The Brief
Anna Kepner, 18, died on a Carnival cruise on Nov. 7, but the cause of her death has not been confirmed by authorities.
Texas attorney Lauren Cadillac shared her perspective on the case.
Unrelated court documents show Anna's step-brother is a potential suspect in the FBI's investigation.
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Nearly two weeks after Titusville teen Anna Kepner died on a Carnival cruise, information regarding how she died remains unconfirmed. Now, court documents in an unrelated case show Kepner's step-brother is a potential suspect in the FBI's investigation surrounding her death.
Anna Kepner, 18, died on a Carnival cruise ship on Nov. 8. Her death is being investigated by the FBI.
What happened to Anna Kepner? How did she die?
What we know
Anna Kepner, 18, described as her family's “sunshine,” died on Nov. 7 at 11:17 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 7, according to the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner.
Kepner – a senior at Temple Christian School in Titusville – was a guest onboard the ship.
The ship was already on its way back from its Caribbean destinations. It arrived at PortMiami on Saturday morning.
The FBI, which is conducting the investigation into Kepner's death, has not released further information regarding how she died or if any charges were filed in connection to her death.
The Daily Mail, citing unnamed sources, revealed grisly details on Kepner's alleged death. Federal nor state officials have not confirmed any of those details.
Fox News Digital, citing a law enforcement source, reported that authorities have recovered surveillance video from the cruise ship, which shows Kepner with a “suspect,” and that the FBI is reviewing thousands of hours of surveillance video.
Authorities also have access to records of room key swipes aboard the ship, the source told FOX News Digital.
As of Nov. 20, a medical examiner has not determined her cause of death.
Timeline of events following Anna Kepner's death
Nov. 7 — Anna Kepner was found dead aboard Carnival Horizon cruise ship while out at sea.
Nov. 8 — Carnival Horizon returns to PortMiami.
Nov. 9 — Temple Christian School posts a tribute to Anna Kepner on Facebook.
Nov. 10 — Carnival cruise line confirmed a passenger died aboard its Horizon ship, forcing the ship to return to Miami. A memorial is held outside Temple Christian School. Anna Kepner's vehicle is decorated with flowers and balloons.
Nov. 11 — Anna Kepner's obituary was posted online.
Nov. 11 — FOX 35 talks with one of Anna's best friends, who remembered her as joyful.
Nov. 18 — Court filing indicates a potential FBI criminal investigation related to Anna Kepner's death.
Nov. 19 — FOX 35 talks with Anna's mom, who shared memories of her daughter and described her as a joyful, compassionate young woman.
Nov. 20 — Celebration of Life for Anna Kepner in Titusville.
Who was Anna Kepner?
Nicknamed “Anna Bananna,” Kepner is described as someone who filled the world with laughter, love, and light that reached everyone around her, her obituary said.
Born June 13, 2007, Kepner was fun, outgoing and bubbly. The cheerleader loved animals – particularly dolphins and butterflies – music – all expect heavy metal, her obituary said – and sports. She especially was a fan of the Georgia Bulldogs, who she dreamed of becoming a cheerleader for.
Kepner's obituary described her as someone who loved practicing makeup looks, making TikTok videos and spending time in the water.
Kepner also had an adventurous spirit, with which she obtained her boating license and was PADI certified to dive, her obituary said.
Anna leaves behind a large family – including seven siblings – and a large extended family.
Open FBI criminal investigation
Information in an emergency motion filed in an unrelated case connected to Kepner's stepmom, the petition asked that the hearing be rescheduled due to the FBI investigation into Kepner's death.
The motion indicates that the FBI could be launching a criminal investigation into one of the stepmom's children – potentially one of Kepner's stepmother's children.
“The respondent has been advised through discussions with FBI investigators and her attorneys that a criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children,” reads the document.
Anna Kepner's stepmother and her ex-husband are in the middle of an unrelated child custody civil case in Florida court. However, in those documents, it reveals that a 16-year-old step-sibling is part of an “open F.B.I. investigation” related to the “tragic situation” of Kepner's death.
“It is true that there is an open investigation regarding the death of the biological daughter of the step-father and (16-year-old) is a suspect regarding this death which occurred recently on a cruise ship,” reads part of the latest court filing.
It also reveals that the 16-year-old is now living with a relative of his mother. The document also mentioned that it is believed that an attorney has been hired to represent the 16-year-old.
To date, the FBI has released very few details publicly about the death of Kepner. The FBI has not formally confirmed it has launched an investigation, citing agency policy not to comment on an active investigation. The FBI has also not released details on how Kepner died, the circumstances of her death, nor named anyone a potential person of interest or suspect.
What they're saying
Those court documents from a civil divorce case between Anna’s stepmother and her former husband start to paint a picture of the investigation as documents state the 16-year-old son of Anna’s stepmother is allegedly a suspect.
