Exclusive: Austin parents whose daughter died at Camp Mystic speak out

AUSTIN (KXAN) — An Austin family whose eight-year-old daughter, Linnie, was killed at Camp Mystic two months ago is speaking out in an exclusive interview.

“Linnie was so special,” her mom, Callie McCown, told KXAN Investigates, describing their only daughter, the middle child of two other boys who loved dance and gymnastics. “She was the glue of our family. I thought of her as my best friend. She was the child at school that everyone described as always including others. She never wanted anyone to be left out. She had a contagious giggle, was so silly and funny, and just so sweet.”

Callie and Michael McCown both sat down with KXAN Investigates moments after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a slate of flood-related reforms into law Friday at a ceremony they attended alongside other impacted families.

Wearing pink “Heaven’s 27” buttons and colorful bracelets representing other campers and counselors killed during the July 4 flooding in Kerr County — including a pink one with Linnie’s initials on it — the McCowns repeatedly said their daughter’s death was “100 percent” preventable.

Following the floods, Michael rushed to the camp with a blanket expecting to find his daughter cold but alive. He was among the first to arrive and saw debris everywhere.

Linnie’s body was found on July 7. Her identity was confirmed through DNA records. The family was notified a few days later, they said.

Michael still has one lingering question: “How could this happen?”

“The longer it got, the less hope we had,” said Callie. “Honestly, by the time the DNA results came in that was the best case scenario. We had to think of them finding our daughter’s body as good news at that point — which is horrifying.”

‘I don’t want any other parent to have to suffer’

Two months later, the McCowns say they’re “not well” and still searching for answers. They praised the new camp safety measures, which includes evacuating when the National Weather Services issues a flash flood or flood warning and the state denying licenses to camps with cabins located in a floodplain. Michael said these steps are “common sense” that “should have been the baseline” for all camps in the area.

“If that was a private policy by the camp,” Michael said of mandatory flood warning evacuations, “these kids would still be alive.”

“When something is 100 percent preventable, it’s just awful and it’s very sad,” he added. “And, so, I have a very hard time calling this a tragedy. Because, in my mind, it was 100 percent preventable.”

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Hunt, near Camp Mystic, at 1:14 a.m. It was expanded to Kerr and a dozen other counties at 1:32 a.m.

“I don’t like that my daughter had to die for this to take place,” Callie said. “But I don’t ever want any other innocent child to die while they’re at summer camp because it should be the safest place they are. And, I don’t want any other parent to have to suffer the way that we have suffered these past two months and will suffer for the rest of our lives.”

Camp Mystic previously said it supports efforts to make camps safer noting state officials found nothing wrong with its emergency response plan during a July 2 inspection.

“We join the families of the 27 campers and counselors in supporting legislation that will make camps and communities along the Guadalupe River safer, especially the creation of detection and warning systems that would have saved lives on July 4,” Camp Mystic previously said in a statement. “The July 4 flood was a natural disaster of a magnitude never recorded in our region. Hydrologists testifying before the Texas House and Senate Select Committees on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding called this a 1,000-year event.”

The McCowns said their daughter was “such a bright light” destined to “do so much good in the world.”

“She was very excited,” Callie said, describing Linnie’s feelings about attending Camp Mystic for the first time. “She said she knew she was going to get homesick. But she knew that there would be people there that took care of her.”

“We just didn’t imagine that she wouldn’t be coming home,” she added.