Parents of 8-year-old Camp Mystic flood victim file wrongful death lawsuit, alleging preventable failures

The parents of Mary Grace Baker, an 8-year-old who died in the central Texas floods of July 4 last year, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Camp Mystic on the same day a judge lifted a stay on litigation against the camp.

Mary Grace was known for wearing a tutu over her baseball pants, and for her hugs. Her parents, Clarke and Katie Baker, of Beaumont in southeast Texas, say the Eastland family, which owned and ran the private, non-denominational Christian camp, could have saved her. The suit states that “Mary Grace’s death — and the deaths of many other girls and counselors at Camp Mystic — were the result of preventable failures by those entrusted with the custody and care of hundreds of young girls.”

In the 106-page suit, the Bakers allege that the camp’s owners cared more about making money, which the suit puts at $10 million each summer, than about protecting their daughter. In a press release, Clarke Baker said, “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. Now that we have found the strength, we owe it to Mary Grace’s memory to understand the truth and to seek accountability.”

This is the sixth wrongful death lawsuit filed against the camp by families of flood victims since summer 2025. Mary Grace is one of 25 campers and two counselors, nicknamed “Heaven’s 27,” who the suit says should have been evacuated before the flood but were not. All of them died. The camp’s executive director, Dick Eastland, also died. At least 138 people in the area died in the flash flood, the deadliest in the United States since 1976.

Roys Report previously reported in June that Texas legislators had determined the deaths at the 100-year-old camp were avoidable. A legislative report documented a chaotic three hours in which most of the camp’s 39 adult staffers did not know how to evacuate children to higher ground. The Bakers’ suit asserts that Dick Eastland understood the risks in the area, which is known as “Flash Flood Alley,” and that his “unfettered, total grip and control” kept some staff from even trying to help. The suit frames the matter as a failure to protect children in another’s care, a duty to defend the vulnerable (Psalm 82:3). The Texas Rangers are investigating Camp Mystic for possible criminal charges, including manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and child abandonment, according to a September report in The New York Times.

Camp Mystic filed for bankruptcy on June 24, which triggered an automatic stay on new lawsuits. After several families requested that litigation resume, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez ordered in October that the stay be lifted on Nov. 9. The Baker family, represented by Beaumont attorney Tim Ferguson, filed suit in the District Court of Travis County in Austin. The suit states, “This bankruptcy is just another trick for Camp Mystic to drop an iron curtain of silence on the truth,” and adds, “Mary Grace deserves to be heard.”

Roys Report reached out to Camp Mystic and its civil attorneys for comment and received no response. Clarke Baker had previously advocated for change and was one of the parents who successfully pushed for passage of Texas’ Camp Safety Act in 2025.

When the Bakers dropped their daughter off at Camp Mystic on June 29, 2025, it was the first time Mary Grace would attend an overnight camp, the suit said.

Source: Read the original report