<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
AUSTIN \u00a0\u2013 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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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 \u201cDick\u201d Eastland in the early morning hours of July 4. He testified that no evacuation plans would have worked given the scale of\u00a0the flooding. He\u00a0insisted that he and camp leaders\u00a0did everything possible to save children.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
Holding a handkerchief embroidered with her daughter\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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\u00a0walkie-talkie radio to summon more able-bodied adults on the grounds to direct campers from their cabins to safer buildings.<\/p>\n
Juenke\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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He and Juenke \u2014\u00a0along with Eastland\u2019s son, Camp Mystic Guadalupe River director Edward Eastland, 42 \u2014 managed to evacuate some campers and counselors before the situation spiraled into disaster.<\/p>\n
But the three men didn\u2019t reach the victims in the greatest peril in time.<\/p>\n
Other adults at Camp Mystic didn\u2019t 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\u2019s grounds.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIf 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, \u2018We need to go to higher ground \u2014 go to specific cabins and evacuate the counselors and campers\u2019 \u2014 there were enough able-bodied people there to follow such orders? True?\u201d asked Brad Beckworth, an attorney for the parents of 8-year-old Cile Steward, one of the campers killed in the flood.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, sir,\u201d Juenke said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat order was never given, correct?\u201d Beckworth asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cCorrect,\u201d\u00a0Juenke said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAnd 27 girls died because of that failure, correct?\u201d Beckworth asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, sir,\u201d Juenke said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
The exchange occurred during a hearing focused on a temporary injunction that Steward\u2019s 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\u2019 lawsuit may be preserved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The Stewards are suing Camp Mystic, the Eastland family and other defendants for their daughter\u2019s death. They\u2019ve raised claims of negligence, gross negligence, premises liability and intentional infliction of emotional distress.<\/p>\n
Cile Steward\u2019s remains still haven\u2019t been found. A search for her body is continuing more than nine months after the disaster.<\/p>\n
State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble convened this week\u2019s court hearing to consider whether to modify, narrow or toss that temporary injunction, which she granted last month.<\/p>\n
‘They were gone instantly’<\/p>\n
Juenke was on duty as Camp Mystic\u2019s 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\u2019s grounds and go to the Guadalupe River campus, where the victims were asleep in their cabins.<\/p>\n
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Eastland then summoned his son, Edward, to the camp\u2019s office around 1:45 a.m. to help secure canoes and waterfront equipment.<\/p>\n
The three men discussed how to respond to the storm.<\/p>\n
After a woman working at Camp Mystic\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was lightning, thunder and rain,\u201d Juenke said. \u201cI was really concerned about kids being struck by lightning \u2014 because the storm was right on top of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
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But other campers and counselors remained in their cabins, following the camp\u2019s policy to shelter in place during a flood.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
As the men approached those cabins, the storm had grown so loud that Juenke said he could barely hear what Dick Eastland was saying.<\/p>\n
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Juenke evacuated\u00a0girls in the Giggle Box cabin before going to another cabin known as Wiggle Inn, which housed 9-year-old girls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI almost didn\u2019t make it because the water was so swift,\u201d he said. \u201cThe water was coming straight down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of the girls were outside standing on the patio. Jueneke steered them inside and told them to get on air mattresses.<\/p>\n
When he tossed heavy camping trunks outside open windows, \u201cit was like the Schlitterbahn tube chute \u2014 they were gone instantly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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The water eventually was over his head.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Juenke said Dick Eastland\u00a0headed 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\u2019t sure if Eastland heard him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eastland was eventually swept away in his vehicle and killed, along with several campers inside his Tahoe.<\/p>\n
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Everyone who had been staying in the Bubble Inn cabin \u2014 13 campers and two counselors \u2014 died.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Despite his efforts, 11 campers in the Twins I and II cabin died.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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Initially, Juenke disputed Beckworth\u2019s claims that the Eastlands didn\u2019t\u00a0have an evacuation plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou keep saying that,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family, he argued, could have \u201chad a million different evacuation plans, and nothing would have worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the end of his testimony, however, Juenke appeared resigned to the criticism.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
