Parents sue Camp Mystic, Eastland family over daughter’s death in July 2025 flood

The family of an 8-year-old girl who died at Camp Mystic during the July 2025 deadly flood filed a lawsuit against the camp and its owners on Monday.

Clarke and Katherine Baker, parents of Mary Grace Baker, filed the lawsuit in Travis County and believe the tragedy was preventable.

The Baker family alleges Camp Mystic failed to provide training, safety and evacuation protocols before the deadly flood in Kerr County.

Camp Mystic LLC and some of its executive, family-run operators are named defendants in the lawsuit. It also alleges those listed caused wrongful death, gross negligence and prioritized “operational convenience and profits over children’s lives.”

Mary Grace was among the 25 campers and two counselors, known as “Heaven’s 27,” who died in the flood last year. She was one of six people who died in the cabin that housed the camp’s youngest campers.

“There is no timeline for grief, and we needed this first year simply to survive it,” Mary Grace’s father, Clarke Baker, said in a news release announcing the lawsuit. “We are not filing today out of anger. We are filing out of love — for our daughter, and for every child who deserves to come home from summer camp alive and unharmed.”

The family is seeking damages for wrongful death and survival claims, as well as exemplary damages. The petition also demands a jury trial.

The Baker family is represented by Tim Ferguson, an attorney with a law firm based in Beaumont.

“This was not an unforeseeable act of nature. What happened at Camp Mystic was preventable, and no family should have to bury their daughter, because a family-owned camp put other priorities ahead of children’s safety,” Ferguson said. “This lawsuit is about transparency, responsibility, and ensuring that no other family endures what the Bakers have suffered.”

The petition comes a week after Camp Mystic’s owners, the Eastland family, lost control of key bankruptcy decisions. A federal judge appointed two independent fiduciaries — Mark Andrews and retired Judge Craig A. Gargotta — to oversee those decisions.

The Eastlands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in June and proposed selling the 749-acre property in September.

More of this story on KSAT:

• Camp Mystic owners lose control of key bankruptcy decisions after deadly Hill Country floods
• Camp Mystic files for bankruptcy almost a year after catastrophic floods killed 28