FL - Anna Kepner, 18, dies aboard Carnival cruise ship traveling from Miami to Caribbean, FBI launch probe, 7 Nov 2025

[Gemmie]

And it's men's responsibility to keep their lust on leash. Alcohol is not an excuse here.

Except dogs prefer to run free off leash.

 

[Gemmie]

Does Carnival offer buckets of beer? They are available at some bars on Princess ships and can easily be carried back to one's stateroom.

AI seems to think so.

 

[Gemmie]

There has been nothing in the media that she was found nude, to my recollection. Do you have a link? My feeling is that were that true, it would be in every headline. JMO

+1. I too haven't seen it mentioned. Only SM and rumors.

 

[Gemmie]

"But a source with knowledge of the case said toxicology and other lab testing had not yet been completed but said bruises had been found on the body."

Ok, are these the bruises they found on the sides of her neck? Or are there other Bruises on her body?

Life jackets meant to save lives could expose a killer in Florida teen’s cruise ship mystery

Two weeks after cheerleader Anna Kepner was found dead on a Carnival Horizon cruise ship, the FBI continues its investigation with no official cause of death.

www.foxnews.com

Unknown at this time. All we know that's been reported are the bruises on her neck which is how they/we know she was in a chokehold.

 

[Spectrix]

So why is her 14 year old brother telling him details about this tragedy? Or is he just repeating gossip and rumour he’s heard about the loud crashes heard by her younger brother in the room as second, third or twentieth hand rumours floating around and about.

The 14 year old is the "younger brother". He is Anna's half sibling.
There were three people staying in the room. Anna, her 14 year old half brother, and her 16 year old step brother.

 

[Warwick7]

Here are some of the most harrowing words to hear:

"...but Anna was too scared to tell anyone..."

Shame on who the one who she feared.
Shame on anyone who wouldn't listen to her.
Shame on anyone, berating those, trying to tell what happened. M00

 

[MistyWaters]

The 14 year old is the "younger brother". He is Anna's half sibling.
There were three people staying in the room. Anna, her 14 year old half brother, and her 16 year old step brother.

Yes I’m aware there were three. Thanks for filling me in about the 14 year old being a half-brother.

 

[MistyWaters]

Bizarre, the media seems to be backing away. A couple days ago he was as good as convicted.

Stepbrother Possibly Suspected in Carnival Cruise Death of Anna Kepner Was Hospitalized After Trip: Reports

Anna Kepner, 18, was found dead by a housekeeper on a Caribbean cruise earlier this month.

people.com

Stepbrother ‘possibly’ suspected…….???

But in an unrelated court filing earlier this week, Kepner's stepmother Shauntel Kepner said she was briefed by the FBI that one of her minor children might face criminal charges, according to Florida Today, FOX 35 and CBS News, though it wasn't immediately clear if, or how, the charges are related to Anna's killing.

 

[Mdcastle]

Did Anna have a second half-sibling and if so was she also on the cruise? Family photos show a younger girl and the CourtTV "family tree" has second half-sibling slot besides C.

 

[Megnut]

Ideally all the boys in one room and girls with the adults, but these two adults don't seem to have parenting discretion.

Simpler solution. Relatively new blended family--

Dad and his children, in one room.
New wife and her children, in hers.

If the trip was supposed to be about bonding as a big new family, none of that bonding needs to happen overnight. Opposite-sex teens, unrelated opposite-sex teens, no chaperones, why do that? Why, just why?

Of course, no one would have anticipated murder, but one (or two) should have chosen not to throw unrelated, opposite-sex teens into one room.

JMO

 

[bajaflash]

I'd say this about the stepbrother too.

It's guaranteed known (last I checked) that 16 year olds do not have a fully developed frontal lobe, tend not to think things through, and that teenagers in general, male or female (though the showy instances of nightmare behavior a la TV series "Jackass", tends to be driven by the males), that they are prone to risk-taking behavior they can't fully process the pros and cons of, which is one of the reasons why parents staring at their teen with the broken arm after attempting to toboggan off the roof of their house, asking "What on earth possessed you to do such a thing?", are near-uniformly greeted with shrugs and (if any speech at all takes place) variants on:

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Id argue most teens know that murder is wrong.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

< mod snipped original post removed>

<respectfully snipped> I'm taking any/all reports about the alleged altercation in the stateroom with a huge grain of salt. The notion that furniture was being thrown around the room is almost laughable. Cruise ship furniture is very heavy and doesn't move around when the ship might encounter rough seas. I can't easily move the desk chair or small table in the typical balcony staterooms that DH and I book on our Princess cruises, but I suppose a 16-year-old male is stronger than me. Balcony furnishings tend to be lighter weight and can be moved easily, but the threesome didn't have a balcony.

I agree with not blaming the 14-year-old for not being more responsible in reporting the incident to his father or ship personnel. I'm sure, in hindsight, he probably wishes that he had alerted someone to what was happening.

