A shocking update in the case of Anna Kepner, who died on a Carnival cruise ship nearly a month ago!
As we’ve been reporting, the 18-year-old was found dead, stuffed under her bed, wrapped in a blanket and covered with life jackets, while on a Carnival Horizon cruise vacation with her father, Christopher Kepner, stepmom, Shauntel Hudson, stepsiblings, and grandparents to the Caribbean. Her death was ruled a homicide, and a copy of the death certificate obtained by ABC News revealed she was “mechanically asphyxiated by other person(s).” Just awful.
Her 16-year-old stepbrother has been under heavy scrutiny from the start, as he was allegedly “infatuated” with her and shared a room with her on the ship. Anna’s boyfriend claimed a younger sibling even heard fighting while locked out of the room the night before her body was found:
“[He] heard him yelling at her in a harmful way, like, ‘Shut the hell up,’ and stuff like that. And that’s when he knew something was going on. There was something going on. Something was banging around, like chairs were getting thrown around in the room. But he wouldn’t talk to me anymore. He said the FBI told them that if they talk they’ll get arrested because it’s tampering with an investigation or something.”
OMG…
His parents claimed he is under investigation by the FBI, and Anna’s dad even seems to think he’s responsible. Authorities have not publicly named him as an official suspect, but a Florida judge just said he is! During a court hearing about custody issues between Anna’s stepmother, Shauntel, and Thomas Hudson on Friday, Judge Michelle Studstill declared:
“The 16-year-old child is now a suspect of the death of the stepchild during the cruise.”
Whoa. The former couple are in court as Thomas demanded an emergency hearing as he wants custody of their youngest daughter following Anna’s death. We can imagine he is terrified for his child after what happened. However, Shauntel’s attorney, Millicent Athanason, insists she isn’t at “risk” now… because the stepbrother is no longer in the home!
The lawyer said Shauntel and Christopher sent the teen away with the intention of “removing any risk of any danger to any of the other children in the home” amid the investigation, adding:
“My clients were informed [the teenager] was a suspect, and since his release from the hospital after his return to the United States he was placed with a relative of the mother.”
People obtained documents confirming the teen is staying with a third party who has power of attorney and can only be removed with both parents’ consent. His location is reportedly known only to Shauntel, Thomas, and law enforcement.
The judge ultimately denied Thomas’s request for an emergency motion, though. That said, he will be back in court on December 16 for a contempt hearing, as he claimed in a motion that his ex did not have permission to take their two kids out of the country on a cruise. Thomas further alleged he has been blocked from seeing their kids for the past 18 months, referring to an incident two weeks ago when Christopher and his parents got involved in a custody exchange with their daughter. It allegedly led to a verbal altercation. What a horrible mess all around…
No charges have been filed against the stepbrother or anyone else at this time. However, Shauntel’s attorney did suggest that charges would be coming. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know.
For more information on violence against women, go to https://www.justice.gov/ovw/resources-for-survivors.
[Image via Anna Kepner/Instagram/Facebook]
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