Camp Mystic night watchman Glenn Juenke breaks down after testifying during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
AUSTIN – A night watchman who assisted with a chaotic, haphazard rescue effort at Camp Mystic during a catastrophic flash flood told a state district court Wednesday that more able-bodied adults could have helped evacuate campers and more children could have been saved.
Glenn Juenke, 58, a retired Houston police officer, was initially defensive when questioned about the doomed effort led by Camp Mystic owner and executive director Richard “Dick” Eastland in the early morning hours of July 4. He testified that no evacuation plans would have worked given the scale of the flooding. He insisted that he and camp leaders did everything possible to save children.
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Brad Beckworth, who represents the Stewards, questions Britt Eastland on the witness stand during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
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Holding a handkerchief embroidered with her daughter’s name,CiCi Steward, who lost her 8-year-old daughter Cile Steward in the July 4 flood, listens to testimony alongside her husband, Will Steward, during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Will Steward, who lost his 8-year-old daughter Cile Steward in the July 4 flood, hangs his head as he listens to testimony during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Parents and loved ones who lost daughters in the July 4th flood listen to testimony during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Members of the gallery listen to testimony during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Members of the gallery listen to testimony during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
CiCi Steward speaks with her attorney, Christina Yarnell, during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
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Catie and Britt Eastland embrace before her testimony during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Parents and loved ones who lost daughters in the July 4th flood listen to testimony during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Attornys Mikal Watts and Brad Beckworth are addressed by State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
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The Eastland family sits together as they attend a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
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Camp Mystic Cypress Lake Director Catie Eastland tears up as she testifies during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
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Camp Mystic night watchman Glenn Juenke is comforted by Mary Liz and Edward Eastland after testifying during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
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Attorney Brad Beckworth gives closing arguments during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
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Will and CiCi Steward, who lost their 8-year-old daughter Cile Steward in the July 4 flood, listen to closing arguments during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Members of the gallery listen to testimony during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
But by the end of a withering cross-examination, Juenke conceded that camp officials could have rescued more children if anyone had used a functioning loudspeaker or walkie-talkie radio to summon more able-bodied adults on the grounds to direct campers from their cabins to safer buildings.
Juenke’s testimony gave a more detailed description of a rescue effort that failed to save the lives of 25 children and two counselors at the Texas Hill Country camp on the south fork of the Guadalupe River, about 18 miles southwest of Kerrville.
Eastland, 70, was killed while trying to pull victims from the floodwaters when his Chevrolet Tahoe was swept away by high water and crashed into a tree.
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He and Juenke — along with Eastland’s son, Camp Mystic Guadalupe River director Edward Eastland, 42 — managed to evacuate some campers and counselors before the situation spiraled into disaster.
But the three men didn’t reach the victims in the greatest peril in time.
Other adults at Camp Mystic didn’t know about or assist with the rescue effort. They included nurses at the camp infirmary, Camp Mystic Guadalupe River director Mary Liz Eastland, Camp Mystic head chef Richard Eastland Jr. and male college students staying on the camp’s grounds.
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“If we had taken one person who was not a counselor and gotten on a walkie-talkie or a loudspeaker at any point between 2:20 and 3:15 a.m. and said, ‘We need to go to higher ground — go to specific cabins and evacuate the counselors and campers’ — there were enough able-bodied people there to follow such orders? True?” asked Brad Beckworth, an attorney for the parents of 8-year-old Cile Steward, one of the campers killed in the flood.
“Yes, sir,” Juenke said.
“That order was never given, correct?” Beckworth asked.
“Correct,” Juenke said.
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“And 27 girls died because of that failure, correct?” Beckworth asked.
“Yes, sir,” Juenke said.
Camp Mystic night watchman Glenn Juenke testifies during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Will and CiCi Steward, who lost their 8-year-old daughter Cile Steward in the July 4 flood, look toward the Eastland family during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
The exchange occurred during a hearing focused on a temporary injunction that Steward’s parents, Will and CiCi Steward, won last month against Camp Mystic. That injunction temporarily prohibits the Camp Mystic Guadalupe River campus, where the deaths occurred, from being used for any purpose so that evidence relevant to the Stewards’ lawsuit may be preserved.
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The Stewards are suing Camp Mystic, the Eastland family and other defendants for their daughter’s death. They’ve raised claims of negligence, gross negligence, premises liability and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Cile Steward’s remains still haven’t been found. A search for her body is continuing more than nine months after the disaster.
State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble convened this week’s court hearing to consider whether to modify, narrow or toss that temporary injunction, which she granted last month.
‘They were gone instantly’
Juenke was on duty as Camp Mystic’s night watchman when rain began falling there after midnight on July 4. The thunderstorm quickly grew serious, prompting Dick Eastland to leave his private residence on the camp’s grounds and go to the Guadalupe River campus, where the victims were asleep in their cabins.
