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

[Megnut]

CourtTV is playing the hearing.

 

[Herat]

As an 18 year old young woman, and I acknowledge everyone is different, I would not enjoy being on a cruise ship sharing living/sleeping quarters with my grandparents. JMO

True, but she is not paying for her cabin and she needs to deal with it.

Personally, I would not want an 18 year old girl to have her own cabin unless it was attached and the door was unlocked all the time.

 

[tlcya]

True, but she is not paying for her cabin and she needs to deal with it.

unfortunately she will no longer have to deal with anything

ETA 18 is old enough to live independently, attend college, but not have her own cabin or room on a vacation? I realize finances probably played a part in the decision making about rooming, I am simply suggesting that of the two options Anna was allegedly given, neither would have been particularly attractive to me at that age. We don't have to agree on the matter. That's the beauty of conversation, everyone comes into it with their own thoughts, ideas and experiences.

 

[Megnut]

It's important IMO to remember that, while Anna may have chosen to be on the save floor as everyone and bunk with T, she never agreed to be alone with him. Perhaps she felt it tolerable because her brother would be there... while she was sleeping. Insurance against any posssible encroachment from T.

On the day she was murdered, in guessing she didn't expect or want to be or accept being alone in that room with just him EVER.

Leaving dinner early (under the pretense/pretext of not feeling good/her teeth hurting) to get ready to go out again hives nod to that IMO. While T was busy at dinner, she would have the room to herself, perfect for getting ready safely and privately.

She would have had NO IDEA that he'd EVER be homicidal... and on a cruise, of all places.

I'm guessing she became aware of that capacity only when he locked the stateroom door, locking her in there with him.

I can't fathom the horror she felt in that moment.

JMO

 

[Herat]

unfortunately she will no longer have to deal with anything

Yes, tragically so.

I think at the first news of her death, most everyone was very concerned about what trouble an 18 year old girl could get into on a cruise ship, if not in the company of a reliable friend or family member.

 

[tlcya]

Yes, tragically so.

I think at the first news of her death, most everyone was very concerned about what trouble an 18 year old girl could get into on a cruise ship, if not in the company of a reliable friend or family member.

agree, it is very sad that the trouble turned out to be so much closer to her than any of us probably first imagined when reading about her death

 

[Megnut]

Shauntel doesn't look so happy right now.

Appears there is no love lost between her and her stepmother.

Welcome to the family dysfunction junction.

JMO

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1997029431282401314

 

[Gemmie]

Shauntel doesn't look so happy right now.

Appears there is no love lost between her and her stepmother.

Welcome to the family dysfunction junction.

JMO

*sings* Dysfunction junction, what's your function?

 

[Serononin]

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

It makes me think of the JonBenet Ramsey case, where it took months for investigators to be able to talk to her parents and brother because their lawyers would only agree to it under very specific conditions. Not that I think the Kepner-Hudsons have Ramsey money, but they may have an attorney trying similar tactics

 

[sprightly]

Yes, tragically so.

I think at the first news of her death, most everyone was very concerned about what trouble an 18 year old girl could get into on a cruise ship, if not in the company of a reliable friend or family member.

Respectfully, I don't think 18-year-old women need to be supervised at all times to keep them safe, and I doubt anyone would say the same thing about an 18-year-old man. An 18-year-old is legally an adult, not a child, and the conversation shouldn’t center on what "trouble" they might get into; the real focus should be on the responsibility others have to NOT HARM THEM and on the systems that should protect EVERYONE, regardless of age. I'm a 45-year-old woman and definitely don't need to be "in the company of a reliable friend or family member" (now or at age 18), but if someone much bigger and stronger than me (which doesn't take much) wanted to hurt me, they certainly could. Sometimes people -- of any age -- can make all the right choices and still end up in danger because of forces out of their control.

 

[Serononin]

As close as she was to her Memaw and Pepaw, and how UNclose she was with a teen boy not even in the house a year, I'd have bunked with Memaw and Pepaw.

I wouldn't want to be as close as you'd have to be in their cabin, naked under her pajamas, and sharing it with a 16 year old boy with raging hormones. Especially one that it's been said was inappropriate to her in the past (laid on top of her according to her ex-BF). Nope. No way, no how.

