“SHOCKING FAMILY TABOO EXPOSED!” — Anna Kepner’s boyfriend claims he tried to warn her about secret argument with her stepbrother, but no one listened — Now, investigators say SCREEN RECORDING was discovered at the head of the bed

In a revelation that peels back yet another layer of dysfunction in the already scandal-plagued Kepner family, Joshua Tew, the ex-boyfriend of slain Florida cheerleader Anna Kepner, has come forward with explosive claims of a “secret argument” between Anna and her 16-year-old stepbrother that he desperately tried to flag to her parents months before her brutal death on the Carnival Horizon cruise ship. Tew, 17, alleges the heated confrontation—fueled by the stepbrother's alleged obsessive behavior—escalated into threats of violence, but his warnings fell on deaf ears, dismissed as teenage drama in a blended household rife with denial. Now, in a twist that has FBI investigators buzzing, authorities have uncovered a chilling screen recording on Anna's phone, discovered propped at the head of her cabin bed, capturing what sources describe as a “final, frantic plea” from the teen amid rising tensions. The footage, timestamped hours before her strangulation, has been hailed as a potential smoking gun, exposing a taboo undercurrent of familial obsession that may have turned deadly.

The screen recording, recovered during a forensic sweep of Anna's devices post-docking in Miami on November 9, 2025, shows the 18-year-old in her dimly lit stateroom, her face pale and braces glinting under the overhead light as she whispers into the camera. “He's not stopping, Josh. The arguments… they're getting worse. He says things no brother should say,” Anna is heard saying, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and exhaustion. Clad in the same tank top from earlier family photos, she glances nervously toward the cabin door, where muffled voices—later identified by audio enhancement as her stepbrother's—echo from the adjoining bunk area. The 2-minute clip cuts abruptly as a shadow falls across the frame, followed by a thud that aligns with witness accounts of “furniture crashing” that night. Investigators, poring over the file in a secure FBI lab, believe it was auto-recorded via a panic app Anna had installed at Tew's urging, triggered by keywords like “argument” or “threat.” “This isn't just evidence—it's her cry for help, right there at the head of the bed like she wanted it found,” a source close to the probe told Fox News, adding that the phone's placement suggests Anna anticipated danger.

Tew's account amplifies the horror, painting a portrait of ignored red flags in the Kepner-Hudson blended family. In an emotional sit-down with Inside Edition, the heartbroken teen recounted the “secret argument” unfolding over FaceTime nine months prior, in February 2025, when he witnessed the stepbrother—identified in court docs as T.H.—”climb on top of her” as she napped, his hands lingering inappropriately. “It wasn't playful; it was possessive. She pushed him off, but they argued—bad. He called her his ‘forever girl,' said she'd never leave him for me,” Tew revealed, tears streaming. “I warned her dad and stepmom right then: ‘This kid's got issues; separate them.' But they laughed it off—'family bonding,' they said. No one listened.” Tew's father, Steve Westin, corroborated the tale, noting the stepbrother's habit of carrying a “big knife” and staring obsessively through Anna's bedroom door at home. “She was scared of him, plain and simple. That cruise? It was a powder keg.”

This “family taboo,” as Tew dubs it—an alleged incestuous fixation masked as sibling rivalry—threads through the investigation like a dark vein. Anna's death certificate, released November 24, confirms homicide by mechanical asphyxiation via a “bar hold” strangulation, her body discovered crammed under her queen-sized bed in the shared cabin, wrapped in a blanket and buried beneath life vests. Security footage places T.H. as the only entrant/exitant that night, with the younger stepsibling asleep in the bunk above, oblivious to the “shouts and thuds.” The screen recording, synced with hallway cams showing Anna retreating to the room after dinner—complaining of braces pain—captures the argument's crescendo: accusations of “stalking” from Anna, met with T.H.'s slurred denials, hinting at underage drinking permitted in international waters. Forensics now trace faint DNA under Anna's nails to T.H., bolstering the narrative of a confrontation turned fatal.

The blended family's fissures, exacerbated by stepmother Shauntel Hudson's bitter divorce from T.H.'s father, Thomas Hudson, have fueled a custody war now entangled with the homicide probe. In a November 21 Brevard County hearing, Hudson invoked the Fifth when pressed on T.H.'s potential charges, citing the FBI's “sensitive” scrutiny. Her emergency motion to seal records—denied by Judge Elena Ramirez—exposed pleas to delay proceedings, fearing T.H.'s “incrimination.” Thomas Hudson, in counter-filings, accused Shauntel of “alienating” their children post a “violent altercation,” demanding full custody and blasting the cruise as a “jeopardy” to T.H.'s psyche. Anna's biological mother, Heather Wright, sidelined by the divorce decree, erupted in a WPLG-TV interview: “They ignored every sign—the arguments, the knife, the discomfort. My girl was independent, Navy-bound; she deserved better than this taboo nightmare.”

Grandparents Jeffrey and Barbara Kepner, who joined the “bonding” voyage with seven relatives, grapple with survivor's guilt. “We saw them as peas in a pod—called us Memaw and Peepaw,” Barbara told ABC News, defending the family dynamic. Yet, cracks show: Anna confided in her 14-year-old brother about T.H.'s “weird vibes,” per leaked texts, but the teen dismissed it as “roughhousing.” Post-discovery, T.H. was hospitalized for psych eval in Miami, emerging “an emotional mess” with claimed amnesia—a narrative Barbara clings to, but prosecutors now view skeptically against the screen recording's raw urgency.

Social media, a tinderbox since the November 8 discovery, has ignited anew with the screen recording's leak—enhanced clips circulating on TikTok and Reddit, amassing millions of views. #AnnaKepnerTaboo trends on X, with users decrying “blended family blindness.” “Boyfriend warned them about the arguments, the obsession—no one listened? That's on the parents,” raged @TrueCrimeDaily in a thread hitting 300,000 engagements. On r/Cruise, a viral post dissects the recording: “That thud at the end? Chilling. Cruise lines gotta ban shared cabins for stepsibs with history.” Podcaster Lauren Conlin's episode, “Taboo at Sea,” topped charts, interviewing Tew: “It was incestuous vibes from day one. The screen recording? Anna's last stand.” Carnival, facing lawsuits from the Kepners, maintains “full cooperation” but faces scrutiny over cabin assignments and lax patrols.

Legally, the noose tightens. Subpoenas for T.H.'s devices reveal deleted messages echoing the argument's themes—possessive rants laced with “mine forever.” Gait analysis from prior footage matches the hallway struggle clips, while the knife rumor prompts a ship-wide sweep for discarded weapons. Private investigators, hired by Wright, posit the recording as motive evidence: a rejected advance sparking lethal rage. “It exposes the taboo they buried,” one PI told People. Hudson's gag order bid, thwarted, has only amplified the saga, with hearings set for December 15.

Anna's light—her flips on the mat, ice cream runs with siblings, unyielding spirit—flickers in Titusville memorials, where bright colors honor her “beautiful soul.” Classmates, in a GoFundMe surpassing $50,000, remember her laughter drowning out arguments. “She filled rooms with joy; now her recording fills us with rage,” one posted. As the Horizon sails turquoise oblivion, the Kepners demand indictments. Tew, vowing to testify, whispers: “I tried to warn her. For Anna, we'll make them listen now.” The taboo exposed, the sea's secrets surface—justice, one pixelated plea at a time.