The house owners of Camp Mystic have proposed promoting off the riverfront property as a part of a chapter plan, with hopes {that a} purchaser will protect the camp’s “historic mission” following the dying of 27 campers and counselors swept away by a 2025 flood.
The century-old personal Christian women’ camp filed a Chapter 11 chapter reorganization plan on September 25 that may public sale off the 749 acres (3 sq. kilometers) it owns and different belongings.
The sprawling campus, nestled amongst rolling wooded hills on the banks of the Guadalupe River, had a number of single-story cabins that housed a few of the youngest campers and a recreation corridor close to the riverfront. A second campus on elevated floor was not flooded.
The Eastland household has owned the camp for many years and initially sought to reopen this summer time. However they confronted fierce opposition from victims’ households and a few state lawmakers, lawsuits, and legislative investigations into what went unsuitable.
A purchaser would possible get a portion of the camp frozen in time. Households of the victims have fought to cease any demolition of broken cabins and buildings and cease repairs as a part of their lawsuits.
The chapter plan mentioned the house owners anticipate a purchaser could be backed by a bunch of households that assist the camp.
“Nothing within the plan requires any purchaser to function the property as a camp,” the submitting mentioned, “however the plan states an specific desire, in figuring out the very best or in any other case finest bid, for a purchaser that can keep the historic mission of the camp.”
Twenty-five campers and two counselors had been killed when the river surged over its banks within the pre-dawn hours of July 4, 2025. Camp proprietor and director Richard Eastland was additionally killed. No less than 136 individuals had been killed alongside a several-mile stretch of the river.
Earlier this month, state police investigators sought search warrants for the digital communications of the camp’s house owners, saying they may present proof of manslaughter, negligent murder, baby abandonment, or different crimes.
No expenses have been introduced.
A probe by state lawmakers decided the camp’s younger and inexperienced counselors weren’t educated for floods and different emergencies. It mentioned an earlier choice to evacuate may have saved each life. A lot of the victims had been beneath age 10, and a few had been attending camp for the primary time.
The camp’s chapter proposal must be permitted by U.S. Chapter Decide Christopher M. Lopez. Officers with Camp Mystic didn’t instantly reply to an emailed request for remark Monday.
All collectors, together with the households who’ve sued Camp Mystic over the deaths, can have an opportunity to answer the plan.
“The Eastlands at the moment are trying to find out the way forward for the Camp Mystic property, however the victims’ households together with my purchasers, will struggle to guard their rights and guarantee any sale is honest and clear,” mentioned Tim Ferguson, lawyer for the household of 8-year-old Mary Grace Baker, one of many campers who died.
“The Bakers intend to proceed combating for solutions, accountability and justice for his or her daughter,” Ferguson mentioned.
