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

[BetteDavisEyes]

https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/crimes-onboard-cruise-ships

Crimes Onboard Cruise Ships​

Did you know that the FBI investigates crimes committed onboard cruise ships?

Crimes during cruises​

The FBI focuses its investigative efforts on specified serious crimes committed within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the U.S. These crimes include but are not limited to...

The FBI also looks into suspicious deaths and/or missing U.S. nationals...

 

[steeltowngirl]

21 for ships sailing from the U.S. 18 in Europe and elsewhere in the world depending on local drinking age.

Alcohol sales are among the highest revenue-generating factor on cruise ships. There are usually several bars on all public decks - you don't have to walk too far to get to the nearest bar Also, beverage packages have become the norm on most ships making it possible to drink as much as you want all day long. Drink packages can cost as much as $60-100 per person per day in addition to your basic cruise fare and may also include specialty coffees, soda, shakes, and juices along with other perks that make your cruise all-inclusive. DH and I drink wine with dinner but don't consume other alcohol. I don't drink coffee at all anymore, and DH is happy with a cup or two in the morning from the buffet or room service (no charge for coffee). We don't drink soda or shakes, breakfast juices are free in the buffet or with room service, and we don't need some of the other perks that may be included with the pricy drink packages. It's safe to say that alcohol consumption is encouraged on cruise ships and the promotion of "all-inclusive" drink packages have made it easier for guests to drink all day long.

It's also super easy to get an alcoholic drink on a cruise and then hand it off to someone else - including a minor.

I have not cruised a lot, just 3x. Was on one in March, and I noticed the area on the top deck (near the elevators in the rear of the boat) was super sketchy and not well-lit. It was a veritable dead zone while the onboard entertainment was happening on the lower decks.

JMO

 

[MayMay1123]

Carnival's alcohol drinking age is 21. The alcohol "package" is around $80 per day and gets you 15 drinks. This also includes unlimited other drinks. Although you technically could pass off a drink to a minor, anyone that is caught passing a drink to anyone else, even an adult, loses their drink package for the rest of the cruise. There may be some sort of other penalty for giving alcohol to a minor. Anyone caught with illegal substances (mostly marijuana) is put off at the next port and banned for life. They do have drug sniffing dogs at home ports, but I've still smelled weed during cruises.

 

[KooshBall]

Carnival's alcohol drinking age is 21. The alcohol "package" is around $80 per day and gets you 15 drinks. This also includes unlimited other drinks. Although you technically could pass off a drink to a minor, anyone that is caught passing a drink to anyone else, even an adult, loses their drink package for the rest of the cruise. There may be some sort of other penalty for giving alcohol to a minor. Anyone caught with illegal substances (mostly marijuana) is put off at the next port and banned for life. They do have drug sniffing dogs at home ports, but I've still smelled weed during cruises.

15 drinks a day is shocking to me. Sounds like people can end up wasted.

 

[Marie A]

Body of cheerleader, 18, found stuffed under bed on Carnival cruise

The death of 18-year-old cheerleader Anna Kepner has taken an unsettling turn, as sources tell the Daily Mail how her body was found aboard a Carnival Cruise ship.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Confirming her body was wrapped up under her bed with life jackets on it by housekeeper around 11 am after her family couldn’t find her.

I want to know if she was room sharing with step siblings or had a solo room.

I understand that there is room to crawl under these beds and they do have life jackets regularly stuffed under them,

Very curious whether there was evidence of foul play on her body or not.

Horrific tragedy. So sad for Anna’s loved ones.

 

[Gemmie]

Body of cheerleader, 18, found stuffed under bed on Carnival cruise

The death of 18-year-old cheerleader Anna Kepner has taken an unsettling turn, as sources tell the Daily Mail how her body was found aboard a Carnival Cruise ship.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Confirming her body was wrapped up under her bed with life jackets on it by housekeeper around 11 am after her family couldn’t find her.

I want to know if she was room sharing with step siblings or had a solo room.

I understand that there is room to crawl under these beds and they do have life jackets regularly stuffed under them,

Very curious whether there was evidence of foul play on her body or not.

Horrific tragedy. So sad for Anna’s loved ones.

IMO she did not wrap herself up in a blanket and stuff herself under the bed, regardless of whether they are currently saying whether or not she was murdered.

The body of a high school cheerleader found dead on board a Carnival cruise ship was found wrapped in a blanket and stuffed under a bed

FBI agents swarmed the Carnival Horizon when it arrived back at the Port of Miami but have not disclosed what happened to her – or whether she was murdered.
This is making me wonder if someone drugged her with the intention of raping her while family was still in the dining area and she went back to her room alone. It's sure feeling like that to me.
Sources have now told Daily Mail that Anna complained of feeling unwell on the evening of November 6 while she was eating dinner and she headed back to her cabin.

Body of cheerleader, 18, found stuffed under bed on Carnival cruise

The death of 18-year-old cheerleader Anna Kepner has taken an unsettling turn, as sources tell the Daily Mail how her body was found aboard a Carnival Cruise ship.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Stunned]

I really never expected this! I thought it was going to be something with the poor young girls health that caused her death!