With that said... she's still be alive if she had accepted their offer.

Although we don't know what other factors might have contributed to that decision. For example, my own grandma was a lovely woman, but she also had terrible insomnia, which led to her keeping hours that could only be described as anti-social to anyone who had to share a room with her

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Anna Kepner's cruise ship death: Stepmom fights to keep custody of her younger child

Weeks after 18-year-old Anna Kepner mysteriously died on a cruise ship and her stepsibling was named a "suspect" by his parents, the stepsibling's mom was in court.

abcnews.go.com

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I had not seen this video interview with the grandparents... but it is clear, focussed, and worth listening to, even if it is a second listen.

Video Grandparents of teen who died on carnival cruise ship speak out

18-year-old Anna Kepner’s death has been ruled a homicide caused by "mechanical asphyxia," according to a copy of the death certificate provided to ABC News by Anna’s family.

abcnews.go.com

 

[Stunned]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1997029431282401314

For Pete's sake! Is this the first SK is hearing this news? She better get her son the help he needs now, not when a court tells her too! Get the ball rolling now! He needs his Mom, not a TT! IMO

 

[Eli9]

I had not seen this video interview with the grandparents... but it is clear, focussed, and worth listening to, even if it is a second listen.

Video Grandparents of teen who died on carnival cruise ship speak out

18-year-old Anna Kepner’s death has been ruled a homicide caused by "mechanical asphyxia," according to a copy of the death certificate provided to ABC News by Anna’s family.

abcnews.go.com

I'm pretty sure I saw a condensed version of this. Thank you for linking.
I know she says AW and her step brother were like actual brother and sister but I have trouble getting there. Probably based on what happened to AW allegedly at the hands of her step but that's where I am.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

One of my sisters and I went on a Halloween cruise some years ago. My sister didn't have a lot of money but really wanted and needed to get away for a few days. I booked our airline tickets and an interior stateroom to keep costs down. Anyone who's been on a cruise knows that, unless you can afford suite accommodations, the bathrooms are miniscule. There is barely room to turn around in the shower, and only one person can be in the bathroom at a time. Even though we are sisters, we did not want to shower or dress when the other was in the stateroom. We agreed on privacy when we needed to shower and dress, so one of us left the cabin for a period of time while the other used the bathroom.

I cannot fathom how Anna must have felt having to use the tiny bathroom in an interior stateroom with two teenage boys. Unless they had some type of privacy agreement like my sister and I did, Anna must have felt extremely uncomfortable and vulnerable. The very thought of such circumstances makes me cringe.

 

[mickey2942]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15357529/anna-kepner-stepmother-custody-battle-murder-fbi-stepbrother.html

Well, it is official.

 

[Gemmie]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15357529/anna-kepner-stepmother-custody-battle-murder-fbi-stepbrother.html

Well, it is official.

From your article:

'We are not sure what the FBI are going to do, whether he's going to be charged federally or whether it's going to be turned over to the state,' said Millicent Athanason, a lawyer representing the boy's mother, Shauntel Hudson.

'They are also waiting on some testing results,' she added, without revealing details. 'They don't know how long it's going to take.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15357529/anna-kepner-stepmother-custody-battle-murder-fbi-stepbrother.html

 

[Trebor5591]

FBI weighing state or federal charges against 16-year-old in Anna Kepner cruise ship homicide case: lawyer​

MELBOURNE, Fla. — The attorney for Anna Kepner's stepmother acknowledged that her 16-year-old stepson may soon face charges at the state or federal level in connection with the 18-year-old cheerleader's death aboard a Carnival cruise ship last month.

"We're not sure what the FBI is going to do," said Millicent Athanason, attorney for Shauntel Kepner. "Whether he's going to be charged federally or whether they're going to turn it over to the state."

FBI weighing state or federal charges against 16-year-old in Anna Kepner cruise ship homicide case: lawyer

Emergency custody hearing reveals Anna Kepner's stepbrother may face charges in Carnival cruise death as FBI investigation continues into homicide.

www.foxnews.com