{"id":240085,"date":"2026-04-08T08:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T08:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/240085\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T08:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T08:23:14","slug":"texas-rangers-join-criminal-investigation-into-camp-mystic-neglect-allegations-lt-gov-patrick-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/240085\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers join \u2018criminal investigation\u2019 into Camp Mystic neglect allegations, Lt. Gov. Patrick says"},"content":{"rendered":"

KERR COUNTY, Texas \u2013 The Texas Rangers are joining the state investigation into allegations of neglect by Camp Mystic during the July 4 floods<\/a> in the Hill Country.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Texas Rangers told KSAT they\u2019re assisting the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) in the investigation into Camp Mystic.<\/p>\n

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wrote to DSHS Commissioner Jennifer Shuford on Tuesday, urging the agency to not renew the camp\u2019s license amid what he called a \u201ccriminal investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow with a Texas Rangers criminal investigation of Camp Mystic, I am doubling down on (DSHS) not issuing a camping license until all investigations are complete and we know children are safe,\u201d Patrick said in an X post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is unclear who would face potential charges or what they could be.<\/p>\n

DSHS, which licenses camps in the state, said the agency has \u201creceived hundreds of complaints regarding Camp Mystic\u2019s operations\u201d last summer.<\/p>\n

The families of several young victims are suing the agency, saying it should not have licensed Camp Mystic at all because the camp did not have an evacuation plan in place.<\/p>\n

Twenty-five campers and two counselors died at the camp during catastrophic flooding on the Fourth of July. The camp\u2019s director, Richard \u201cDick\u201d Eastland<\/a>, also died.<\/p>\n

The body of camper Cile Steward<\/a> has still not been recovered. The Texas Rangers are part of the mission to find her.<\/p>\n

The Steward family is one of several that pushed back when Camp Mystic announced it would reopen its Cypress Lake location<\/a> this summer for the camp\u2019s 100th anniversary. The Cypress Lake camp is next to the Guadalupe location but is not located directly on the Guadalupe River.<\/p>\n

Camp Mystic is also facing several lawsuits from victims\u2019 families. The Steward family also sued to halt construction and renovations at the Camp Mystic location that flooded in an effort to preserve evidence as the lawsuits move forward.<\/p>\n

A judge agreed with the Steward family\u2019s push, and the camp is appealing the decision.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KERR COUNTY, Texas \u2013 The Texas Rangers are joining the state investigation into allegations of neglect by Camp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2330,4034,27,29,28,429,51314],"class_list":["post-240085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-camp-mystic","tag-hill-country-floods","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-rangers","tag-we-follow-through"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}