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

[303gmf]

Whats so chocking about that?
There are many families where the children dont have their own rooms and share rooms or sleep in the livingroom or room equal to one. Not all people have the opportunity or want to give separate rooms to every familymember. I dont think thats astonishing at all.

Separating teens of the opposite sex, ESPECIALLY if all are newly acquainted is just common sense!
Protecting females of ALL ages should be the basic and main rule, I don’t care how many bedrooms lacking

Not normal in my orbit

 

[Kakidoll]

Separating teens of the opposite sex, ESPECIALLY if all are newly acquainted is just common sense!
Protecting females of ALL ages should be the basic and main rule, I don’t care how many bedrooms lacking

Not normal in my

I know I'm a little behind in this group, but, why did he refuse giving over the passports or signing his signature? What was his beef? Wouldn't he want his children to enjoy a cruise?

Unless he was deliberately being an a$$, why be belligerent about not letting them go?

Considering he hadn't seen them for what, 2 years? 18 months? Why was there no custody court date before the emergency one? Did he try, or did he not really care? The family dynamics probably played a part on both sides, but the kids don't seem to be a priority to any of the parents. Until now, of course. I'm guessing both parents used the children as weapons against the other.

 

[Kakidoll]

Separating teens of the opposite sex, ESPECIALLY if all are newly acquainted is just common sense!
Protecting females of ALL ages should be the basic and main rule, I don’t care how many bedrooms lacking

Not normal in my orbit

are you talking about on the ship or at their home?

 

[303gmf]

are you talking about on the ship or at their home?

BOTH
As well as responding to the poster

 

[LMDlong]

I can’t believe charges have not been filed yet?

 

[mickey2942]

I can’t believe charges have not been filed yet?

I think that they are trying to sort out the jurisdiction. Federal or state. I wondered about that issue earlier in the thread.

There may be more issues charging a minor with Federal crime. And what to charge? Manslaughter? Murder 2? What is his story?

Personally, I would prefer state charges. Charge him as an adult, lock him up and throw away the key.

Maybe they need to sort it out, so he can't appeal later.

 

[Kakidoll]

BOTH
As well as responding to the poster

On the ship it wouldn't have concerned me at all. I cruise with many families and the kids (i am speaking teens though) will do sleepovers etc WITH PERMISSION. Heck, i travel with multiple friends i've met ON cruises and share cabins. Do i really know them like i do family or neighbors. No. But i've shared cabins with both male and female on different cruises. Sometimes it works better than others. I cruise all the time with a friend that i met on a ship almost 20 years ago. we both are single older women and enjoy cruising. You pay double for a cabin of your own, so we can take twice as many cruises, and its fun to chat late at night before bed about what happened that day etc.... its vacation mode. She's brought friends from home and we've added a 3rd person and upgraded to balconies or whatever if someone wanted to go last minute. Granted we are adults but that is really the cruising culture.

These 3 lived in the same household at home. It wasn't 'that' new. I believe they moved in about 2 years ago, if not longer. So if you are combining households with kids, its tough. Florida is NOT cheap. So if you have a 3 br house, and 5 kids from 8 -18, how would you separate them? LEGALLY you can only have 2 to a bedroom if renting. (Kepner owns the house though). So you make due until you can either move and afford a new home, or you turn another room into a bedroom. To separate this group, you would need a 5 bedroom home at least. In Titusville, thats going to be hard to find. In my area of Florida, thats going to upwards of 800k minimum. I don't judge the parents on that end at all. I judge them on PARENTING their kids. IF T was violent before, then it should have been addressed and maybe HE doesn't go on the cruise. But we REALLY don't know that yet, everything is speculation and heresay from the exboyfriend/families/ etc. It will take the court case to really know what was going on, IMO.

 

[JudyBolton]

I know I'm a little behind in this group, but, why did he refuse giving over the passports or signing his signature? What was his beef? Wouldn't he want his children to enjoy a cruise?

Unless he was deliberately being an a$$, why be belligerent about not letting them go?

In case you didn't hear this part - the oldest son left the Kepner household due to some sort of violent incident with Anna's dad. He is living with his biological dad at this time. It's not too strange to imagine that he had stories to tell his dad about how things were going in that household. ALSO, I believe the custody battle between Shauntel and her ex began before the cruise. So with a court date pending, and information from the oldest son, it's not surprising he was against his 2 youngest going on the cruise.