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Eastland then summoned his son, Edward, to the camp’s office around 1:45 a.m. to help secure canoes and waterfront equipment.
The three men discussed how to respond to the storm.
After a woman working at Camp Mystic’s gatehouse called for help on a walkie-talkie shortly before 3 a.m., they realized conditions were worsening. The three men then drove some campers and counselors in their trucks to safety at the recreational hall. Some guests ran there on foot.
“It was lightning, thunder and rain,” Juenke said. “I was really concerned about kids being struck by lightning — because the storm was right on top of us.”
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But other campers and counselors remained in their cabins, following the camp’s policy to shelter in place during a flood.
By the time the three men tried to help campers in the Bubble Inn and Twins I and II cabins, many could no longer be rescued due to the dangerous conditions.
Attorney Mikal Watts questions a witness during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
As the men approached those cabins, the storm had grown so loud that Juenke said he could barely hear what Dick Eastland was saying.
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Juenke evacuated girls in the Giggle Box cabin before going to another cabin known as Wiggle Inn, which housed 9-year-old girls.
“I almost didn’t make it because the water was so swift,” he said. “The water was coming straight down the road.”
Most of the girls were outside standing on the patio. Jueneke steered them inside and told them to get on air mattresses.
When he tossed heavy camping trunks outside open windows, “it was like the Schlitterbahn tube chute — they were gone instantly,” he said.
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The water eventually was over his head.
Juenke remained at the Wiggle Inn with campers and counselors, possibly for as long as two and a half hours. All survived, following every order he gave them.
Juenke said Dick Eastland headed over to Bubble Inn and was using his Chevrolet Tahoe to try to evacuate children there. Juenke said he may have called out to Eastland at some point not to put children inside the vehicle, but said he wasn’t sure if Eastland heard him.
Eastland was eventually swept away in his vehicle and killed, along with several campers inside his Tahoe.
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Everyone who had been staying in the Bubble Inn cabin — 13 campers and two counselors — died.
Edward Eastland had ventured on foot to the Twins I and II cabin, where Steward was staying. He tried to rescue campers and counselors, but he also was eventually swept away by high water. One child was clinging to his neck. He later made it to safety in a tree, where he and several campers waited for help until they were rescued just before daybreak.
Despite his efforts, 11 campers in the Twins I and II cabin died.
Another camper, Greta Toranzo, 10, of Houston, died when she halted her evacuation effort and went back to the Jumble House cabin to retrieve her pillow, testimony established.
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Initially, Juenke disputed Beckworth’s claims that the Eastlands didn’t have an evacuation plan.
“You keep saying that,” he said. “That’s not true.”
The family, he argued, could have “had a million different evacuation plans, and nothing would have worked.”
By the end of his testimony, however, Juenke appeared resigned to the criticism.
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Clockwise from left, Catie and Britt Eastland embrace before her testimony. Will Steward, who lost his 8-year-old daughter Cile Steward in the July 4 flood, listens to testimony during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026 as members of the gallery look on.
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In other testimony, the woman serving as Camp Mystic’s chief health officer and a co-director of the Guadalupe River campus said she didn’t call 911 or deploy her nursing staff to help evacuate campers when rising water cut off some parts of the Texas Hill Country retreat.
Mary Liz Eastland, 42, who was at her private residence on Camp Mystic’s grounds as the weather rapidly deteriorated, acknowledged during her testimony that she could have done more to alert campers of the danger.
Eastland and her four children left home for higher ground as the water surged higher.
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She remained stoic and deadpan for much of her testimony, but briefly became tearful as she described the disaster that took her family by surprise.
“Those nurses would have come to the aid of Cile if you would have called and woken them up, right?” asked Christina Yarnell, another attorney for the Stewards.
“Maybe so,” Eastland responded stoically.
“Would Cile Steward still be alive if you had made that phone call?” Yarnell pressed.
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“I don’t know,” Eastland said dryly, prompting Steward’s tearful mother to shake her head slowly.
Yarnell then referred to Eastland’s 34 years of experience at Camp Mystic as a camper, counselor, director and nurse.
“It is difficult to me to hear that it’s been 34 years that you’ve been there, and you did this little to help save these children that were under your care,” Yarnell said. “These were first-year campers. You had 34 more years of experience than Cile. She needed your help and you abandoned her, didn’t you?”
After a pause of at least five seconds, Eastland appeared defeated.
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“Yes,” she said bluntly.
Mary Liz and Edward Eastland both testified this week that they were not aware of alerts that the National Weather Service and Texas Department of Emergency Management had sent out for two days reporting the potential for heavy rainfall and flooding in the area.
CiCi Steward is comforted by a loved one following a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in the 459th State District Court in Austin, Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
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