“It’s entirely possible that this child is, in fact, a suspect because, frankly, everyone might be by the FBI right now,” said Criminal Defense Attorney Michael Panella. “Just because some attorneys put that in a tit-for-tat pleading war in a domestic relations case, doesn’t actually give us solid information for which we should go off of.”
The court documents are part of a custody dispute and though Panella is not associated with the case, he says the documents aren’t sworn statements.
“We shouldn’t be taking these types of statements in a domestic relations case, that are unsworn, as gospel about who is or who isn’t a suspect in this case,” said Panella.
We do know the FBI is investigating Anna’s death and former Chief Judge Belvin Perry says investigators will have to lean on the evidence before ruling out a suspect or making an official arrest.
“You want to sift through the videos that were taken. You want to check the swipe cards that show who went in and out of this room,” said Perry. “Someone does not become a suspect unless there is some type of information that makes them focus on that person.”
What are family and friends saying?
Heather Kepner said Anna was “always happy,” recalling her daughter’s love of horseback riding and cheerleading. She also shared childhood photos, noting that Anna seemed to be smiling in every picture.
“She was a really good child. She never really complained about much. She never really cried that much as a baby and as a teenager she was the same. Just always happy,” Kepner told FOX 35 News.
Heather, who lives in Oklahoma and did not see her daughter regularly in recent years, said Anna had a gift for lifting others’ spirits and cherished becoming a big sister.
Fox News Digital talked with Christopher Donohue, Anna Kepner's step-grandfather on Wednesday. He said he was not on the cruise at the time, but said everyone has more questions than answers.
“All I know is that she went on that boat, and she never came back,” he said, according to FOX News Digital.
Kepner's friend, Gennavicia Guerrero – who’s known Kepner since 8th grade – said she was in shock when she found out Anna had died while on a cruise ship.
“I broke down,” Guerrero told FOX 35. “I looked through all of our pictures immediately. I missed her so much. I really cried.”
Guerrero described her friend as someone who loved makeup and jewelry. They enjoyed swimming and dancing together, she said.
Funeral plans for Anna Kepner
Kepner's Celebration of Life is planned for Thursday at 5 p.m. at a church in Titusville.
Anna's obituary said in lieu of flowers at her service, people are encouraged to leave flowers on her car at her school.
The family asks everyone to “remember Anna with laughter, color, sunshine, and love. Because that’s exactly how she lived her life,” her obituary said.
The Source
Information in this story comes from an obituary for Anna Kepner as well as previous reporting.
In a poignant disclosure that has left investigators and the public reeling, Anna Kepner's father, Christopher Kepner, has broken his silence about the chilling morning of November 9, 2025, revealing that his 16-year-old stepson—now a central figure in the FBI probe into the teen's death—appeared “unusually quiet” during breakfast, mere hours before her body was discovered concealed under a cabin bed aboard the Carnival Horizon. The revelation, shared in a raw interview with FOX 35 Orlando, paints a picture of subdued tension amid a family facade of normalcy. Compounding the heartbreak, forensic experts are now dissecting family photos snapped just two hours earlier, where a beaming Anna poses arm-in-arm with the stepbrother, probing for subtle cues—body language anomalies, micro-expressions, or contextual inconsistencies—that might illuminate the tragic unraveling of her final moments. As the case spirals deeper into familial shadows, these intimate snapshots, once symbols of blended harmony, now serve as digital forensics battlegrounds.
Christopher Kepner, a 41-year-old crane operator from Titusville, Florida, has largely shielded his grief from the media glare since the ship's return to Miami on November 8. But in his first detailed account, he described the morning routine aboard the 133,500-ton vessel as deceptively ordinary—until hindsight sharpened its edges. “He was just… off. Quiet, not his usual chatty self,” Kepner told reporters, referring to his stepson, identified in court documents as “T.H.” or Timothy Hudson. The family, including Kepner's wife Shauntel Hudson and her three children, had gathered for a casual breakfast on the Lido Deck around 9 a.m., after Anna failed to join them as planned. The boys—Timothy and a younger stepsibling—had ostensibly left the shared Cabin 7423 earlier, leaving Anna to rest after complaining of nausea the night before. Yet, Kepner's unease with Timothy's demeanor, coupled with the teen's averted gaze and minimal responses, now looms large in the investigation. “Looking back, it haunts me. Was he carrying something heavy already?” Kepner wondered aloud, his voice cracking.
