A Texas family whose 8-year-old daughter was one of 27 killed in the horrific Camp Mystic floods is still living a nightmare six months later — her remains have not yet been recovered.
Eight-year-old Cecilia “Cile” Steward was among the 25 campers and two counselors who died after being swept away in the flood waters that ripped through the all-girls Christian sleepaway camp in Kerr County, Texas, last July.
Despite keeping a close eye on local law enforcement’s ongoing investigation, Cile’s parents are losing hope that they will ever be able to bring their daughter’s remains home.
“I have this sinking feeling of there’s no way they’re ever gonna find her,” Cile’s father Will Steward told “TODAY” show host and close-family friend Jenna Bush Hager this week alongside his wife, CiCi.
Of the 135 people killed on July 4, 2025, from the severe flash flooding, two victims’ remains have yet to be found — Cile and a 63-year-old adult male, according to the Texas Standard in December.
The Stewards filed a lawsuit against the Eastland family last week, who have operated the sleepaway camp for decades.
The Guadalupe River camp — which has experienced numerous bouts of flooding in the past due to being situated on a flood plain — had a weak emergency evacuation plan and repeatedly ignored the National Weather Service flooding alerts, the Stewards stated in the lawsuit.
“They were completely unprepared,” the Steward family’s lawyer, Brad Beckworth said, slamming the Eastland family.
The couple claims in the lawsuit that Richard “Dick” Eastland and his son, Edward Eastland, waited over an hour to evacuate everyone from the campsite — by which it was already too late for many of the girls and staff.
“It’s just absolute chaos,” Beckworth told Bush Hager. “When you talk to the counselors, they can hear the screams. Nobody knows what to do. They don’t know where to go.”
The Eastland patriarch died in the floodwaters trying to save his campers, his family said.
Despite their unrelenting criticisms of the Eastland family, the Stewards — who are seeking in excess of $1 million in actual and punitive damages — insisted to Bush Hager that the camp counselors and first responders deserve immense praise for saving most of the 750 young campers who were on site when the flooding began.
“There are heroes at Camp Mystic and none of them are named Eastland,” CiCi Steward said.
The Eastlands’ lawyer, Mikal Watts, said in response to the lawsuit that they “intend to demonstrate and prove that this sudden surge of floodwaters far exceeded any previous flood in the area by several magnitudes, that it was unexpected and unforeseeable, and that no adequate early warning flood systems existed in the area.”
Camp Mystic announced in December that it’ll open for the Summer 2026 season, operating from their nearby property in Cypress Lake that was not impacted by the floods.
“We recognize that returning to Camp Mystic carries both hope and heartache,” Camp Mystic’s owners wrote in a letter to families in January.
“For many of your daughters, this return is not simple, but it is a courageous step in their healing journey,” the letter said.
The number of return campers are unclear, but a spokesperson for the camp said in January that there was “strong interest,” The Post previously reported.
The Cypress Lake campsite is located less than a mile away from the ravaged Guadalupe location — and the Stewards are furious that the Eastland family is going back into business while their daughter remains missing.
“It is an active crime scene,” CiCi Steward said. “I don’t know anyone in their right mind that would willingly send their child to an active crime scene.”
“With the same leadership,” Will Steward said, following on from his wife’s thoughts.
“We’re not opposed to children going to camp. We’re opposed to the Eastlands, the audacity of sending out deposit slips when our child, one of their campers, who they’ve professed to love in this community, is still missing,” Cile’s father said.
The Steward’s lawyer agreed with the couple’s sentiments and thought that the re-opening process was “rushed” without knowing what exactly happened on that fateful day.
“And, I mean, I can tell you as a parent, my children would never go back to a camp operated by this family,” Beckworth scathingly said.
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