 

[Gemmie]

I saw this condolence on Anna's obit page that's very touching. It's several "load more" pages down.

Sleep in peace young lady.You wanted to be in the Navy K-9 unit. Well in heaven there are many, many dogs who have left the earth. And they need someone like you to take care of them. Soo, I hope your heavenly life is fulfilled in that respect. As far as serving in the Navy. You are now serving in a much larger force, In Heaven. Hope to see you there someday Anna watching out and caring for all those pet dogs in Heaven.

Obituary information for Anna Marie Kepner

View Anna Marie Kepner's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

www.northbrevardfuneralhome.com

 

[sunspun]

Wow, never expected to hear this. Sounds to me like someone wrapped her in a blanket and put life jackets (plural!) on her to hide her body at least somewhat. Someone said lifejackets are regularly stored under the beds, so by putting some on her body, I think they hoped she would blend in with the other lifejackets under the bed.

If so. sounds like it was done hastily, as if they had to get out of the room quick.

I doubt if they thought this hiding place would keep her from being found for very long, so it must have been the only option they could think of at that moment. So, in other words, there was no chance at the time for them to throw her body into the sea, which would have made a much better "hiding place".

So she must have died in her room? Or would it have been possible to carry her into the room from wherever?

She must have died in the room, because if they had been able to carry her in there without being seen, then they should have been able to carry her out and find a better way to hide her body (like throwing her overboard.)

 

[KooshBall]

It's sad that females are not even safe on a cruise. I'm thinking by now LE must know who went into her room. There are cameras in the hallways, correct?

 

[Gemmie]

It's sad that females are not even safe on a cruise. I'm thinking by now LE must know who went into her room. There are cameras in the hallways, correct?

Females aren't safe anywhere. JMO (from decades of "experiences").

 

[borndem]

15 drinks a day is shocking to me. Sounds like people can end up wasted.

Or worse, indeed. SMH.

 

[Arkay]

She must have died in the room, because if they had been able to carry her in there without being seen, then they should have been able to carry her out and find a better way to hide her body (like throwing her overboard.)

IMO, yes and no.

I do believe she had to have been killed in the room as she was ”stored” beneath the bed (OMG), but there are no cameras inside a room *. However, cameras on every deck would capture someone throwing her off the ship.

Her body wouldn’t be found, but the murderer likely would in the closed environment of a cruise ship, unless he got off at a port and absconded.

* legally of course there are no cameras inside a stateroom, but who knows anymore when it comes to creeps with tech know-how.

JMO

 

[Pecan_Picker]

I saw this condolence on Anna's obit page that's very touching. It's several "load more" pages down.

Sleep in peace young lady.You wanted to be in the Navy K-9 unit. Well in heaven there are many, many dogs who have left the earth. And they need someone like you to take care of them. Soo, I hope your heavenly life is fulfilled in that respect. As far as serving in the Navy. You are now serving in a much larger force, In Heaven. Hope to see you there someday Anna watching out and caring for all those pet dogs in Heaven.

Obituary information for Anna Marie Kepner

View Anna Marie Kepner's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

www.northbrevardfuneralhome.com

I'm not crying, you're crying. So beautiful .

 

[Gemmie]

Here is Anna's TikTok.

TikTok - Make Your Day

 

[joeconn4]

Wow, never expected to hear this. Sounds to me like someone wrapped her in a blanket and put life jackets (plural!) on her to hide her body at least somewhat. Someone said lifejackets are regularly stored under the beds, so by putting some on her body, I think they hoped she would blend in with the other lifejackets under the bed.

If so. sounds like it was done hastily, as if they had to get out of the room quick.

I doubt if they thought this hiding place would keep her from being found for very long, so it must have been the only option they could think of at that moment. So, in other words, there was no chance at the time for them to throw her body into the sea, which would have made a much better "hiding place".

So she must have died in her room? Or would it have been possible to carry her into the room from wherever?

She must have died in the room, because if they had been able to carry her in there without being seen, then they should have been able to carry her out and find a better way to hide her body (like throwing her overboard.)

We have been on 7 cruises, 2018-2025, 6 on Royal Caribbean ships (4 different ships) and 1 on Norwegian. On most cruise ships, including all 5 that we have been on, guest life jackets are not stored in guest rooms under the beds. They are stored in large cabinets at muster stations. All guests are assigned a specific muster station that you are to go to if the emergency signal sounds. That is thought to be better practice because if there was an emergency guests could be anywhere on the ship so to make them go back to their room to get their life jacket then on to their muster station would take A LOT of time and would be a lot more dangerous than having guests go directly to their muster station.

The cabinets that the life jackets are stored in can only be opened by staff. There may be life jackets stored in other places on the ship. For example, I don't know if the staff's life jackets are the ones in the muster station cabinets or if they're located in a "behind the scenes" location(s).

