Anna Kepner‘s 16-year-old stepbrother has been charged in connection with her November 2024 murder onboard a cruise ship, according to court documents obtained by WESH.
Kepner, 18, was reported to have died after being strangled in a bar hold and her body was located by Carnival Horizon cleaning crew members under the bed in the room she, her stepbrother and her brother were sharing. The boy, whose name was redacted as he’s a minor, was reported to have had a twisted obsession with his stepsister, a high school senior cheerleader, and long believed to be a potential suspect in her death before being formally charged in court documents filed by lawyers representing his father, Thomas Hudson.
The documents were linked to a dispute between Hudson and his ex-wife Shauntel Kepner, Anna’s stepmother, in which he sought sole custody of the boy, who had been living with Anna’s father, Chris Kepner, and her stepmother since her death.
“According to social media from the Kepner family, on Feb. 3, 2026, the petitioner/father’s son was charged by the United States Attorney in the Southern District for Florida for… and homicide of Anna Kepner,” the doc, which was filed last Friday (February 20), states.
“Immediately after the cruise, the respondent/mother and Chris Kepner expelled [the minor ] from their household and neither has seen [the minor] since then.
“Social media from the Kepner family has indicated that they want the ‘nails in the coffin’ of [the minor] and that both the Kepner family and the Respondent ‘want him buried,” the document continued.
Kepner’s stepbrother hasn’t been formally named by the FBI as a suspect and a case against him is under seal, CBS News reports. The boy previously appeared before a federal judge in Miami and processed for pre-trial release earlier this month.
Kepner was found dead wrapped in a blanket and covered in life vests, with her aunt, Krystal Wright, claiming she “fought for her life” in her final moments via WOFL.
“He heard [the stepbrother] yelling at her in a harmful way of like ‘shut the hell up’ and stuff like that and that’s when [the brother] knew there was something going on,” Kepner’s ex-boyfriend Joshua Tew told Inside Edition last year while recounting her final moments.
Kepner’s 14-year-old brother was reported to be unknowingly sleeping just feet away from her lifeless body at the time it was located. The high school senior was set to graduate at the time of her death and had aspirations of joining the Navy.
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