{"id":60996,"date":"2025-11-19T22:39:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T22:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/60996\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T22:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T22:39:08","slug":"fbi-investigates-cruise-ship-death-of-18-year-old-as-stepbrother-faces-potential-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/60996\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI investigates cruise ship death of 18-year-old as stepbrother faces potential charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI (WPEC) \u2014 After an 18-year-old girl was found dead<\/a>, wrapped in a blanket and stuffed under a bed aboard a Carnival Cruise Line ship earlier this month, her teenage stepbrother could face charges, according to filings in Brevard County family court.<\/p>\n

According to the Orlando Sentinel,<\/a> as the FBI continues its investigation into the death of Anna Kepner, a motion was filed on Monday by the attorney of Kepner’s stepmother seeking to postpone a Dec. 17 hearing, part of a divorce proceeding, amid the investigation.<\/p>\n

What led to Kepner’s death is still under investigation. Her stepmother, Shauntel Hudson, said that the investigation\u2019s progress led to an \u201cextremely sensitive and severe circumstance\u201d arising, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n

According to the filing, through discussions with FBI investigators and her attorneys that a criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children\u201d who went on the trip along with Kepner. Born in 2009, the teen is identified only by his initials as a suspect, other court records reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel show.<\/p>\n

The Orlando Sentinel said the child\u2019s father, meanwhile, \u201cis believed to have hired counsel for the minor child due to the alleged incident involving\u201d the teen, according to a response to the father\u2019s motion for emergency relief. An FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n

Carnival confirmed that Kepner, a senior at Temple Christian School in Titusville, died aboard the ship, which returned to PortMiami on November 10, and noted that the FBI is leading the investigation.<\/p>\n

Hudson filed a motion to delay a custody hearing, confirming that the FBI is investigating the \u201csudden death\u201d of Kepner. The filing states Hudson was on the cruise with Kepner, Kepner\u2019s father, and Hudson\u2019s minor children. The custody hearing, set for Dec. 17, had been scheduled in October before Kepner\u2019s death, amid a dispute with Hudson\u2019s ex-husband, who alleges she violated their shared parenting agreement, according to the Orlando Sentinel.<\/p>\n

Authorities have not announced any charges, and the FBI has not indicated whether Kepner\u2019s death is being treated as a homicide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI (WPEC) \u2014 After an 18-year-old girl was found dead, wrapped in a blanket and stuffed under a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-60996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}