{"id":47296,"date":"2025-11-21T13:43:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T13:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/47296\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T13:43:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T13:43:17","slug":"anna-kepners-stepbrother-was-obsessed-with-slain-cheerleader-and-once-committed-creepy-act-while-she-was-sleeping-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/47296\/","title":{"rendered":"Anna Kepner\u2019s stepbrother was \u2018obsessed\u2019 with slain cheerleader \u2014 and once committed creepy act while she was sleeping: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anna Kepner\u2019s younger stepbrother \u2014 a \u201csuspect\u201d in her killing<\/a> \u2014 had a creepy obsession with the Florida cheerleader and was once caught climbing on top of her while she slept, according to the father of the slain 18-year-old\u2019s ex-boyfriend.<\/p>\n

Kepner\u2019s 16-year-old stepbrother was \u201cobsessed with her\u201d and relentlessly pursued her despite their\u00a0newly\u00a0blended family, Steven Westin told \u201cInside Edition,\u201d\u00a0citing conversations he had with his son.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was scared of him because he always carried around a big knife,\u201d\u00a0the alarmed father claimed to the outlet in an interview that aired Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anna Kepner, 18, was reported dead while aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship on November 8, 2025. Instagram\/@anna.kepner16<\/p>\n

Anna Kepner and her biological brother, Connor Kepner. TikTok\/@fl.anna18<\/p>\n

Westin said his son, Joshua, who dated Kepner, once \u201csaw her stepbrother come into the room when she was sleeping and get on top of her\u201d\u00a0during a FaceTime call.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s\u00a0like\u00a0infatuated, attracted to her like crazy. He always wanted to date her,\u201d Westin said of the allegedly warped stepsibling.<\/p>\n

Westin said his son tried to warn Kepner\u2019s parents but told him, \u201cThey didn\u2019t want to believe me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The FBI is questioning the high school senior\u2019s stepbrother after her body reportedly was found stuffed under her bed and covered with life vests inside her cabin on Nov. 8, according to court documents filed by her stepmother, Shauntel Hudson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The teen had gone on the six-day cruise with her father, her stepmother, her 14-year-old brother and 16-year-old stepbrother.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ship was returning to Port Miami when her body was found.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kepner\u2019s 16-year-old stepbrother was \u201cobsessed with her\u201d and relentlessly pursued her despite their\u00a0newly\u00a0blended family. Chris Kepner \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

Anna Kepner\u2019s ex-boyfriend Josh Tew. WESH 2<\/p>\n

Stephen Westin, the father of Anna Kepner\u2019s ex-boyfriend, revealed the cheerleader\u2019s stepbrother was \u201cobsessed\u201d with her, and once climbed on top of her while she slept. Inside Edition<\/p>\n

Kepner \u2014 who was set to graduate in the spring from Temple Christian School in Titusville, Florida \u2014 died onboard the Carnival vessel at 11:17 a.m. Nov. 7, according to the Miami-Dade medical examiner.<\/p>\n

Her funeral was held Thursday in Titusville. Her biological mother, Heather Kepner, told \u201cInside Edition\u201d that she was barred from attending due to long-standing family tensions \u2014 but will do what she has to to say goodbye.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m going to wear a disguise, I\u2019m going to put a wig on and wear some really tall shoes because I\u2019m 4 foot 9,\u201d the determined mom, who was divorced from her daughter\u2019s father 13 years ago, told the outlet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Heather Kepner said\u00a0she hadn\u2019t seen her daughter regularly in years since moving to Oklahoma<\/a>, but was proud of Anna, who had dreams of joining the US Navy and eventually becoming a K-9 police officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a really good child. She never really complained about much. She never really cried that much as a baby and as a teenager she was the same. Just always happy,\u201d\u00a0she told FOX 35.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was always trying to make everybody smile. An extremely happy child.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FBI has been leading the investigation since Anna died in international waters, and has remained tight-lipped on details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anna Kepner\u2019s younger stepbrother \u2014 a \u201csuspect\u201d in her killing \u2014 had a creepy obsession with the Florida…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[25246,16004,1015,3640,9,11,10,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-47296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-carnival","9":"tag-cruises","10":"tag-deaths","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}