Blake Bonner would give anything - even his own life - to have his daughter back on this earth.
Instead, the 40-year-old dad has spent the past nine months in a living nightmare, after nine-year-old Lila was among the 27 people killed in the catastrophic floods that tore through Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, last July.
Lila was one of 24 girl campers who were in the doomed Bubble Inn cabin, a low-lying bunkhouse that was swallowed up by floodwaters in the early hours of July 4, 2025, leaving no survivors. Two camp counselors and the camp director also died.
Now, Bonner and wife Caitlin, 37, are doing their best to carry on for their younger surviving children, despite their 'indescribable' grief at the loss of their first-born.
'This has been a nightmare. I wouldn't wish this pain on anyone,' the Dallas-based private equity firm partner told the Daily Mail.
Today, the Bonners are outraged at the possibility of Camp Mystic partially reopening to a reported 850 campers at the end of next month if Texas state health officials renew its license.
'I cannot fathom inviting hundreds of children to play in or around an active crime scene where 27 girls died just a year before,' Bonner said.
Nine-year-old Lila Bonner - pictured with parents Blake and Caitlin Bonner – was among 27 girls who died in the Camp Mystic floods in Hunt, Texas, last July
Nearly a year on, Camp Mystic is preparing to reopen its Cypress Lake location (half a mile uphill from the flood-hit site) to a reported 850 campers at the end of next month, if Texas state health officials renew its license
'You say that out loud and it's crazy.'
Camp Mystic, which is owned by the family of Dick Eastland, the 70-year-old director who died as he tried to evacuate Bubble Inn.
They are battling to reopen its Cypress Lake location – a half mile uphill from its flood-hit Guadalupe River site – despite facing multiple investigations including a criminal probe by the Texas Rangers into alleged negligence by camp bosses.
State health officials are also investigating, as are Texas lawmakers from two house and senate committees, who paid a grim visit Monday to the site where the girls were swept to their deaths.
More than 20 families of the lost girls – poignantly dubbed Heaven's 27 – are suing the Eastlands, accusing them of gross negligence.
'This tragedy, clear as day, it is complacency, the failure to act and the failure to plan,' said Bonner.
'That management team was directly responsible for those children, and they lost 27 lives.
'It's unfathomable to me that they would be entrusted with more children.'
The girls camp was hit with severe flash flooding over the July 4 holiday week that killed more than 80 people, including 27 young campers who were swept away
Furniture and debris lie scattered inside a cabin at Camp Mystic after deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas
A memorial collage shows the faces and names of the 27 girls who were killed last summer at Camp Mystic
The disaster returned to the spotlight last week after a three-day hearing linked to a lawsuit filed by Will and CiCi Steward, the parents of eight-year-old camper Cile, whose body is yet to be found.
During the hearings, camp bosses made a string of astounding admissions, including that they missed official flood warnings, did not have a detailed written evacuation plan, and that lives could have been saved had staff acted sooner.
The explosive hearings in Austin heard those who survived only did so because teenage counselors ignored the camp's directive to stay inside cabins.
Current camp director Edward Eastland, Dick Eastland's son, admitted staff failed to use obvious measures like the camp's loudspeaker system to order girls and counselors to leave their cabins for higher ground.
His wife Mary Liz Eastland, the camp's health director, admitted she did not attempt to get to the camp's low-lying areas to evacuate girls early on in the storm due to rising floodwaters.
Asked if she had abandoned little Cile and other girls who needed her help, she replied 'Yes.'
Bonner, who did not attend the hearings but closely followed the testimonies, said the camp leaders' admissions were 'heartbreaking' and 'gut-wrenching'.
'There's something every day that develops or puts you back to the tragedy itself, and that part of all this is almost as unbearable as losing a child.'
Today, a cross memorial and tributes stand on the camp grounds commemorating those lives lost in the deadly floods
A memorial plaque bearing a biblical verse honors the victims of the tragedy
Bonner said despite the pain of the revelations, camp directors' accounts confirmed what families have known for some time.
'And that is, the camp failed the youngest, most vulnerable campers and the only girls that survived that night basically didn't follow the stay in place order.
'I hate the fact that I – and I think the other parents would say the same – am now subject matter experts on camp safety and what was required of the law.'
The emotional hearings ended with a judge siding with the Stewards and renewing an injunction blocking the Eastlands from touching the site where the little girls lost their lives.
The Eastlands are appealing. It is unclear whether they will be granted a license to reopen.
The all-girls Christian summer camp has welcomed the daughters of Texas' most influential and wealthy families for almost 100 years, teaching them skills such as fishing and canoeing.
