Houston-area families continue waiting for answers on missing loved ones in central Texas flooding

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Blakely McCrory's big smile, holding onto a fish by the bank of a river, is her grandfather Doug McLeod's favorite picture of the 8-year-old. She is among those who attended Camp Mystic and are still missing.

"We're trying to get closure," the grandfather said, telling ABC13 that Blakely was showered with love every moment of her life. "This big family of ours just surrounded her and loved her while she was here, and Blakely never knew anything but love and happiness."

Blakely is among 10 campers and one counselor still missing after the July 4th floods devastated Camp Mystic, a centuries old all-girls camp along the Guadalupe River.

Also still among the missing is 8-year-old Greta Toranzo, whose family shared with ABC13 a picture of her smiling next to a big fish she just caught at the camp just days before the floods.

Mary Kathryn Jacobe, another 8-year-old from the Houston area, is among those whose bodies have been found. Margaret Bellows, also 8 years old, has been located. Her mother, Dr. Patricia Bellows, spoke to ABC13 about the heroic efforts she feels Camp Mystic staff did to save her daughter.

"The main thing I have to say is unending gratitude for the brave camp counselors who safely evacuated so many campers, and to the two camp counselors who gave their lives trying to protect my baby," Dr. Bellows said.

Family members told ABC13 that none of the girls and the two counselors who were staying in the cabin named "Bubble Inn" at Camp Mystic have been found alive.

The two counselors, both 19, are Chloe Childress, whose body has been found, and Katherine Ferruzzo, who is still missing.

The Ferruzo family released a statement on Monday saying, "As of (Monday), our daughter, Katherine Ferruzzo, a counselor in the Bubble Inn cabin at Camp Mystic, remains unaccounted for. We ask for your ongoing prayers as responders search for her and the many other victims of last week's devastating floods in Central Texas."

Family members of a number of the campers told ABC13 that most attendees are multigenerational members of Camp Mystic.

Margaret Bellows' mom went to Camp Mystic. And Blakely McCrory was the fourth generation in her family to attend camp in the Hill Country.

"We love the Hill Country, and we just couldn't imagine anything like this could happen," grandfather McLeod, whose mother first started going to camp in the area in the 1920's, said. "It was just an act of God. It's something nobody could have forecast."

As the families continue to grieve and wait for answers, green ribbons are popping up in Houston neighborhoods with long ties to Camp Mystic. Some are tied neatly into a bow or wrapped multiple times around trees. The ribbons, in honor of the victims, are spreading across Houston's Memorial, Tanglewood, Bellaire, and West University communities.

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