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

[PayrollNerd]

I do wonder if, given the lack of urgency by the FBI, the boy isn't already in some sort of custody arrangement in a state juvenile situation. It doesn't sound like he is out and about, nor should he be.

That’s a possibility too. However, I could have sworn I read on a prior WS post, that he was placed with a relative. That post had an article linked to it, if I’m remembering correctly.

I haven’t perused the “court of public opinion” outside of WS until this afternoon. Nothing short of what I expected to read, so I went back to my quilting.

 

[mickey2942]

Would a custody battle be more along the lines, of, "no, you take him". "No, you take him"? He doesn't seem to be much of a prize.

 

[Kakidoll]

I do wonder if, given the lack of urgency by the FBI, the boy isn't already in some sort of custody arrangement in a state juvenile situation. It doesn't sound like he is out and about, nor should he be.

I doubt it. If anything they have him in a mental health/counseling type confined facility, not state. He's not arrested or charged, so they aren't able to do that at this time. BUT mom could have had him put into a 30 day treatment facility... as that will look 'good' for when it does go to court.. AND for her custody case this week. They want him hidden away where no one can ask him questions and i'm betting they have it so he can't talk to anyone other than approved and already have an attorney for him.

 

[su5ie]

Why is it taking so long to charge him , honest question.? Do they have to see if the other boy was involved even though he was seen leaving the room

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Why is it taking so long to charge him , honest question.? Do they have to see if the other boy was involved even though he was seen leaving the room

Do we even know if they've talked to him yet? Just to echo another poster, for all we know he's still hospitalized. If this was a mental health issue, charges will take a while as he may not be able to speak with police in a meaningful way, either due to medications or his mental state.

 

[Kemug]

I would think he would be quite a high flight risk.

 

[Mauritius]

I doubt it. If anything they have him in a mental health/counseling type confined facility, not state. He's not arrested or charged, so they aren't able to do that at this time. BUT mom could have had him put into a 30 day treatment facility... as that will look 'good' for when it does go to court.. AND for her custody case this week. They want him hidden away where no one can ask him questions and i'm betting they have it so he can't talk to anyone other than approved and already have an attorney for him.

Good point, and made me think (using hypothetical phrasing): if a person is under a psychiatric hold, there may be a family member with guardianship/ power of attorney or whatever the case may be, but the situation is that they are in a facility under a “hold” and the outside person role is who the doctors are talking with during that time. I don’t know the terms obviously but agree he may not be actually just at home with a family member.

 

[Luna20]

Except we know for a fact it happens on cruise ships.

https://www.transportation.gov/stop-human-trafficking/maritime-ports

Human Trafficking and the Hospitality Industry | Homeland Security

Traffickers often take advantage of the privacy and anonymity accessible through the hospitality industry.

www.dhs.gov

None of unsupervised children are immune from trafficking. Some of the cruises have stop offs at different locations for a day. I don’t know why the parents would allow a child to be alone and unsupervised on a cruise.

I go to the restroom in a fast food restaurant with anyone who is with me at a vulnerable age. If my daughter goes to the restroom at a casual restaurant, game, concert etc, my son in law stands outside the door.

It’s just the world we are living in. A sad reality.

 

[Spectrix]

Why is it taking so long to charge him , honest question.? Do they have to see if the other boy was involved even though he was seen leaving the room

Because the bar for a murder charge is very high one. At this early stage I don't believe the full autopsy and toxicology have even been released.
As the incident occurred in international waters outside of any state jurisdiction, the FBI is handling the case. The have a very high conviction rate, likewise they're extremely thorough in their investigations. It's going to take some time.

 

[steeltowngirl]

Good point, and made me think (using hypothetical phrasing): if a person is under a psychiatric hold, there may be a family member with guardianship/ power of attorney or whatever the case may be, but the situation is that they are in a facility under a “hold” and the outside person role is who the doctors are talking with during that time. I don’t know the terms obviously but agree he may not be actually just at home with a family member.

Great post! Couldn’t help but notice you’ve been a member for 9 years and that was your first post!

Welcome to Websleuths @Mauritius

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

I'm still trying to digest what Anna's Grandmother said about the step brother. It gave the appearance that she was taking up for him.

Anna's body was hidden under a bed after she died from asphyxiation, after which some family members threw her under the bus.

 

[steeltowngirl]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1995692340732932176

 

[mickey2942]

Such a pretty girl, with a full life ahead of her. I am worried that the victim in this case will be lost. And that the perpetrator, will be coached into making this a self defense case.

 

[sprightly]

It comes from a government website that's based on law enforcement and security. Not sure what type of sources of information they need. They know what they know through investigation, not research studies.

MOO.

I'm sure trafficking victims have been transported on cruise ships. What I have a very hard time believing (and this document does not change my mind) is that victims are KIDNAPPED FROM cruise ships. That's just not the way it works.

Human trafficking=very real.
Stories about people with families, jobs, and resources being kidnapped and forced into human trafficking=with very few exceptions, paranoid fantasy

 

[Kakidoll]

I'm sure trafficking victims have been transported on cruise ships. What I have a very hard time believing (and this document does not change my mind) is that victims are KIDNAPPED FROM cruise ships. That's just not the way it works.

Human trafficking=very real.
Stories about people with families, jobs, and resources being kidnapped and forced into human trafficking=with very few exceptions, paranoid fantasy

Agreed. The ID process of getting on AND getting off cruise ships is tight. Photos are attached and rung up multiple times. The only way i see it being 'easy' is if someone is taken after they are in a port or on an excursion etc. Now back 20 years ago, different story.

 

[mickey2942]

Agreed. The ID process of getting on AND getting off cruise ships is tight. Photos are attached and rung up multiple times. The only way i see it being 'easy' is if someone is taken after they are in a port or on an excursion etc. Now back 20 years ago, different story.

Agreed. I hear so many of these stories...and the real truth of "human trafficking" is more likely the gal doing pedicures for 12 hours a day.

 

[Mdcastle]

I mean, my mother was afraid my sister was going to be kidnapped and human trafficked when I went on a vacation to Chicago with her.

 

[sprightly]

Sure, and my MIL thinks my 13-year-old daughter is going to get human-trafficked if I let her walk to the corner store, but she also thinks people are putting fentanyl in her candy bucket when she goes trick-or-treating and scheming to leave a water bottle on my car in the grocery store parking lot to lure me out so they can human-traffic me, too. And let's not even get started on what she thinks is going to happen to my older kid, who is in college in NYC. What people believe human trafficking looks like and what it actually looks like are vastly different. Regardless, though, Anna definitely wasn't trafficked. She, like most victims, was killed by someone close to her.

 

[Wallendo]

Anna's ex-boyfriend has mentioned that he would have been on the cruise if they hadn't broken up. I wondered at the time if it was hopeful thinking, but more recently have wondered if he was actually part of the original plan. Cruises are often planned many months in advance. If the original plans involved the ex-boyfriend, a likely arrangement would have been younger children the (step)parents, the three teen males in a separate cabin, and Anna staying with grandparents. Something many of us would have seen as a rational arrangement. Possibly, when the ex was no longer in the picture, moving Anna from the grandparent's cabin to the teen cabin may have been seen as a way to give her a full bed.

From what we have now heard, I don't think stepbrother and boyfriend in the same cabin would have been a happy combination.