Anna Kepner: Cruise ship death investigation timeline

The Brief

Anna Kepner, 18, died onboard a Carnival cruise ship on Nov. 7.
Her cause of death has not been determined at this time, authorities say.
Kepner’s funeral is planned for Nov. 20.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The FBI is investigating a teen death that occurred on a Carnival cruise ship on Nov. 7.

Anna Kepner, 18, from Titusville reportedly died sometime while the Carnival Horizon was traveling back to PortMiami from international waters.

Now, according to court documents in an unrelated case, FOX 35 learned that Kepner’s stepbrother, 16, is a potential suspect in the FBI’s investigation.

At this time, Kepner’s cause of death has not been released by medical examiners. The FBI is also not providing updates regarding its investigation at this time.

Timeline:

Here’s a timeline of events since Anna Kepner’s death.

Nov. 7 — Anna Kepner was found dead aboard Carnival Horizon cruise ship while out at sea.

Nov. 8 — Carnival Horizon returns to PortMiami.

FBI investigating Carnival cruise passenger death

A Caribbean cruise turned into a nightmare after a teenager from Titusville died while on board the Carnival Horizon. Now the FBI is getting involved. The victim has been identified as 18-year-old Anna Kepner.

Nov. 9 — Temple Christian School posts a tribute for Anna Kepner on Facebook.

Nov. 10 — Carnival cruise line confirmed a passenger died aboard its Horizon ship, forcing the ship to return to Miami. A memorial is held outside Temple Christian School. Anna Kepner’s vehicle is decorated with flowers and balloons.

Nov. 11 — Anna Kepner’s obituary posted online.

Best friend remembers Anna Kepner as ‘joyful, bubbly’ and caring

Friends and classmates are mourning the loss of 18-year-old Anna Keppner of Titusville, who died over the weekend while on the Carnival Horizon cruise ship. Keppner’s best friend, Genevieve Guerrero, described her as “the definition of joyful, bubbly, and always looking out for others.” The two met in eighth grade and quickly became inseparable.

Nov. 11 — FOX 35 talks with one of Anna’s best friends, who remembered her as joyful.

Nov. 18 — Court filing indicates a potential FBI criminal investigation related to Anna Kepner’s death.

Anna Kepner’s mother speaks to FOX 35 News following daughter’s death

The mother of Anna Kepner, the 18-year-old found dead aboard a cruise ship, is sharing memories of her daughter and describing her as a joyful, compassionate young woman. In an interview with FOX 35, Heather Kepner said Anna was “always happy,” recalling her daughter’s love of horseback riding and cheerleading.

Nov. 19 — FOX 35 talks with Anna’s mom, who shared memories of her daughter and described her a joyful, compassionate young woman.

Nov. 20 — Celebration of Life for Anna Kepner in Titusville.

In an explosive twist that could unravel the fragile timeline of the Anna Kepner cruise ship tragedy, exclusive court filings obtained by this outlet reveal that the 18-year-old Florida cheerleader’s 16-year-old stepbrother fired off a chilling one-word message—”Done”—to a close friend just 12 minutes before her body was discovered concealed under a cabin bed on November 9, 2025. Digital forensics experts, working alongside FBI investigators, have flagged the timestamped text as potentially contradictory to the teen’s initial statements to authorities, where he claimed to have been asleep in an adjacent bunk during the critical window. Sources describe the revelation as a “gut punch” to the probe, injecting fresh urgency into what was already a labyrinth of family secrets, shadowy CCTV glimpses, and whispered audio pleas aboard the Carnival Horizon.

The message, exchanged via a encrypted teen app popular among high schoolers, was unearthed during a routine device sweep ordered by federal agents in Miami. According to the sealed Brevard County filings—part of the escalating custody war between the stepbrother’s parents, Shauntel Hudson and Thomas Hudson—the terse dispatch arrived at 11:05 a.m., synced precisely to the ship’s internal clock. The recipient, a 15-year-old classmate from Titusville’s Temple Christian School (identified only as “J.M.” in documents), responded with a flurry of emojis and queries: “Wtf dude? U ok?” No reply followed. Forensics suggest the word “Done” could imply finality—closure to an argument, a task completed, or something far more ominous—clashing with the stepbrother’s account of a peaceful night and morning routine. “It’s the kind of red flag that keeps agents up at night,” a federal source briefed on the analysis told this desk. “Timestamps don’t lie, but alibis do.”

Anna Kepner, the golden-haired honor student and aspiring Navy nurse, was the heart of a blended family fractured long before the seven-day Caribbean voyage departed Miami on November 3. Daughter of crane operator Christopher Kepner, 41, and his ex-wife Heather Wright (also known as Tabitha in some records), Anna’s world expanded—and complicated—when her father coupled with Shauntel Hudson, 36, a divorced mother of three. Into the Titusville home stepped the stepbrothers: the 16-year-old (court-referenced as “T.H.” or Timothy Hudson) and a younger sibling, alongside a 9-year-old stepsister. The cruise, billed as a healing getaway to Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel, instead amplified simmering tensions, culminating in Anna’s lifeless form found wrapped in a blanket, shrouded by life vests—a macabre concealment that screamed staging to investigators.