This isn't isolated recollection; it dovetails with a mounting mosaic of behavioral red flags. Just two hours prior, at approximately 7 a.m., surveillance-adjacent timestamps and family-submitted photos capture Anna in high spirits. One widely circulated image, posted to Shauntel's Facebook and now archived by the FBI, shows the 18-year-old cheerleader—golden curls tousled from sleep, clad in a vibrant tie-dye tee—flashing a radiant smile while looping an arm around Timothy's shoulders. The pair stands against the cabin's porthole window, the Caribbean sunrise casting a warm glow, with the younger sibling photobombed in the background clutching a stuffed animal. “Morning vibes with my faves! #CruiseCrew #FamilyFirst,” the caption reads, timestamped 7:02 a.m. On the surface, it's a snapshot of sibling camaraderie. But forensic psychologists from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico are employing advanced image analysis—AI-driven facial recognition and posture decoding—to unearth discrepancies. Early assessments, per a law enforcement source, flag Timothy's “forced grin” and “rigid posture,” potential indicators of suppressed agitation or foreknowledge. “Photos like this are gold for micro-expression analysis,” the source explained. “A genuine smile engages the eyes; his doesn't. We're asking: Was this the calm before the storm?”
Anna Kepner was more than a victim; she was a whirlwind of promise. The straight-A senior at Temple Christian School, a lifelong gymnast and equestrian, dreamed of enlisting in the U.S. Navy as a K9 handler, her obituary noting her “contagious laugh” and unwavering Christian faith. Her blended family—forged when Christopher married Shauntel in early 2025—promised unity but harbored fissures. The cruise, a six-day escape to Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel departing November 2, was meant to mend them. Instead, it exposed fault lines: Anna sharing cramped quarters with Timothy and the younger boy, while tensions simmered from prior allegations of the stepbrother's “obsessive” fixation.
These claims, first aired by Anna's ex-boyfriend Joshua Tew, 19, have gained traction. In interviews with Inside Edition and the New York Post, Tew recounted a horrifying FaceTime incident months earlier: watching Timothy enter Anna's bedroom uninvited and “climb on top of her” as she slept. “He was infatuated, always pushing to date her. I warned her parents—they brushed it off,” Tew said, echoed by his father Steven Westin. Anna's uncle, Martin Donohue, amplified this on X, alleging prior assaults ignored by the family. Now, the morning photos are under the microscope: Do they capture a predator's mask slipping? Experts are cross-referencing them against the 10:42 a.m. Lido Deck CCTV—Anna's frantic railing gesture, shadowed by a hooded figure whose silhouette eerily matches Timothy's build.
The timeline tightens with each leak. After the 7 a.m. photo, Anna exits the cabin around 10:30 a.m., per swipe logs, seeking solace at the deck bar. Her body surfaces at 11:17 a.m., wrapped in a blanket and life vests—staging suggestive of cover-up, not accident. Preceding this: the night's heated cabin argument, overheard yells and toppled furniture; the corridor audio of Anna whispering, “He's coming for me”; and that damning 11:05 a.m. text—”Done”—from Timothy's phone to a friend, forensics deeming it a contradiction to his “asleep” alibi. Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's pending autopsy—delayed by toxicology—whispers asphyxiation or trauma, ruling out overdose.
Kepner's admission injects human frailty into the probe. “We thought it was jet lag, seasickness. Hindsight's a cruel teacher,” he lamented, revealing the family was evacuated post-docking for questioning. Yet, his words clash with outrage from Anna's maternal side. Her mother, Heather Wright, learned of the death via news alerts, decrying the “code of silence.” Step-grandfather Christopher Donohue echoed this in Fox News interviews: “A nightmare. No FBI contact, just Facebook crumbs about the suspect.” The custody maelstrom rages: Thomas Hudson, Timothy's biological father, demands guardianship of his 9-year-old daughter, accusing Shauntel of “endangerment” by including the boy. A November 20 hearing saw Shauntel invoke the Fifth for her son, now in third-party care.
Social media amplifies the ache. #JusticeForAnna surges with 1.5 million mentions, X users sharing the 7 a.m. photo in timelines: “That smile hides horror—examine every pixel,” posts @TrueCrimeTitan. Reddit's r/AnnaKepner forums host AI-enhanced photo breakdowns, while TikTok memorials—set to her pre-cruise resilience anthems—garner millions, blending tribute with theory.
Carnival, facing Death on the High Seas Act suits, reiterates cooperation but dodges protocol critiques. Anna's November 20 memorial at The Grove Church overflowed with color—no blacks, honoring her vibrancy. Teammates recalled her “big heart,” eulogies her as “our eternal light.”
As Quantico's labs magnify that frozen smile, the question lingers: What fractured between the photo and the quiet breakfast? Was it a sibling squabble escalated, an obsession unchecked, or a cry silenced? For Christopher Kepner, it's torment; for investigators, a puzzle piece in a portrait of peril. Anna's story—once of promise—now warns of shadows in family frames. The FBI pledges answers, but in Titusville's tear-streaked streets, the silence echoes loudest.