Authorities have charged Anna Kepner's 16-year-old stepbrother with her murder. The teen was found last November dead on the Carnival Horizon cruise ship.
The cleaning crew discovered her body under a bed in the room she shared with her stepbrother. After her death, authorities eyed the stepbrother as a potential suspect. "There is an open investigation regarding [Kepner's] death... and T.H. [a stepbrother] is a suspect regarding this death which occurred recently on a cruise ship," Shauntel Hudson said in a Nov. 18 court filing in a custody dispute over her son.
Now, they're pursuing charges, according to WESH.
Anna Kepner Killed on Cruise Ship
"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 filed last Friday says. "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," according to the document.
According to CBS News, there is a a case against the boy under seal. "If it's a juvenile you won't know until he's charged as an adult," Dave Aronberg, a former Palm Beach state attorney, told CBS News.
After Kepner passed away on the cruise ship, family has weighed in publicly on her death.
"It's a turmoil. We're just sitting here waiting," said her aunt, Krystal Wright, at the time. "We don't understand why, if the boy is a suspect, why has he not been charged yet? What's happening there? I know Anna fought. I know she fought for her life, so it's rough. It's rough."
