A federal investigation is underway into the death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, a Titusville high-school senior and varsity cheerleader, whose body was found aboard the Carnival Horizon after a Caribbean cruise.<\/p>\n
Court filings obtained by Action News Jax\u2019s Orlando station WFTV-Channel 9<\/a> reveal that the FBI is investigating what occurred and that one of her minor stepsiblings may face criminal charges.<\/p>\n The cruise departed from Miami and visited Caribbean destinations before returning to port. According to the family, Anna had recently completed entrance testing to join the U.S. military and was described as a straight-A student. The motion filed in Brevard County family court states: \u201cCurrently, there is an investigation being conducted by the FBI arising out of the sudden death of eighteen-year-old Anna Kepner.\u201d<\/p>\n In that filing, Anna\u2019s stepmother, Shauntel Hudson, who was on the cruise with Anna, her father, and the children, requested that a custody hearing be postponed, citing that \u201ca criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children.\u201d<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n No official cause or manner of death has been released by the medical examiner. The FBI, which is leading the investigation due to the death occurring in maritime jurisdiction, has not confirmed whether a homicide investigation is underway or whether charges will be filed.<\/p>\n The newly obtained court documents confirm that the FBI is formally involved in the case and that the legal action concerns a delay in family court proceedings due to the criminal investigation\u2019s potential impact. And while no charges have been filed publicly, the motion explicitly states the possibility of charges against a minor sibling. \u201cShe has not identified herself as a target of a criminal investigation. She basically said she\u2019s afraid that anything she said could be used against her children,\u201d said Adam Pollack, a defense attorney who reviewed the case. \u201cI think Miss Hudson has now propelled her children into the news spotlight needlessly. The FBI was not broadcasting that they were conducting a criminal investigation of the children.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s Next<\/p>\n Authorities and the cruise line, Carnival Cruise Line, say they are cooperating fully with the investigation. The local community in Titusville is mourning and awaiting updates. As this investigation is active and the motion suggests possible criminal proceedings, more details are expected from federal and local law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n SEE THE MOTION BELOW:<\/p>\n Brev Anna Kepner Emer Motion <\/a> by WFTV Digital Team <\/a><\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal investigation is underway into the death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, a Titusville high-school senior and varsity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1913,33102,33099,33100,19941,4063,2362,14395,28,30,29,33101],"class_list":["post-52559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-action-news","tag-anna","tag-anna-kepner","tag-caribbean-cruise","tag-carnival-cruise-line","tag-criminal-investigation","tag-fbi","tag-federal-investigation","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-shauntel-hudson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}