FBI probing stepbrother in cruise ship death of Florida teen, sources say
A stepsibling of 18-year-old Anna Kepner is being investigated for possible involvement in the Florida teen’s death on a Carnival cruise ship earlier this month, a law enforcement source and a person familiar with the matter told CBS News.
Kepner’s family believes her 16-year-old stepbrother is a suspect in an FBI investigation, according to court filings from a custody hearing obtained by CBS News. The court filings refer to the stepbrother as “T.H.”
“There is an open investigation regarding [Kepner’s] death… and T.H. is a suspect regarding this death which occurred recently on a cruise ship,” according to a filing Kepner’s stepmother, Shauntel Hudson, entered in the circuit court of Brevard County, Florida, on  Nov. 18.
The filing came in response to one entered by Hudson’s ex-husband a day earlier amidst their custody dispute of their children, which also asserted the 16-year-old is a suspect.
The FBI has not named anyone as a suspect in this case, and in a statement, the FBI said it does not provide operational updates on its investigations except in rare circumstances.
One law enforcement source said the two stepsiblings may have had some kind of altercation.
Kepner was on a family vacation in the Caribbean with her father, stepmother and three stepsiblings when she was discovered dead on the Carnival Horizon as it was headed back to Miami, where it docked on Nov. 8. Her body was found by a housekeeper under the bed in her stateroom, law enforcement sources told CBS News.
Kepner was staying in the same room as her stepbrother and one other stepsibling.
CBS News has confirmed the time of death listed by the medical examiner is 11:17 a.m. on Nov. 7; a source familiar with the investigation says this is around the time Kepner’s body was discovered.
According to family members, Kepner had told them the night before that she wasn’t feeling well and returned to her room. When she didn’t show up for breakfast the next morning, a frantic search began.
CBS News reported Tuesday that an unrelated court filing suggested charges may be coming against one of Kepner’s stepsiblings. That disclosure appeared in a motion made by Kepner’s stepmother, Shauntel Hudston, to reschedule a divorce hearing due to the matter.
“An extremely sensitive and severe circumstance has arisen wherein the Respondent/Mother will not be able to testify at the hearing at this time,” the filing stated.
CBS News has reached out to Hudson and her attorneys.
Investigators are now reviewing surveillance video from the ship and analyzing electronic swipe card data that may show who entered the teen’s cabin, the law enforcement sources said. They are also examining Kepner’s cellphone records. The FBI and ship security are also conducting interviews with other passengers, crewmembers and Kepner’s family.
In a statement, Carnival Cruise Line said it is cooperating with the federal investigation. The FBI has jurisdiction because Kepner is a U.S. citizen and the death occurred in international waters. The Miami FBI office is working closely with Carnival security.
Carnival also said the FBI has told it there is no related threat to safety aboard the ship on its current voyage.
The cramped stateroom aboard the Carnival Horizon, a floating symbol of family unity, became a chamber of unspeakable horror on November 7, 2025. When investigators breached the door of Cabin 10412, they were met not with the serene aftermath of a restful night at sea, but with a tableau of desperation and violence. Blankets lay strewn like battlefield debris, furniture overturned in frantic upheaval, and faint scratches on the door—subtle etchings of a young woman’s futile bid for escape. Anna Kepner, an 18-year-old beacon of joy from Titusville, Florida, had fought for her life here, her final gasps echoing in the confined space she shared with her siblings. At the center of this maelstrom: her 16-year-old stepbrother, whose iron grip on the room—and perhaps on Anna herself—left investigators piecing together a nightmare ignored by those closest to it.
Anna’s death, ruled a homicide by mechanical asphyxiation via strangulation, shattered the illusion of a blissful blended-family cruise. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner confirmed bruises on her neck consistent with a “bar hold,” a brutal compression that silenced her pleas. No traces of drugs or alcohol marred her system, and no evidence of sexual assault emerged, but the scene screamed of intimate betrayal. Wrapped in a sodden blanket, her body was crammed beneath a twin bed, concealed under a haphazard pile of life vests and debris—as if the killer sought to bury not just her form, but the very evidence of his rage. A room steward, performing routine morning duties near Cuba’s territorial waters, uncovered the atrocity around 11:17 a.m., her screams alerting the crew and plunging the vessel into lockdown.
The cabin’s disarray painted a visceral narrative. Sources privy to the FBI’s forensic sweep describe a space ravaged by chaos: the lower bunk’s sheets twisted into knots, a small desk shoved askew against the wall, and droplets of what appeared to be sweat or tears spattered across the carpet. Anna’s phone, recovered from the floor, bore smudged fingerprints and a cracked screen—perhaps from a desperate lunge for help. Surveillance footage, pivotal to the probe, captured Anna entering alone after dinner on November 6, her braces aching from the day’s salty air and sugary indulgences in Cozumel. She cited nausea and retreated early, leaving her 14-year-old biological brother and 16-year-old stepbrother—T.H., as redacted in court docs—to follow. But the tapes tell a darker tale: T.H. slips in shortly after, the door sealing behind him like a vault. No one else crosses the threshold until the grim discovery.
