-year-old girl help get legal victory over camp where she was swept away in flood tragedy

The parents of an eight-year-old who went missing amid the tragic Camp Mystic flooding have achieved a ‘legal and moral victory’ this week, lawyers have stated.

In July 2025, 24 campers, two counsellors, and Dick Eastland, the co-owner of Kerr County’s Camp Mystic, died in flash flooding.

The deadly Central Texas event, which has etched itself into history books as the sixth-deadliest freshwater flooding disaster in the United States (via NASA Earth Data), began after intense rainfall transformed the Guadalupe River into a ‘raging torrent’.

Camp Mystic, a private non-denominational Christian girls' summer camp, was among the cabins, homes, and vehicles devastated by the event, which killed over 130 people.

Cecilia ‘Cile’ Steward, an eight-year-old, was enrolled and staying at the summer camp when she was swept away in the Texas floods.

Campers, counsellors, and a co-founder of Camp Mystic perished in the Texas floods (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The Independent reported that she and one other girl remain the only missing persons from the incident.

Her parents, Will and CiCi Steward, have been working with attorney Brad Beckworth to ‘get the truth of what happened’ to their daughter.

In a filed complaint, the Stewards have accused Camp Mystic of gross negligence.

They claimed their child was instructed to stay in her cabin and wait for instructions on what to do amid the tragedy.

Moreover, the lawsuit alleged that Eastland ignored weather warnings and focused attention on transporting canoes to higher ground.

On Wednesday (March 4), the Stewards scored a win as Travis County District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble granted a temporary injunction on Camp Mystic’s planned reopening in summer 2026.

The eight-year-old child was residing at the camp when the flash flooding hit (District Clerk Travis County)

The couple argued that the institution, founded in 1926 under the name Stewart’s Camp for Girls, should be prevented ‘from altering or destroying the Camp Mystic site and physical evidence central to this case’, as per a lawsuit.

The latest ruling demands that camp owners may not alter, remodel, remove, reconstruct or demolish the cabins where campers, including Cile, were housed on July 4 2025.

Gamble has also said that the main office building, the rec hall, and the commissary must not be used ‘to ensure’ that everything remains in their ‘current state for forensic inspection,' the publication wrote.

Responding to the temporary injunction on behalf of Will and CiCi, Beckworth told People: “We’re glad Judge Gamble gave everyone a full opportunity to be heard.

“She granted our motion to stop Camp Mystic from reopening the Guadalupe campus effective immediately so that all evidence that will help us get the truth of what happened to Cile will be brought to light.”

A judge has ruled that areas of the camp cannot be changed amid a forensic investigation (RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

Christina Yarnell, another attorney for the couple called the decision a ‘legal and moral victory for [the team’s] continued efforts to find Cile’.

Despite Gamble’s ruling, Mikal Watts, an attorney for Camp Mystic, has said that over 850 campers have signed up to attend Camp Mystic this summer, as per the Associated Press.

The institution is currently awaiting state regulators’ approval on licensing to reopen.

Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor of Texas, has requested that the license not be granted while the deaths are being investigated. Legislative probes are expected to begin in the spring.