Its elite clientele has included future first lady Laura Bush, who served as a Mystic counselor before she married George W Bush, and the daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters of President Lyndon Johnson.
The question over whether Camp Mystic should be permitted to partially reopen has become a controversial debate that has divided Heaven's 27 families and Mystic supporters, including the parents of girls who want to attend Cypress Lake this summer.
CiCi Steward, whose daughter Cile is still missing, reacted as camp officials sought to appeal a judge's order mandating the camp preserve the damaged cabins and other parts of the campus during a court hearing last week
The three-day hearing on the deadly disaster was linked to a lawsuit filed by Will and CiCi Steward, the parents of eight-year-old camper Cile (in pink) whose body is yet to be found
Bonner declined to comment on the choices of other families, but added: 'As a human being, as an unfortunate subject matter expert and as a father who lost his daughter, at a minimum, I would want to know every last detail about their [camp leader's] failures and what they're doing to rectify them.
'That's not known, and when you consider that it's an active investigation and Cile is still missing.'
Liberty Lindley said although her ten-year-old daughter, Evie nearly died in the Camp Mystic flood, she wants her to return this year for her own 'healing' and to 'honor her friends she lost'.
In an open letter to Texas Department of State Health Services, Lindley said after Evie's identical twin Vivi died in 2024, she does not trust her daughter's life 'with just anyone'.
'There are few families I trust with her life with as much as the Eastlands. Still,' she wrote in the letter shared to her Facebook profile in February.
She told how Evie and her Wiggle Inn cabin mates survived last summer's horror deluge by floating on top of mattresses in the darkness.
Evie plans to attend Camp Mystic's Cypress Lake site in late July, Lindley told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published last week.
While Lindley's post got many supportive comments, not everyone appreciated her sentiments.
Nine-year-old Lila was in the Bubble Inn cabin, which had no survivors when the floodwaters struck
Camp Mystic is owned by the Eastland family who broke down in tears during an April 14 hearing on the lawsuit against the camp
Camp director and co-owner Dick Eastland also died in last summer's floods as he tried to rescue campers in his vehicle
Katie Baker, whose eight-year-old daughter Mary Grace, died in the Camp Mystic floods, shared Lindley's letter on her own Facebook page, writing that her post and the comments 'hold just a sliver of the pain and complexity we're living with right now.
'It's truly unbelievable.' She went on: 'We never would have dreamt this would happen. We wanted our girls to have a magical summer.
'We don't want to be in this hell, but we were given no choice.'
Neither Baker not Lindley responded to the Daily Mail's requests for an interview.
Last weekend, Camp Mystic hosted an 'open house' at its Cypress Lake site for prospective campers and their parents, a staff member told the Daily Mail.
Families arriving in an array of high-end vehicles were seen being checked in at the gate by clipboard-wielding staff, aided by a local sheriff.
Most parents declined to comment when asked about the open day and if they felt their children would be safe returning to the camp.
But one mom, who did not give her name, said: 'I feel great and I think the Eastlands are wonderful.'
The reopening debate has divided families of victims and supporters
A giant painted rock reading 'Angels' stands outside the camp in memory of the victims
Britt Eastland, who directs Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, said in court it had not been 'an easy decision' to try to partially reopen but hopes it will be 'healing' for campers and their families.
He said the camp will have a new River Sentry flood warning system as well as a full-time therapist on site to help potentially traumatized campers.
Bonner knows nothing will bring back Lila or the other 26 'angels' who lost their lives in what their families say was a preventable tragedy.
'I would give literally anything, including my own life, to have my daughter back, but the only thing left to do is to make sure that it never happens again,' he said.
He remembered his daughter as an active little girl who enjoyed soccer and fishing. "An amazing nine-year-old, a beautiful big sister, and a great friend, [who] truly put the happiness and wellbeing of others in front of herself,' his voice wobbling with emotion.
Bonner founded the Campaign for Camp Safety with other Heaven's 27 parents, with the aim of making summer camps safe for kids across the country.
In Texas, the group has already won historic new legislation with the passage into law of the Heaven's 27 Camp Safety Act and the Youth Camper Act last September.
The new legislation bans sleeping cabins in flood danger zones, creates a public register of licensed camps and requires camps to have detailed and updated emergency action plans. The campaign, which runs a grant program for non-profit camps in Texas struggling to implement camp safety measures, has already awarded $232,000 in funding, Bonner said.
'Our girls are absolute heroes, because they will save untold numbers of lives we may never know,' he added.