Hearing to address search warrants in Camp Mystic fatal flood investigation

DALLAS - A hearing on the investigation into the tragic deaths at Camp Mystic was set for Wednesday in Kerrville. 

Lawyers for the camp’s owners were trying to block search warrants as families of the 27 flood victims looked to hold someone criminally responsible.

Camp Mystic Investigation

What we know:

The investigation is focused on the response to the flood on July 4, 2025, that killed 25 youth campers, two counselors, and Camp Mystic co-owner Dick Eastland.

The Texas Rangers are looking for evidence of a crime such as manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide. They’ve asked for search warrants for cellphone data from 14 different people tied to the camp. 

But lawyers for the camp’s owners argued the warrants go too far, possibly exposing private conversations.

What they're saying:

FOX 4’s Steven Dial talked to Jeremy Rosenthal about the hearing. He’s an attorney not associated with the case who is qualified to share some perspective.

Rosenthal said the warrants were very broad. And considering the Eastlands are also being sued, they could potentially expose privileged communication.

"A search warrant really just can’t go after everything. They have to sort of specify what it is that they want, and requests need to be a little more narrow," he said. 

Rosenthal also believes it will be very difficult for prosecutors to prove something like manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide.

He used the analogy of a car accident and said negligence is speeding, texting while driving, or not checking your lane. Criminally negligent homicide would be driving 120 miles an hour without your hands on the steering wheel.

"That really gross degree of neglect is what you’re looking at," he said. "So, when we take it an we start looking at Camp Mystic, what we’re really looking for here are those types of red flags that were ignored."

Rosenthal also expects the defense will point out that the flood was an act of God.

"An act of God is certainly by nature unforeseeable, but when you live in Tornado Alley, we're going to get tornadoes here. When you live in the hill country, you're going get flooding like that. So, to some degree, you really ought to be able to predict it is going to be, I think, the government's position here. And they're going look towards, again, red flags, missed warning signs, failed inspections, things like that," he said.

What's next:

A temporary prosecutor was assigned to the case because Kerr County District Attorney Lucy Wilke stepped aside, citing a conflict of interest.