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…