Lindsey McLeod McCrory recalled finding out that her 8-year-old daughter, Blakely McCrory, had been lost to the horrifying Texas floods which took place on Friday, July 4.
She also shared that she received some of her daughter’s recovered belongings after the flood, where a letter addressed to her was among them.
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Blakely was following in her family’s footsteps
The 8-year-old’s family had been attending Camp Mystic for two generations before her. Speaking to People, the girl’s mother, Lindsey, said the ‘third-generation Mystic camper’ was ‘ecstatic’ to attend for the first time.
Camp Mystic was one of the sites hit by the floods on July 4, as it sits on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas Hill Country.
When the flooding first hit, the mother didn’t think much of it
Lindsey, who had been in Europe with her sister when news of adverse weather conditions in Texas broke out, didn’t think much of the situation.
She thought her daughter would be spending a rainy day inside the cabins, similar to when she “was there during a flood in the summer of 1987.”
She flew back when she understood the gravity of it
The mother caught a flight back to Texas when her friends revealed the gravity of the flooding, “There are campers not accounted for,” she recalled learning.
As she sifted through her voicemail inbox, Lindsey found a message from Camp Mystic which confirmed her worst fear: that her child was missing.
Lindsey went to search for Blakely
The mother was told on Saturday that there was still ‘no news’ of her daughter.
Once she landed back in Texas, she and Blakely’s older half-brother, Brady, went to an evacuation center in Ingram, Texas, near the camp to look for her, but still no luck.
The mother didn’t lose faith
Even on Sunday, when her daughter was still unaccounted for, Lindsey ‘still had hope’.
“I thought, ‘Oh, maybe she and one of those counselors are somewhere dry, but they’re just lost.’ … ‘Maybe they’re just lost, and I don’t know, they’re surviving together somehow.’ I mean, of course, you want to think these things,” she told People.
She found out the girl was dead on Monday
On Monday night, Lindsey learned that Blakely had been found dead. She recalls being surrounded by loved ones, and at least feeling glad to know what had happened to her 8-year-old.
“I think the most terrifying part of this ordeal was the confirmation that she was unaccounted for originally,” she said. “Because I always had this fear of someone kidnapping her, and just not knowing what happened to her. That was the biggest, the fear of the unknown.”
She’s glad to know her daughter is in a safe place
“I felt comforted by everyone who loves me, and just by my faith,” the mother said.
“And I guess I had prepared myself mentally for that phone call, that I might get that call, that she has passed. So I was calm. It gave me some closure, and I knew she was in a safe place, with her daddy, in heaven. I knew that it was going to be okay,” she shared.
Blakely was praised for her good spirit
The little girl was described by her mother as a ‘resilient child’ who had had to face her father’s death in March but didn’t let the sadness dim her spirit.
One of Blakely’s cabin counselors also told Lindsey that as the tragedy was taking place, “she encouraged the campers to not be afraid.”
Blakely had left her mother a letter
Following the floods, Blakely’s family received some items recovered from her cabin, which included a letter to her mother.
“Dear Mom, How are you? I am good,” the letter, which was written on pre-filled stationery filled in by Blakely, reads. The little girl described camp as ‘amazing’, and shared her excitement about playing tennis and horseback riding.
Lindsey is glad to know her daughter was happy
Reflecting on the letter, Lindsey said it’s “actually very special because I knew that she was having the best time of her life.”
“We strongly believe that it happened quickly. She didn’t have to suffer. I just have this feeling,” the mother added. “She’s with all those campers and staff who died, and other children. I just imagine it as a happy place, a peaceful place.”