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TITUSVILLE, Fla. — Anna Kepner, a Florida teen and high school senior remembered for her bright spirit, was found dead aboard the Carnival Horizon during an early November Caribbean cruise, prompting a federal investigation and igniting a public reckoning among the adults in her life.
As agents sift through ship records, a widening circle of court filings and interviews has laid bare deep rifts in Kepner’s blended family. The FBI is leading the probe after the ship returned to port as scheduled. No criminal charges have been announced, but court documents in her stepmother’s ongoing custody battle with her ex-husband reveal Anna’s 16-year-old stepbrother has been eyed as a suspect.
According to a source close to the family, Anna’s ex-boyfriend witnessed creepy interactions with the stepbrother visiting her bedroom at 3 a.m. FaceTime calls.
The 15-year-old ex-boyfriend told reporters after Anna’s memorial service: “When I was on FaceTime with her, and she was lying down, and her brother tried to go on top of her.”
STEPMOTHER IN CRUISE SHIP DEATH MYSTERY FEARS CHILD COULD BE INCRIMINATED: COURT DOCS
He reported the encounter to Anna’s parents and said she had complained about being “uncomfortable” around her stepbrother before. He went on to describe Anna as his “first love” and said he would have been on the cruise with the Kepner family earlier this month if they hadn’t broken up.
After Anna’s death, the stepbrother’s father Thomas Hudson demanded a custody hearing, accusing his ex-wife of alienating their two youngest children from him after a violent altercation involving their oldest. He argued that his lack of involvement in their lives is having a serious impact on them.
“The [16-year-old]’s future has been put in jeopardy because of the choices made by [Shauntel],” according to Hudson’s filing.
The teen’s current whereabouts are unclear. According to the filing, he has been released from custody and is staying with an unnamed third party.
In an emergency motion filed in Brevard County, Anna’s stepmother, Shauntel Kepner, formerly Shauntel Hudson, asked a judge to postpone a December hearing in a proceeding with her ex-husband due to the FBI investigation into Anna’s death aboard a Carnival cruise ship on Nov. 7.
“The Respondent (Shauntel) has been advised through discussions with FBI investigators and her attorneys, that a criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children of this instant action,” her attorney, Millicent Athanason, wrote to a Brevard County judge on Nov. 17.
FBI INVESTIGATES CARNIVAL CRUISE SHIP DEATH IN MARITIME MYSTERY THAT CAN BE ‘VERY COMPLEX,’ FORMER AGENT SAYS
Relatives say they have received few official answers since the ship docked. Anna’s birth mother, Heather Wright, told WESH 2 she learned of her daughter’s death through an online search. She has not responded to Fox News Digital’s attempts to reach her.
“I found out through Google. I ended up Googling it, because the only information I had was that my daughter was on a cruise,” she told the local outlet.
Similarly, Anna’s stepgrandfather, Christopher Donahue, 53, told Fox News Digital Wednesday that he too learned about her death through social media.
“I don’t know why Anna was staying in a room with her stepbrother,” Donahue said. He said he learned about the arrangement from a news article.
“All I know is that she went on that boat, and she never came back,” he added. “You don’t go 0 to 100, but we weren’t on the boat. Everyone is heartbroken. There are questions. I don’t think we’ll ever know.”
READ THE FILING – APP USERS, CLICK HERE
The swirl of public claims around Anna’s death has revived long-simmering disputes. In a March 31, 2023, divorce petition filed in Brevard County and obtained by Fox News Digital, Anna’s former stepmother, Tabitha L. Kepner, alleges that Christopher Purcell Kepner, Anna’s father, had a “history of physical and mental abuse toward the minor children and toward the Petitioner,” and she sought sole parental responsibility for the children she shared with him and supervised time-sharing.
She was married to Christopher Kepner after he split with Anna’s mother and before he met his third wife, Shauntel.
READ THE FILING – APP USERS, CLICK HERE
In 2024, Michelle Johnson filed a small claims suit in Brevard County against Shauntel Hudson seeking the return of several firearms, including a 12-gauge shotgun and two rifles, which she alleged Hudson refused to hand back.
The filings include a series of emails in which Johnson accused Hudson of “manipulating and alienating” her children from their father, describing the situation as “a very sad and heartbreaking ordeal.”
“Prior [sic] to you, manipulating controlling and brainwashing them for the past month,” Johnson wrote to Hudson. “It’s devastating and upsetting. Please step back and look at what’s the best for these kids? They need their family…”
That case was later dismissed after Johnson missed a service of process deadline.
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Together, the records paint a portrait of a fractured family now thrust into the spotlight following Anna’s mysterious death aboard the six-day Carnival cruise.
Anna’s family and friends attended a service at The Grove Church in Titusville, Fla., on Thursday evening. One of the Kepners’ neighbors told Fox News Digital Thursday that their street has been quiet since Anna’s death. He described the Kepners as a friendly family.
Two vehicles, a Dodge truck and Chevy SUV, were parked in the Kepners’ driveway, but no one answered the door. Investigators have not disclosed a cause or manner of death, and prosecutors have not filed charges.
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