Anything being thrown overboard, for instance a body, is going to be seen by security immediately. There are hundreds of cameras, and I believe as an added safety measure there are alarms if anything goes overboard. You would need a massive conspiracy involving a large number of staff for a body to go overboard during a cruise and not have an alert immediately occur.

IMO it would be possible for a body to be transported from one location to another without being seen. The challenge here is that it has been reported that her body was discovered at 11:xx am. That is prime time for people moving around the ship. If we were talking 3am it's possible to move around the ship without seeing many people. This ship had around 3900 guests, likely around 1100 crew. I don't see any plausible way a body could be moved around at that time of day. Of course the other thing is that at that time of day the movements of one or a couple people will blend in with everybody else. At 3am security cameras could practically follow a person anywhere on the ship if they wanted to.

One question I have is "was she sharing a cabin with another person or persons", and if so what were the movements of all of those people on that morning. The vast majority of cruise passengers are in double occupancy rooms or suites. This ship likely has around 1900 guest cabins, and I suspect less than 25 of those are designed for single passengers. Some single guests will book a double room. But this being a family trip I'd be surprised if Anna was in a single room.

I suspect this will be solved pretty quickly. LE will focus on the cameras for that corridor of the ship, find out if she entered that room alone or with someone else, and see who went in/out of that room in the 24 hours around when her body was discovered.

 

[Gemmie]

SS from one of her TikTok's. That's an Apple watch. I wonder if that's what she was wearing in another pic that was posted way upthread. If so, LE might be able to figure out exact time of death. Unless they already did and that's why it was stated by the ME already (before the ship had docked).

<modsnip: As per The Rules, screenshots from victim or perp social media are not allowed, only links.>

TikTok - Make Your Day

 

[Herat]

We have been on 7 cruises, 2018-2025, 6 on Royal Caribbean ships (4 different ships) and 1 on Norwegian. On most cruise ships, including all 5 that we have been on, guest life jackets are not stored in guest rooms under the beds. They are stored in large cabinets at muster stations. All guests are assigned a specific muster station that you are to go to if the emergency signal sounds. That is thought to be better practice because if there was an emergency guests could be anywhere on the ship so to make them go back to their room to get their life jacket then on to their muster station would take A LOT of time and would be a lot more dangerous than having guests go directly to their muster station.

The cabinets that the life jackets are stored in can only be opened by staff. There may be life jackets stored in other places on the ship. For example, I don't know if the staff's life jackets are the ones in the muster station cabinets or if they're located in a "behind the scenes" location(s).

Anything being thrown overboard, for instance a body, is going to be seen by security immediately. There are hundreds of cameras, and I believe as an added safety measure there are alarms if anything goes overboard. You would need a massive conspiracy involving a large number of staff for a body to go overboard during a cruise and not have an alert immediately occur.

IMO it would be possible for a body to be transported from one location to another without being seen. The challenge here is that it has been reported that her body was discovered at 11:xx am. That is prime time for people moving around the ship. If we were talking 3am it's possible to move around the ship without seeing many people. This ship had around 3900 guests, likely around 1100 crew. I don't see any plausible way a body could be moved around at that time of day. Of course the other thing is that at that time of day the movements of one or a couple people will blend in with everybody else. At 3am security cameras could practically follow a person anywhere on the ship if they wanted to.

One question I have is "was she sharing a cabin with another person or persons", and if so what were the movements of all of those people on that morning. The vast majority of cruise passengers are in double occupancy rooms or suites. This ship likely has around 1900 guest cabins, and I suspect less than 25 of those are designed for single passengers. Some single guests will book a double room. But this being a family trip I'd be surprised if Anna was in a single room.

I suspect this will be solved pretty quickly. LE will focus on the cameras for that corridor of the ship, find out if she entered that room alone or with someone else, and see who went in/out of that room in the 24 hours around when her body was discovered.

According to Google, the Carnival Horizon ship has passenger life jackets stored inside the cabin closet for each guest.
There are also additional life jackets at the muster station.

I would presume the life jacket found on top of the body was the one from inside her cabin's closet.

Why would the apparent perp gone through the work to get a life jacket, anyway?

A quick Google reveals the Carnival Horizon has 1,450 crew members. I wonder if any of them are missing.

Does anyone know which kind of cabin she was in?

 

[crhedBngr]

So so so so true now with cameras everywhere and the Internet.

I was assaulted on a cruise ship decades ago when I had become ill and thrown up in the casino. The guy who came to clean up sexually assaulted me in my bed because stupidly I went back to my room without my then- husband.

The only thing I was able to do was write a letter, there was no email yet, and tell what happened but I never heard back.

With cameras now they should be able to see where the victim was, who was near her, who entered her room or followed her around.

I love cruising and have still gone on many despite what happened to me.

This is on an entirely different level, of course. It’s beyond horrendous and I ache for that family.
JMO and JMexperience.

I'm so sorry this happened to you, @Arkay .

{{{HUGS}}}

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I hope security cameras recorded enough that there is already a POI and that toxicology testing checks for everything that might have been put into her drink. My heart goes out to her family.