Before floodwaters swept through Camp Mystic, claiming 27 lives, 9-year-old Janie Hunt clutched a simple beaded necklace — a gift from her grandmother, spelling her name in bright, childlike letters. It was her comfort and her charm. Days later, it helped search teams find her body in the wreckage, the necklace still around her neck.Janie had only been at camp for five days, her first time away from home. When the Guadalupe River overflowed after torrential rains, cabins collapsed and chaos followed. Janie was among the missing.
“She wore it every day,” her grandmother, Margaret Hunt, said. “It made her feel brave. That’s how they knew it was Janie.” Janie’s body was found near Camp Mystic’s owner, Dick Eastland, who died trying to protect the children. In her final days, Janie had been comforting homesick campers, offering her trademark smile. “She was always the helper,” Margaret said. “She told the other kids not to cry. That they’d be okay.”
