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

[su5ie]

It could just be his name that is redacted, since punctuation is often missing in text messages.

Yes I felt it was his name as he is a minor

 

[mickey2942]

It is interesting that the father of the 16 year old, in his message to the child's mother his ex wife, describes the 16 year old as "your son", not "our son".

• In another exchange between the two that was filed in court, Hudson wrote: "I kept my mouth shut when you told me that you can't jeopardize your marriage for helping [redacted] your son"

I am very interested to know what the redacted word or phrase is. In context, it is likely a verb. I initially thought it was simply an expletive, but that doesn't really make sense. What was the 16 year old's father keeping quiet about?

Following this case, I feel like there is a tremendous amount of relevant backstory which is being kept quiet.

I completely agree with this. When I taught school, so many times, things kids did, were never officially documented. It was just "known" that "so and so" was more violent. Of course, this is 40 years ago, I retired from teaching in 2012. But even then, so many incidents were never really given the weight of documentation that should have been done, and shown a progression of escalating anti social behavior.

I wonder if 16 year old had issues at school, then transferred to another school, another school, so there really wasn't a "paper trail" of his behavior. So many times, things slide, because they are not violent enough to document.

 

[lonetraveler]

It is interesting that the father of the 16 year old, in his message to the child's mother his ex wife, describes the 16 year old as "your son", not "our son".

• In another exchange between the two that was filed in court, Hudson wrote: "I kept my mouth shut when you told me that you can't jeopardize your marriage for helping [redacted] your son"

I am very interested to know what the redacted word or phrase is. In context, it is likely a verb. I initially thought it was simply an expletive, but that doesn't really make sense. What was the 16 year old's father keeping quiet about?

Following this case, I feel like there is a tremendous amount of relevant backstory which is being kept quiet.

BBM: I feel like there is a backstory here. I wonder if the 18 yr old was put into a choke hold due to something having to do with Anna. Maybe the 16 yr old blamed her for his brother moving into his father's house and took his anger out by doing the very same thing to her.

 

[DustysMom]

It is interesting that the father of the 16 year old, in his message to the child's mother his ex wife, describes the 16 year old as "your son", not "our son".

• In another exchange between the two that was filed in court, Hudson wrote: "I kept my mouth shut when you told me that you can't jeopardize your marriage for helping [redacted] your son"

I am very interested to know what the redacted word or phrase is. In context, it is likely a verb. I initially thought it was simply an expletive, but that doesn't really make sense. What was the 16 year old's father keeping quiet about?

Following this case, I feel like there is a tremendous amount of relevant backstory which is being kept quiet.

Relevant backstory …. Probably a huge understatement

 

[Chypre]

I completely agree with this. When I taught school, so many times, things kids did, were never officially documented. It was just "known" that "so and so" was more violent. Of course, this is 40 years ago, I retired from teaching in 2012. But even then, so many incidents were never really given the weight of documentation that should have been done, and shown a progression of escalating anti social behavior.

I wonder if 16 year old had issues at school, then transferred to another school, another school, so there really wasn't a "paper trail" of his behavior. So many times, things slide, because they are not violent enough to document.

I so relate. We started peer programs "for the little stuff" conflicts. Documentation is valuable because it undeniably proved patterns of intimidation from students that would never outright be suspended.

 

[lonetraveler]

But wasn't this her ex husband? The father of her son? Not Anna's father. He was on the ship with her. Or am I totally confused?

I'm watching FOX 35 Orlando and a lady is going over text messages retrieved from the family. It is very sad to hear about the father of the 16 year old beg and plead to take his daughter away from what is going on with the death of Anna and she flatly refuses.
Watching on Youtube

 

[mickey2942]

I'm watching FOX 35 Orlando and a lady is going over text messages retrieved from the family. It is very sad to hear about the father of the 16 year old beg and plead to take his daughter away from what is going on with the death of Anna and she flatly refuses.
Watching on Youtube

Wherever that child lands, this entire situation has affected her. Too bad these parents are so wrapped up in their own drama, to not be able to come together for their kids.

Although, that being said, this entire situation would have been avoided if Chantel had not taken the 16 yo on the cruise. She did it, completely to spite her ex. It is absolutely mind boggling to me. She knew she was not supposed to take the minor children on vacation out of jurisdiction without consent of their father.

Really, based on that alone, Chantel has demonstrated she doesn't care about what the court proceedings were, on custody or joint control of minor children. She shouldn't have custody of any children.

 

[lonetraveler]

Wherever that child lands, this entire situation has affected her. Too bad these parents are so wrapped up in their own drama, to not be able to come together for their kids.

Although, that being said, this entire situation would have been avoided if Chantel had not taken the 16 yo on the cruise. She did it, completely to spite her ex. It is absolutely mind boggling to me. She knew she was not supposed to take the minor children on vacation out of jurisdiction without consent of their father.

Really, based on that alone, Chantel has demonstrated she doesn't care about what the court proceedings were, on custody or joint control of minor children. She shouldn't have custody of any children.

