{"id":72333,"date":"2025-12-05T10:58:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T10:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/72333\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T10:58:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T10:58:07","slug":"florida-teens-cruise-ship-death-likely-to-be-discussed-at-court-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/72333\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida teen\u2019s cruise ship death likely to be discussed at court hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 As authorities investigate the death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner<\/a> on a Carnival cruise ship last month, the Titusville teen\u2019s father and stepmother are scheduled to appear in court Friday in a separate matter.<\/p>\n

Shauntel Kepner, who is married to Anna Kepner\u2019s biological father Christopher Kepner, is in a dispute with her ex-husband over the custody of their two minor children, a 9-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy.<\/p>\n

That 16-year-old boy is a \u201csuspect\u201d in the murder of his stepsister Nov. 7 on the Carnival Horizon, according to his family.<\/p>\n

The FBI has not confirmed the stepbrother is a suspect in Anna Kepner\u2019s death, nor has the agency disclosed details about its investigation.<\/p>\n

[VIDEO: Records show step-sibling may be charged after Titusville teen\u2019s cruise ship death]<\/p>\n

According to family members, a cabin steward found the teen\u2019s body under the bed of her stateroom. <\/p>\n

Anna Kepner died from asphyxiation, the family said they were told by investigators. There is no indication the teen had been sexually assaulted, they noted.<\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s 16-year-old stepbrother is currently living with a relative on his mother Shauntel Kepner\u2019s side of the family, court records indicate, while his 9-year-old sister continues to reside with their mother in Brevard County.<\/p>\n

Thomas Hudson, the children\u2019s father, is asking a judge to address the placement of his son while also giving him additional parenting time with his daughter.<\/p>\n

In an emergency motion seeking court intervention, Hudson referenced his son\u2019s status as a \u201csuspect\u201d in Anna Kepner\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sixteen-year-old\u2019s future has been put in jeopardy because of the choices made by (his mother),\u201d Hudson wrote. \u201cThe youngest child is at immediate risk of abuse, abandonment, or neglect in the care of (her mother).\u201d<\/p>\n

[WATCH BELOW: Stepbrother \u2018suspect\u2019 hospitalized after Anna Kepner\u2019s death on cruise ship]<\/p>\n

Shauntel Kepner denies the allegations made by her ex-husband and has asked a judge to reject his requests.<\/p>\n

Christopher Kepner, who has been married to Shauntel Kepner for less than year, has been subpoenaed to testify at Friday\u2019s court hearing.<\/p>\n

It is unclear what, if anything, Christopher Kepner may reveal about his daughter\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

[MORE: Hundreds gather in Titusville to remember teen found dead on cruise ship]<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 As authorities investigate the death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner on a Carnival cruise ship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[33099,315,19941,28,30,29,15447],"class_list":["post-72333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-anna-kepner","tag-brevard-county","tag-carnival-cruise-line","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-titusville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72333","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=72333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}