Stepbrother of teen killed on Carnival cruise charged as adult with her murder

David Goodhue, Miami Herald on Apr 13, 2026

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MIAMI — A federal grand jury Monday indicted the stepbrother of an 18-year-old girl who was found dead on a Carnival Cruise ship in November with her murder and aggravated sexual abuse.

Federal prosecutors had charged the 16-year-old boy, whose initials are T.H., as a juvenile in February, but he now faces life in prison after the grand jury indictment charging him as an adult.

He is accused of killing and raping Anna Kepner, whose body was found underneath a bed in her stateroom by cleaning staff aboard the Carnival Horizon on Nov. 7, one day before the ship docked at PortMiami.

Kepner was on the cruise with her father, stepmother and two step-siblings, including the 16-year-old boy, who the Miami Herald previously reported was the focus of the homicide investigation.

The FBI investigated the case because the murder happened in international waters. The Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office concluded that Anna’s cause of death was asphyxiation.

The boy has long been known to be the focus of the investigation because of court documents filed in Brevard County related to his divorced parents’ custody case. The boy’s mother, Shauntel Kepner, is married to Anna’s father, Chris Kepner.

In that case, the boy’s father, Thomas Hudson, is trying to get custody of his 9-year-old daughter, who lives with Shauntel Kepner and Chris Kepner. Documents in that case stated the boy is the target of the FBI’s investigation into Anna’s death.

Court documents also state that the Kepners allowed the boy and Anna to sleep in the same stateroom together.

Shauntel Kepner and Thomas Hudson divorced in February 2023 in Lee County, according to state court records. The couple also share an 18-year-old son, who was not on the cruise. Hudson claimed in one filing that his ex-wife took the two minor children on the cruise without his consent.

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