I totally agree with everything you posted. I also worry about the 14 yr. old half brother. He has to be very traumatized right now. No telling what he has gone through.
Has anyone seen any of the family cry? I can't even talk about the grandmother; she makes me so angry. So nonchalant when talking about Anna.

 

[mickey2942]

I totally agree with everything you posted. I also worry about the 14 yr. old half brother. He has to be very traumatized right now. No telling what he has gone through.
Has anyone seen any of the family cry? I can't even talk about the grandmother; she makes me so angry. So nonchalant when talking about Anna.

This family is really interesting, from a forensic perspective. I can't even wrap my head around the level of dysfunction here. On every level, from each angle and perspective of the people involved. This could be an excellent paper for a graduate student, with a full Genogram of everyone in the family, and extended family and relationships.

You can't even make something like this up. And we only see the surface of what has been publicly reported.

"Florida Family" indeed.

 

[sprightly]

It is interesting that the father of the 16 year old, in his message to the child's mother his ex wife, describes the 16 year old as "your son", not "our son".

• In another exchange between the two that was filed in court, Hudson wrote: "I kept my mouth shut when you told me that you can't jeopardize your marriage for helping [redacted] your son"

I am very interested to know what the redacted word or phrase is. In context, it is likely a verb. I initially thought it was simply an expletive, but that doesn't really make sense. What was the 16 year old's father keeping quiet about?

Following this case, I feel like there is a tremendous amount of relevant backstory which is being kept quiet.

In context, I think it was something like "helping screw over your son," but who even knows with this family?

 

[lonetraveler]

This family is really interesting, from a forensic perspective. I can't even wrap my head around the level of dysfunction here. On every level, from each angle and perspective of the people involved. This could be an excellent paper for a graduate student, with a full Genogram of everyone in the family, and extended family and relationships.

You can't even make something like this up. And we only see the surface of what has been publicly reported.

"Florida Family" indeed.

Yes, everything you said.

 

[Vegoia]

According to documents obtained by FOX 35 Orlando, text messages exchanged after Anna’s death show the family’s concern about limiting information shared publicly and keeping their 16-year-old son’s name out of the media.
The messages were submitted as exhibits in an ongoing family court case and include exchanges that began within roughly a day of Anna’s body being discovered. The messages also emphasize the family’s position that the teen does not remember events surrounding Anna’s death......Court records indicate the discussions focused largely on managing information, limiting social media exposure and addressing concerns involving the teen, who is a minor, rather than on the circumstances of Anna’s death. Court documents indicate the teen is being investigated in connection with Anna’s death but note he has not been charged.

Anna Kepner: Text messages reveal family conversations hours after teen's death aboard cruise ship

Released text messages in a court case involving Anna Kepner's family, show the family discussed keeping the 16-year-old son's name out of the media and keeping information from being released. Very little about Anna was mentioned. Here's what the text messages reveal:

www.fox35orlando.com

<MODNOTE: switched link to fox35Orlando>

 

[mickey2942]

His name has been released. I remember reading it once in the documents.

 

[lonetraveler]

I can't help but think that the mother of the 16 yr. old told him to say that he could not remember anything.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Is it even possible that he doesn't remember? Does that actually happen to a perpetrator, and what really are the statistical chances?

Considering there would have been numerous steps to what occurred (locking the door, the inital situation takes place, the actual murder would take awhile, the cover-up, etc.) and it wasn't just all over a short period of time?

 

[Spectrix]

Is it even possible that he doesn't remember? Does that actually happen to a perpetrator, and what really are the statistical chances?

Considering there would have been numerous steps to what occurred (locking the door, the inital situation takes place, the actual murder would take awhile, the cover-up, etc.) and it wasn't just all over a short period of time?

Very well said, @ChatteringBirds.

I don't buy a word of TH's memory gap and I don't think a jury is going to buy it either.
There is a big difference between not remembering, and simply not wanting to admit to a heinous crime.

I think he remembers every minute detail of murdering his step sibling and the only distressing part to him is that he got caught and knows that he's going to be held accountable.

 

[lonetraveler]

No arrest yet. This is getting ridiculous.

 

[SherryLock]

Whenever I see a case like this, I always wonder what the average parent would really do, if they suspected or knew that their child had committed a heinous crime. Turn their child in immediately and assist the authorities as much as possible, or... something less than that? And if less than that, how much less than that? It's hard to even imagine being faced with such a nightmare scenario.

 

[Vaderman]

No arrest yet. This is getting ridiculous.

I think the line from this article pretty much sums up the entire case:
"Very little about Anna was mentioned in the messages."

Seems like no one even cares about justice in this case.

 

[SherryLock]

It seems very strange to me that the authorities would allow this teenager to just go stay with relatives for the time being, considering the severity of the crime and the strength of the evidence against him.

For one thing, I could see him stopping at nothing to try to escape. It brings to my mind the public warnings they put out when a dangerous inmate escapes from prison. They're extremely dangerous when the alternative to getting away is likely to be many years of incarceration, and they've already shown what they're capable of.

Or... is it possible that he actually has been arrested and is locked up, and the authorities just aren't announcing it because he's a juvenile?

Have the authorities said he's staying with relatives or has it only been his parents who said that?