A Texas Ranger is asking a judge for access to Apple iCloud data belonging to Camp Mystic executive director Willetta “Tweety” Eastland as part of the criminal investigation into the July 4, 2025, flood, according to an affidavit supporting the search warrant application.
The filing comes over a year after 2025 flood events in the Texas Hill Country claimed the lives of 25 young girls, two camp counselors and the camp's codirector, who were swept away in the middle of the night while trying to evacuate to higher ground as the Guadalupe River rose.
The camp tried toreopen during the summer months but announced that is wasn't moving forward with plans after public outcry. The owners of the camp — the Eastland Family — later filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy with documents showing their total debts exceeded $10 million.
Texas Ranger Brant C. Johnston’s affidavit asks a judge for access to Eastland’s Apple account, including communications, location data, photos, backups and other records from July 3-4, 2025.
Johnston says the records could help investigators determine what Camp Mystic leaders knew about the flood threat, how they communicated and what decisions they made before and during the disaster.
Johnston also details allegations that Camp Mystic did not have an adequate written evacuation plan, that emergency training and responsibilities were insufficient and that evacuation efforts were not carried out quickly enough. The affidavit presents those assertions as part of the investigator’s basis for seeking the warrant.
What potential offenses does the affidavit identify?
The affidavit identifies several offenses investigators believe may have been committed by Camp Mystic, LLC:
- Manslaughter
- Criminally negligent homicide
- Injury to a child
- Abandoning or endangering a child
- Deadly conduct
The offenses are identified as part of the investigation and are not findings that Camp Mystic or its leaders committed a crime.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Camp Mystic investigator seeks warrant for family’s Apple data
