Stepbrother Possibly Suspected in Carnival Cruise Death of Anna Kepner Was Hospitalized After Trip: Reports

The teen stepbrother at the center of Anna Kepner’s mysterious death aboard a cruise ship was reportedly hospitalized soon after her body was found earlier this month.

The 18-year-old cheerleader from Titusville, Fla., was found dead under a bed on the Carnival Horizon on Nov. 8.

No persons of interest have been publicly named in the Kepner’s death, which the FBI confirmed is under investigation.

But in an unrelated court filing earlier this week, Kepner’s stepmother Shauntel Kepner said she was briefed by the FBI that one of her minor children might face criminal charges, according to Florida Today, FOX 35 and CBS News, though it wasn’t immediately clear if, or how, the charges are related to Anna’s killing.

The court filing pertained to an ongoing custody battle between Shauntel and her previous husband, per ClickOrlando.

During a court hearing in that case on Thursday, Nov. 20, Shauntel’s attorney Millicent Athanason said the 16-year-old was hospitalized “immediately after” Kepner’s body was discovered, ClickOrlando reported.

Scott Smith, who is Shauntel’s ex-husband’s attorney, alleged in court that both Anna and the 16-year-old were allowed alcoholic drinks since the cruise was on international waters, ClickOrlando reported, and contended Shauntel was not “exercising appropriate supervision.”

Athanason pushed back against this claim, the outlet reported, citing videotapes from the ship that showed no evidence of drinking.

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Anna was on the cruise with her father, stepmother and two stepsiblings.

She is being remembered as “bubbly, funny, outgoing, and completely herself. She never had a filter, and that was part of her charm,” according to an online obituary.