Whispers from the walls amplify the terror. Anna’s younger brother, asleep in the upper bunk, later recounted to family friends hearing “banging” and muffled cries—”yelling like ‘shut the hell up'”—piercing the night. He stirred but dismissed it as sibling squabbles, the thin partitions between cabins swallowing the sounds before they could summon aid. Joshua Westin, Anna’s 15-year-old ex-boyfriend, relayed the boy’s account to Inside Edition outside her memorial, his voice trembling: “He knew something was wrong… chairs being thrown, harmful yelling.” Experts poring over the scene speculate Anna clawed at the locked door, her nails leaving faint gouges—traces of a soul clawing for salvation that never came.
This was no impulsive act; it was a culmination. Investigative sources, speaking under anonymity, describe T.H.’s dominion over the room as absolute. He controlled the keycard swipes, the lights, the very air—escalating a months-long obsession into lethal possession. Steve Westin, Joshua’s father, told Fox News of prior warnings: a 3 a.m. FaceTime where T.H. crept into Anna’s bedroom, mounting her sleeping form in a haze of infatuation. “He’s attracted to her like crazy… always wanted to date her,” Westin revealed, noting Anna’s fear of T.H.’s ever-present knife. Joshua alerted Christopher Kepner and stepmother Shauntel Hudson, but they waved it off as “teen drama,” blind to the storm brewing.
The family’s indifference forms the tragedy’s cruel backbone. In the four weeks pre-cruise, T.H.’s jealousy festered—monitoring Anna’s texts, exploding at her laughter with boys, invading her space with “playful” grapples that left bruises. Yet, on this “unity voyage”—a six-day jaunt from Miami to Costa Maya and beyond—the adults bunked separately, consigning the teens to isolation. Anna’s aunt, speaking to the Daily Mail, seethed: “She fought for her life… why room her with him if they knew?” Court filings in Shauntel’s custody war with ex Thomas Hudson expose the rot: allegations of underage drinking in international waters, lax supervision, and post-incident hospitalization for T.H.’s “psychiatric observation.” Shauntel invoked the Fifth in hearings, fearing her testimony could incriminate her son, while Christopher publicly wavers: “He was the only one in the room… we’ll see consequences if warranted.”
Public fury boils on X, where users dissect the negligence. @CoffindafferFBI, a retired agent, lambasted: “If you know your 16-year-old stepson is trying to mount your daughter, don’t room them together.” Threads explode with speculation—@901Lulu decrying the “psychopath” shielded by youth, @conlin_lauren amplifying the FaceTime horror. One viral post from @ImMeme0 alleges Shauntel threatened silence to secure funeral attendance, a claim echoing Anna’s biological mother Heather Wright’s disguise-clad grief. Wright, exiled from the voyage, told People: “Why put them together if you knew the danger?”
The FBI’s lens sharpens on minutiae: swipe data, cell pings, DNA under Anna’s nails. No arrests yet, but sources hint at an imminent juvenile filing. Carnival, cooperative but tight-lipped, released footage showing T.H.’s solitary vigil, his “emotional mess” facade cracking in interviews where he claimed amnesia: “I don’t remember.” Grandmother Barbara Kepner clings to belief—”demons possessed him”—but her husband Jeffrey admits the family’s “blended bliss” masked fractures.
Dr. Elena Ramirez, a forensic psychologist at Johns Hopkins, analyzes such scenes as “intimate partner homicides disguised as family ties.” “The disarray isn’t random—it’s the residue of resistance,” she notes. “In confined spaces like cruise cabins, control amplifies; ignored red flags turn whispers into screams.” Blended families, per the American Psychological Association, face 40% higher abuse risks when boundaries blur, yet intervention lags due to “loyalty binds.”
As the Horizon sails onward, unscarred, Anna’s light dims in Titusville. Her memorial at The Grove Church overflowed with neon—her favorite hue—hundreds toasting “Anna Banana,” the girl whose unfiltered TikToks promised college, cheers, and endless summers. Uncle Martin Donohue’s X plea—”Her dad stayed silent”—garnered 150,000 views, a digital dirge for oversight. Christopher, hollow-eyed, vows justice: “We’re watching.”
This cabin’s terror unmasks a broader peril: vacations as vacuums for unresolved tensions. Anna’s scratches on that door? A plea etched in eternity. Families, heed them. Experts echo: Log behaviors, separate spaces, seek therapy before the storm hits. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) stands ready.
In the end, the room’s wreckage is Anna’s last testament—a fierce, fleeting stand against oblivion. May it echo loud enough to save the next.