In other testimony, the woman serving as Camp Mystic\u2019s chief health officer and a co-director of the Guadalupe River campus said she didn\u2019t call 911 or deploy her nursing staff to help evacuate campers when rising water cut off some parts of the Texas Hill Country retreat.<\/p>\n
Mary Liz\u00a0Eastland, 42, who was at her private residence on Camp Mystic\u2019s grounds as the weather rapidly deteriorated, acknowledged during her testimony that she could have done more to alert campers of the danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eastland and her four children left home for higher ground as the water surged higher.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose nurses would have come to the aid of\u00a0Cile if you would have called and woken them up, right?\u201d asked Christina Yarnell, another attorney for the Stewards.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe so,\u201d Eastland responded stoically.<\/p>\n
\u201cWould Cile Steward still be alive if you had made that phone call?\u201d Yarnell pressed.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Eastland said dryly, prompting Steward\u2019s tearful mother to shake her head slowly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yarnell then referred to Eastland\u2019s 34 years of experience at Camp Mystic as a camper, counselor, director and nurse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is difficult to me to hear that it\u2019s been 34 years that you\u2019ve been there, and you did this little to help save these children that were under your care,\u201d Yarnell said. \u201cThese were first-year campers. You had 34 more years of experience than Cile. She needed your help and you abandoned her, didn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n
After a pause of at least five seconds, Eastland appeared defeated.<\/p>\n
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\u201cYes,\u201d she said bluntly.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Clashing attorneys<\/p>\n
Also Wednesday, Beckworth\u00a0asked another witness, Britt Eastland, an attorney and one of the directors of the separate Camp Mystic Cypress Lake campus, if he’d overheard a dispute between the opposing attorneys after court had adjourned Tuesday.<\/p>\n
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Beckworth asked Eastland if he was aware that one of Camp Mystic\u2019s appellate lawyers, Houston attorney Thomas C. Wright, insulted him during the argument.<\/p>\n
Beckworth said he approached opposing counsel to ask that Camp Mystic attorney Jeff Ray talk with him and\u00a0Yarnell before questioning their integrity.<\/p>\n
Ray did not take part in the dispute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beckworth claimed that as he argued with other attorneys representing Camp Mystic and the Eastlands, Wright told him and Yarnell they would \u201cburn in hell.\u201d Beckworth said the insult was lobbed in front of his 22-year-old daughter, who was visiting the courtroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Will and CiCi Steward also witnessed the exchange with apparent concern, which ended after Yarnell led Beckworth away from opposing counsel and out of the courtroom.<\/p>\n
The judge had already left the courtroom and did not witness the dispute.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got it all on video,\u201d Beckworth said in court Wednesday. \u201cIs that the kind of conduct that Camp Mystic is responsible for in a proceeding where we are simply asking to preserve evidence so we can figure out what happened and get to the search for truth? That\u2019s my question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attorneys for Camp Mystic and the Eastlands objected to the question.<\/p>\n
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\u201cDid this happen in my courtroom? This conversation?\u201d the judge asked all the attorneys present.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe in March I explicitly told all of the lawyers who were present that all the rules that apply when I\u2019m in the courtroom apply when I step out of the courtroom,\u201d Guerra Gamble said from the bench. \u201cDoes everyone remember that? So I don\u2019t know what happened … But any amount of that conversation would be against the rules in this courtroom, whether I\u2019m here or I\u2019m not here. That\u2019s what bothers me the most right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really dislike all of this. Because it doesn\u2019t have anything to do with what we\u2019re here trying to work out.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The judge asked Britt Eastland if he heard the dispute between the attorneys. Eastland said he heard what Beckworth said, but that he did not hear Wright\u2019s response.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going to ask this question of this witness,\u201d the judge told Beckworth. \u201cWe\u2019re going to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later in the day, Wright asked the judge if he could provide her more\u00a0information about the dispute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Gamble Guerra declined to hear what Wright had to say. But she said if a similar incident occurs in her courtroom\u00a0in the future, it will be investigated.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Camp Mystic night watchman Glenn Juenke breaks down after testifying during a hearing on a suit against Camp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-586721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}