 

[Eli9]

In case you didn't hear this part - the oldest son left the Kepner household due to some sort of violent incident with Anna's dad. He is living with his biological dad at this time. It's not too strange to imagine that he had stories to tell his dad about how things were going in that household. ALSO, I believe the custody battle between Shauntel and her ex began before the cruise. So with a court date pending, and information from the oldest son, it's not surprising he was against his 2 youngest going on the cruise.

Did we ever know where the eldest son had in that household, that was bursting at the seams, to sleep?

 

[JennieM]

Whats so chocking about that?
There are many families where the children dont have their own rooms and share rooms or sleep in the livingroom or room equal to one. Not all people have the opportunity or want to give separate rooms to every familymember. I dont think thats astonishing at all.

I just thought there would be less space and even less privacy for Anna.

 

[Ghostwheel]

Considering he hadn't seen them for what, 2 years? 18 months? Why was there no custody court date before the emergency one? Did he try, or did he not really care? The family dynamics probably played a part on both sides, but the kids don't seem to be a priority to any of the parents. Until now, of course. I'm guessing both parents used the children as weapons against the other.

I don't know about the state they are in, but there are many where the courts are so backed up it is over a year for a court date for custody. So say Shauntel started interfering with visitation 18 months ago. Give it a month or two to prove that there is interference, get an attorney and get everything prepared to file for a new custody hearing, custody hearing is 13 months out, then the timeline isn't so strange. I've had friend have to wait for 15 months for a custody hearing as long as the children are not in danger, but what is happening to those kids during that time? They bond closer with the parent who is keeping them from the other parent. It's like, break the visitation rules and profit from it. It seems so wrong on so many levels.

 

[Luna20]

Whats so chocking about that?
There are many families where the children dont have their own rooms and share rooms or sleep in the livingroom or room equal to one. Not all people have the opportunity or want to give separate rooms to every familymember. I dont think thats astonishing at all.

From what I understand is that Anna and another sibling(s) lived in a Trailer Lounge. Im not familiar with what a ‘trailer lounge’ is but the buildings were 100ft apart. I don’t know who specifically lived in the lounge with Anna.

The only thing that I found on what a lounge trailer is that they are towable by various vehicles and SUVs. They don’t require the huge semi trucks to be moved.

 

[OneLove]

>snip< ... The only thing that I found on what a lounge trailer is that they are towable by various vehicles and SUVs. They don’t require the huge semi trucks to be moved.

My verbal search turned up that the difference between rv and rv lounge is the lounge is small, basically one room/space & has seating & small table that converts into bed for sleeping.

If the g'parents plus parents plus all 5 kids were sharing the 2 very small "houses" with only one bathroom, yikes. And. Thats barely a step above homeless.

I'm wondering when in time they kidnapped and tried to force her oldest son to join them. Was it after they'd secured decent housing for them? Or when they were still being sheltered by her father & his wife who kindly inconvenienced themselves to accommodate them all? How would they have accommodated all 6 children even in the next place after Chris was thrown out?

It does seem these emotionally immature parents focused more on shiving their exes by USING their kids as weapons against than they focused on doing the best for their kids. I can't imagine any professional therapists approved of any of these collective actions.

The coming contempt hearing should be even more informative than the emergency hearing.

 

[Luna20]

My verbal search turned up that the difference between rv and rv lounge is the lounge is small, basically one room/space & has seating & small table that converts into bed for sleeping.

If the g'parents plus parents plus all 5 kids were sharing the 2 very small "houses" with only one bathroom, yikes. And. Thats barely a step above homeless.

I'm wondering when in time they kidnapped and tried to force her oldest son to join them. Was it after they'd secured decent housing for them? Or when they were still being sheltered by her father & his wife who kindly inconvenienced themselves to accommodate them all? How would they have accommodated all 6 children even in the next place after Chris was thrown out?

It does seem these emotionally immature parents focused more on shiving their exes by USING their kids as weapons against than they focused on doing the best for their kids. I can't imagine any professional therapists approved of any of these collective actions.

The coming contempt hearing should be even more informative than the emergency hearing.

It’s messy, that’s for sure. I think both sides are at fault here. Doing the best for the children was an afterthought. Based on their living conditions I am wondering how they afforded to go on a cruise. If you can’t have the kids under one roof with the parents then how did they manage an expensive vacation.