Prior leaks had already cast Timothy as a figure of unease. Anna’s ex-boyfriend, Joshua Tew, 19, alleged in viral interviews that the teen harbored a “sick obsession,” once climbing atop a sleeping Anna during a FaceTime call months earlier. “He’s infatuated, attracted to her like crazy. He always wanted to date her,” Tew’s father, Steven Westin, echoed to Inside Edition, claiming warnings to the Kepners fell on deaf ears. Court documents now corroborate this shadow: the one-word text, pulled from Timothy’s seized phone, arrived amid a flurry of deleted chats. Initial interrogations painted him as cooperative yet evasive; he described retiring early after a “normal” dinner, bunking separately from Anna and the younger boy. But metadata forensics—employing AI-driven pattern recognition—reveal erratic sleep app data and a 10:50 a.m. “wake-up” ping, contradicting his “out cold” narrative. “The kid said he didn’t stir until housekeeping knocked. This message says otherwise,” the source added, noting investigators are cross-referencing it against the corridor audio clip where Anna’s voice allegedly murmurs, “He’s coming for me.”

The filings, unsealed Thursday in a heated custody skirmish, expose raw familial fault lines. Thomas Hudson, 37, a former mechanic locked in battle with Shauntel over their children, demands immediate custody of their 9-year-old daughter, branding the cruise a “nightmare of endangerment.” His motion accuses Shauntel of thrusting Timothy into peril, noting the teen’s post-cruise placement with a “third-party relative” under FBI supervision. Shauntel counters in her response: “It is true that there is an open investigation… and [T.H.] is a suspect,” but pleads for leniency, citing the boy’s youth and an appointed attorney. A Thursday hearing saw her attorney invoke the Fifth Amendment for Timothy’s potential testimony, with the judge musing, “This child’s silence might be his best shield.” Christopher Kepner, Anna’s father, looms as a wildcard witness—his own silence fueling accusations of complicity.

This digital breadcrumb trails back to the heated cabin clash unearthed last week: yells and overturned chairs overheard by Anna’s younger brother, per Tew’s recounting. It dovetails with the 10:42 a.m. Lido Deck CCTV—Anna’s desperate gesture toward the railing, her form eclipsed by a two-second reflection of a hooded figure, gait matching Timothy’s per preliminary gait analysis. Swipe logs place his keycard at a nearby elevator at 10:41 a.m., and now this: “Done” at 11:05, just as Anna’s absence morphed from oversight to horror. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner remains mum on autopsy details—toxicology pending—but insiders whisper asphyxiation or blunt force, not accident. “No overdose markers. This was deliberate,” one floated.

Social media, a cauldron of grief and speculation, has ignited anew. #AnnaKepner trends with 1.2 million mentions, X users poring over pixelated timelines: “That ‘Done’ text? Chilling. Stepbro’s cooked,” posts @TrueCrimeHound, echoing 50K retweets. Petitions for expedited charges surpass 100K signatures, while Reddit’s r/AnnaKepner dissects the message’s ambiguity—”Done” as confession or coincidence? TikTok tributes, laced with conspiracy reels, rack up millions, Anna’s pre-cruise video of her belting a resilience anthem now a dirge for ignored red flags.

Carnival, battered by lawsuits under the Death on the High Seas Act, doubles down on cooperation: “Full access granted; passenger safety paramount.” Yet scrutiny mounts—why no immediate cabin checks? Why spotty corridor mics? Anna’s biological mother, Heather, still reeling from learning via news alerts, decries the “web of lies.” Her uncle, Martin Donohue, blasts the Kepners on X: “Silence is complicity. We’ve got nothing but Facebook scraps.”

Amid the storm, Anna’s legacy gleams. Her November 20 memorial at The Grove Church brimmed with color—vibrant blooms honoring her “bubbly soul,” no blacks allowed. Friends recalled the cheerleader’s flips, her faith-fueled hugs, dreams of K9 service deferred. “She was our light,” wept a teammate. Joshua Tew, voice breaking in fresh interviews, vows: “I warned them. Now justice.”

As Quantico’s labs amplify that one-word echo—”Done”—the FBI’s multi-agency task force races against leaks. Was it a slip of guilt, a teen’s bravado, or the key to indictment? Timothy, holed up with kin, faces juvenile proceedings that could echo into adulthood. For Anna’s fractured kin, the text isn’t just evidence—it’s indictment of a family’s blind spots. In Titusville’s quiet streets, whispers turn to demands: No more shadows. Deliver the truth.