Anna Kepner Cruise Ship Homicide: Father Won't Deny Rape Charges Against Teen Stepbrother

Three months after Anna Kepner was found dead aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship — her body hidden under a bed, death ruled a homicide by mechanical asphyxiation — her sixteen-year-old stepbrother appeared in federal court in Miami facing multiple charges. According to the Daily Mail, the teenager was accompanied by his biological father Thomas Hudson for a closed-door hearing on at least two federal counts. The most striking revelation came from Anna's own father Christopher Kepner, who told the Daily Mail he was "unable to confirm or deny" that charges include both murder and rape — directly contradicting November preliminary findings that indicated no sexual assault.

The FBI maintained complete silence for ninety days after the cruise ship death. Virtually everything the public knows came from a custody dispute between the suspect's parents — court filings that revealed text messages focused on damage control, the suspect's repeated claims that he couldn't remember anything, and behavioral history including obsession allegations and testimony about chokeholds in the household. Surveillance and key card data reportedly place the stepbrother as the only person entering and exiting the cabin. Anna's grandmother announced the surrender on Facebook and accused the suspect's father of interfering with the investigation. The hearing was sealed, but prosecutors reportedly plan to seek transfer to adult court — which would unseal the records and reveal the full scope of the federal case.

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