 

[OneLove]

>snip< ... Based on their living conditions I am wondering how they afforded to go on a cruise. If you can’t have the kids under one roof with the parents then how did they manage an expensive vacation.

Yes, and thanks for that observation! With SK's low pay grade job and, even though we don't know CK's income, it certainly appears likely its not high given their former and present living conditions and marginization of Anna in their lives, I have wondered the same. And this was not the first cruise either.

Maybe his parents paid or helped pay? I'm wondering why they didn't also shelter them all when they were having to live in those sad conditions with SK's father & wife.

 

[mickey2942]

Cruises are relatively inexpensive in Florida, with additional discounts for Florida residents. If this family had been on cruises previously, as indicated by Anna stating how much she enjoyed the other cruise, they may have even received a comp.

Cruise lines want that ship full of people with no where to go, and nothing to do but drink cheap booze and go play in the casino. You can't lay out by the pool all of the time.

 

[Gemmie]

If this family had been on cruises previously, as indicated by Anna stating how much she enjoyed the other cruise, they may have even received a comp.

SBMFF

Anna has definitely been on other cruises which can be determined from the time stamp on a May cruise taken from her TicTok page. It's also pre-tattoos, which it's my belief she got when she either turned 18 (6/13 per her obit) or shortly after.

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7503343288527703327

 

[steeltowngirl]

I think that they are trying to sort out the jurisdiction. Federal or state. I wondered about that issue earlier in the thread.

There may be more issues charging a minor with Federal crime. And what to charge? Manslaughter? Murder 2? What is his story?

Personally, I would prefer state charges. Charge him as an adult, lock him up and throw away the key.

Maybe they need to sort it out, so he can't appeal later.

That’s what the custody lawyer said.

"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."

The Sun

The Best for News, Sport, Showbiz, Celebrities

www.the-sun.com

 

[mickey2942]

That’s what the custody lawyer said.

"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."

The Sun

The Best for News, Sport, Showbiz, Celebrities

www.the-sun.com

From your article above:

"She said the three teenagers were all placed in the same room “upon the advice of a travel agent.”

Shauntel testified that Kepner, her stepbrother, and her brother got along like “Three Amigos,” describing their relationship as “best friends.”."

WTH?! A "travel agent", who does not know the family, decides who sleeps where?! Really?

And based on information from other sources, it doesn't sound like Anna thought they were "Three Musketeers".

Shauntel is definitely doing "Mama Bear". She says "16 YO" was diagnosed with "ADHD". And missed his sleeping medication 2x on the cruise. Sure, all boys with ADHD who miss their meds become psycho killers. Not.

 

[Mauritius]

I think that they are trying to sort out the jurisdiction. Federal or state. I wondered about that issue earlier in the thread.

There may be more issues charging a minor with Federal crime. And what to charge? Manslaughter? Murder 2? What is his story?

Personally, I would prefer state charges. Charge him as an adult, lock him up and throw away the key.

Maybe they need to sort it out, so he can't appeal later.

Re the waiting to figure out jurisdiction being the reason, it is understandable at first but as time passes it bothers me:


Is this kind of FBI “jurisdiction limbo” normal? Where they sit on a case saying they will have to turn it over to another jurisdiction but then take week(s)
to figure out where to turn it over? I agree I want the law to get things right, but if the suspect was suspected of killing a stranger, or multiple people … would the fbi actually just delay an arrest or even turning over the case to anyone, while they slowly figured out jurisdiction? That doesn’t seem safe.

Plus, the local or state or other agency they decide to turn it over to - - now that new agency who gets it will be in charge, but they will be stuck taking a case that is weeks old, hasn’t been worked on in weeks, where ship evidence is gone, ship witnesses dispersed, and time and fresh memories are passing - the fbi delay-limbo hampers the agency that will ultimately be in charge of the investigation and prosecution. That agency won’t be able to do any independent investigation at this point, as to many aspects of the case.

I just feel this is strange and can’t believe no authority is in charge or acting right now.

(And writing made me realize it’s seems so strange, that possibly the *real* behind the scenes situation is very different - maybe the suspect is just n fact securely confined and monitored, and the case is still being worked, and that info is just not publicized.)