AUSTIN, Texas — After three days of emotional testimony, Travis County Judge Maya Guerra Gamble has chosen to uphold her initial ruling barring Camp Mystic from using or altering buildings where 27 campers and counselors died in the July 4th floodwaters.

The temporary injunction was originally filed by the legal team for the family of Cile Steward who has yet to be recovered. The request was to preserve the buildings and grounds in the Guadalupe portion of the camp as the legal team said they needed evidence for their civil lawsuit filed against several defendants, including Camp Mystic.

Both legal teams agreed on Wednesday to release the Sugar Shack from the temporary injunction under the condition that those living inside of it don’t alter any possible evidence. Everyone said they did not want to displace camp employees. Judge Guerra Gamble also said the defendants potentially violated Texas administrative code by failing to maintain a written evacuation plan or provide documented safety training, which "supports a finding of negligence per se."

Judge Guerra Gamble initially made her ruling in March but after an appeal by Camp Mystic’s legal team and emergency hearing by the legal team for the Stewards the judge and legal teams agreed to finish out three additional days of witness testimony.

Emotions were running high every day and Wednesday was no exception. Several people in the courtroom, some parents who lost their children while attending Camp Mystic, wiped tears from their eyes.

Britt and Catie Eastland, the directors for Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, took to the witness stand Wednesday morning.

Britt was questioned on notes his father took regarding the Upper Guadalupe River Authority and why no one had notified OSHA of the deaths of counselors Chloe Childress and Katherine Ferruzzo. Catie, for the first time, publicly speaking about her recollection of the morning of July 4th and what happened in the hours after the sun rose. Catie said she didn’t believe she abandoned her daughter, who was a camper during the flood.

Glenn Juenke was the final witness called to the stand. Juenke is a retired Houston police officer and former Ingram Police Chief before becoming one of Camp Mystic’s night watchmen.

Juenke said he went on his last patrol of the night around one in the morning and at that time he did not notice any flooding where he was driving. After monitoring the weather Juenke showed Camp Mystic co-owner Dick Eastland what he was looking at, which is when Dick called his son Edward Eastland on the radio.

After the rain continued and all staff members made it back to campus Juenke said Dick told him he could go home early to avoid potentially dangerous driving conditions. Juenke said he could not leave by that point and took a video of Bubblegum Creek, which was flowing to a point the camp’s land bridge was impassable.

While on the witness stand Juenke recalled himself, Edward and Dick leaving separately in vehicles to take campers to the rec hall. Juenke said on his third trip he believed it to be too dangerous to drive campers and counselors in his vehicle to the rec hall.

“The wall of water nearly knocked me over and it was about, I mean it was a very, very significant flow and had a lot of pressure,” Juenke said.

Juenke said he initially ran towards Bubble Inn but saw Dick was already there and could barely hear him aside from being told to evacuate Giggle Box and Wiggle Inn. After getting the girls in Giggle Box to an area he thought was safe Juenke said he told the girls to run up a hill as a wall of water was incoming.

After running back to Wiggle Inn, Juenke said he intended to evacuate the girls in Wiggle Inn the same way but the water was already too strong for him to feel comfortable having them walk through it. They all ended up riding out the storm inside the cabin as Juenke said he and counselors placed campers on air mattresses that were able to float.

"I was, I was terrified that I was gonna lose one of those kids. And I felt like if one of them got out, we all would go. It was that bad," Juenke said.

"And, and you already knew. That when trunks were pushed out the window, they were sucked out like Schlitterbahn, right," Defense Attorney Mikal Watts asked.

"Yes, sir," Juenke said.

Every single camper and counselor Juenke evacuated that night survived.

Brad Beckworth, with the prosecution, asked Juenke if he told Dick to not evacuate children in a vehicle when he saw him. Juenke said he wasn’t sure if Dick heard him.

The emergency plan for campers and counselors for floods in summer 2025 instructed campers and counselors to stay in place unless instructed otherwise.

“We know [Dick] died in that car, correct,” Beckworth asked.

“Yes," Juenke said.

“And we know there were children trapped inside with him as well, correct," Beckworth asked.

“I believe so, yes, sir,” Juenke said.

“So, if the plan was to stay in place, he didn't do that either, did he,” Beckworth asked.

“No, sir," Juenke said. He also testified he was never trained on an evacuation muster site on where to take children in a flood.

Beckworth then questioned Juenke about why only three men were trying to evacuate hundreds of campers and counselors when there were a number of additional able-bodied adults at the camp. Juenke said he’s not sure why.

“If we had taken one person who was not a counselor and gotten on a walkie talkie or a loudspeaker at any point between 2:20 and 3:15 a.m. and said we need to go to higher ground, go to specific cabins and evacuate the counselors and campers there were enough able-bodied people there to follow such an order, true,” Beckworth asked.

“Yes sir,” Juenke said.

“That order was never given, correct,” Beckworth asked.

“Correct,” Juenke said.

“And 27 girls died because of that failure, correct,” Beckworth asked.

“Yes, sir,” Juenke said.

The hearing concluded with the legal teams working out future meeting dates between themselves and Judge Guerra Gamble.

The first trial will start in 2027. The surviving campers, counselors and staff will only deposed once and it will be recorded. They will not testify before a jury.

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