Family of cheerleader, 18, found dead on cruise ship speaks out following disturbing update
Topics: Crime, True crime, US News
William Morgan
Featured Image Credit: ABC News
Topics: Crime, True crime, US News
The family of the 18-year-old cheerleader found dead on a Carnival Cruise ship earlier this month have spoken out after her step-brother was identified as an alleged suspect in the investigation.
Court documents from step-mother Shauntel Hudson's divorce proceedings unearthed last week revealed that slain teen Anna Kepner's 16-year-old step-brother was being treated as a suspect by law enforcement officials examining the circumstances of her death.
This was confirmed by Kepner's grandparents in an interview with ABC, where they also explained their confusion and heartbreak at the 18-year-old's death on the large family trip, where grandmother Barbara Kepner said all nine of them were 'having a great time'.
“I couldn't fathom why anyone would wanna hurt my baby,” she told the broadcaster, before detailing the life that was so tragically cut short on November 7, as the cruise returned to Miami from the Caribbean.
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The Kepner family trip was a weeklong bonding opportunity for grandma Barbara and grandpa Jeffrey, their son and his three children (which included Anna), his new wife Shauntel, and her two children from a previous marriage.
Her grandparents described Anna as an independent young woman, who was in her final year of high school and excited to begin a career in the armed forces, with the aim of joining the Navy.
But these dreams ended on the Carnival Horizon ship, when her body was discovered in the room she shared with two step-siblings by housekeeping staff. She was found wrapped in a blanket and concealed beneath life vests.
“We were looking forward to seeing her grow,” Jeffrey told ABC. “The cruise itself wasn't what made me excited. It was the fact that I was gonna get to spend another week with my youngest son and his family and all the grandkids.”
The Kepner family have said that Anna died by asphyxiation, possibly caused by an arm being held across her throat in a bar hold - though this hasn't been confirmed by the FBI, which has so far declined to comment due to the ongoing investigation.
The older Kepners revealed further details about the sleeping arrangements for the party of nine, with three generations of the family split across three rooms on the ship.
Barbara said: “The two younger girls stayed with the parents and then the three teenagers, they decided amongst themselves they wanted to stay in the room together.
"But we had a larger room and we made it very clear that at any time if they weren't getting along, they didn't want to be together, we had an extra bed in our room that they could come to.”
They also painted a picture of a blended family with tight bonds, with 'no such things as steps' as they were all 'just family'.
When their son remarried, Anna's grandparents said it was like they had gained two new grandkids.
“I loved them just like I've loved the rest of my grandchildren. They called us Memaw, Peepaw, told us they loved us,” she recalled.
She went on to describe Anna and her step-brother as 'just like brother and sister' and 'two peas in a pod.' Yet court documents now allege that he is a suspect in her death.
“I know that those two kids cared about each other in the right way,” Barbara Kepner told ABC. “I can't accuse him because I don't know what happened in that room."
No charges have been filed in this case, with the Kepner family stating that neither drugs nor alcohol had been found in Anna's system. There were also no signs of sexual assault, the family said.