 

[Warwick7]

<respectfully snipped> I'm taking any/all reports about the alleged altercation in the stateroom with a huge grain of salt. The notion that furniture was being thrown around the room is almost laughable. Cruise ship furniture is very heavy and doesn't move around when the ship might encounter rough seas. I can't easily move the desk chair or small table in the typical balcony staterooms that DH and I book on our Princess cruises, but I suppose a 16-year-old male is stronger than me. Balcony furnishings tend to be lighter weight and can be moved easily, but the threesome didn't have a balcony.

I agree with not blaming the 14-year-old for not being more responsible in reporting the incident to his father or ship personnel. I'm sure, in hindsight, he probably wishes that he had alerted someone to what was happening.

Ok, now I'm confused...

You just said that you cannot blame a 14-year-old for not being more responsible and reporting the incident to his father or the ship personnel. However what was it that he was supposed to be reporting?

You just said you were going to take the alleged altercation in the stateroom with a huge grain of salt. You said the notion that furniture was being thrown around the room is almost laughable.

I do agree though, in hindsight, he probably wishes that he had alerted someone to what was happening. On the other hand we don't know all the facts, maybe he did and wasn't believed.

 

[Herat]

Simpler solution. Relatively new blended family--

Dad and his children, in one room.
New wife and her children, in hers.

If the trip was supposed to be about bonding as a big new family, none of that bonding needs to happen overnight. Opposite-sex teens, unrelated opposite-sex teens, no chaperones, why do that? Why, just why?

Of course, no one would have anticipated murder, but one (or two) should have chosen not to throw unrelated, opposite-sex teens into one room.

JMO

I think a better arrangement would have been females in one cabin, males in another cabin. From what I am understanding, the parents and youngest two were in a balcony cabin and the remaining three were in an inside cabin. The balcony cabin is substantially more expensive than an inside cabin. Other families might have had connecting inside cabins for the entire lot.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Ok, now I'm confused...

You just said that you cannot blame a 14-year-old for not being more responsible and reporting the incident to his father or the ship personnel. However what was it that he was supposed to be reporting?

You just said you were going to take the alleged altercation in the stateroom with a huge grain of salt. You said the notion that furniture was being thrown around the room is almost laughable.

I do agree though, in hindsight, he probably wishes that he had alerted someone to what was happening. On the other hand we don't know all the facts, maybe he did and wasn't believed.

An altercation in the stateroom, if there was one.

I've been on enough cruises on several different cruise lines and know that stateroom furniture isn't easily "thrown around".

 

[Warwick7]

An altercation in the stateroom, if there was one.

I've been on enough cruises on several different cruise lines and know that stateroom furniture isn't easily "thrown around".

True, but we might be surprised. It's all so sad...

 

[lonetraveler]

my bad. it was a different cruise, 6 months ago, where she posted a video that ended with "i wanna go home".

DISREGARD WHAT I SAID, PEOPLE.

Is there any information about who went on that cruise? Was wondering if the step-brother was on that cruise too.

 

[Megnut]

May have been furniture being moved or flipped, might have been the sound of his sister being murdered, might have been sounds from hiding her body. I think the punt is that the poor kid heard something, which he interpreted within his own game of reference, which couldn't have -- for even a second -- included a crime. Let alone a murder.

He probably just didn't want to get in the middle of it. In fact, maybe it wasn't even that unfamiliar to him -- maybe he'd witnessed some squabbling between them before.

He will be haunted by it now. Another victim.

JMO

 

[lonetraveler]

It's also very easy to go to a liquor store on the islands with one of those fancy tall empty water bottles or two, buy the liquor of your choice, pour it into the empty water bottles and smuggle your liquor onto the ship. And not have them confiscated when you come back aboard forcing you to buy the ships expensive drinks or not drink at all! Then you get all the virgin drinks you want and make the Alcoholic ones in your room! Much cheaper that way and you can do it at 18!

Thanks for the cost savings tip, LOL

 

[Gemmie]

May have been furniture being moved or flipped, might have been the sound of his sister being murdered, might have been sounds from hiding her body. I think the punt is that the poor kid heard something, which he interpreted within his own game of reference, which couldn't have -- for even a second -- included a crime. Let alone a murder.

He probably just didn't want to get in the middle of it. In fact, maybe it wasn't even that unfamiliar to him -- maybe he'd witnessed some squabbling between them before.

He will be haunted by it now. Another victim.

JMO

Since it's been said she had been put into a chokehold, and it's been said that the younger brother heard signs of chairs being thrown around, and the fact @BetteDavisEyes says that it would be really hard to throw the cabin furniture around (VERY heavy)... that makes me think that

Spoiler: Putting under a spoiler to be sensitive to what I'm about to say

what the brother might have heard was Anna thrashing around in a chokehold, kicking out and likely kicked over some furniture in her death throes.

Plus, those cabins are pretty cramped and I can't imagine she didn't kick stuff at the very end since everything is all right there, trying her darndest to get out of that chokehold alive.

JMO