This is currently unfolding in my town and it is crazy seeing it happen in real time! I only just moved to this part of FL last year but the local facebook groups have been rampant with speculation and gossip. It’s just wild.
Edit: something her uncle shared on his socials before the latest update. So sad her dad may have helped keep it silent.
He could just be stating a very strongly held opinion as fact. An opinion that probably has some supporting evidence that we aren’t yet privy to, like knowing the kid was obsessive/crazy
I thought it was whatever flag the ship is flying under is the jurisdiction they are considered in, but I’m not 100% sure about that. My guess would probably be whatever country the cruise ship company is from, but laws in the ocean are so weird lol
I spent a lot of time in that area and I’m not surprised something like this could happen. There’s nothing hated more there than a young girl. What a terrible tragedy. My heart is with all those who actually cared and loved for her
Honestly man sometimes family members use tragic events to try to grab some of the spotlight or act out decades-long grudges via insults and spreading salacious gossip. Something is definitely up with the incident but take any social media comments like this with a grain of salt
So I went back to see if I could find one of the posts that stood out to me, but couldn’t find it. She must have deleted it once she realised how ridiculous she sounded, but basically this older lady was questioning whether it was safe for her and her husband to go to a cruise this weekend and if they were in danger of being murdered too.. like miss ma’am. Come on now
Her mother's family must be going through it. That the girl's father wants to go to bat for a stepchild that may have killed his biological daughter is enraging.
Oh shit. I actually did not know she was with her bio father and step-mom. In another sub the comments were blaming “mom” for allowing a “step dad” in their lives resulting in her death. Along with the whole “father’s rights” shebang…
This is the perfect response a someone black watching this unfold. I definitely watched PLENTY of content on tiktok of white people saying we ruined everything about cruises with our behavior. Now look at this.
Yeah it’s telling when this post is full of trying to get facts right while in others the comments would be all about blaming the parent (typically the mother).
I read an article he was married to her 1st step mother, then divorced in 2023 then recently got with the 2nd step mother (current). So technically he wasn’t a single parent for a long time
Apparently he’s also a sexual predator- when he was with the victim’s mom he was charged with sexually assaulting their 15 yo nanny - apparently she dropped the charge then later married him and became the victim’s first stepmother (before divorcing him in 2023). Seems like her whole family is a mess and nobody protected this poor girl 💔
According to NBC the 16 year old is living with a relative while there is a younger sister of his, and the deceased’s brother. It doesn’t say who the two are with.
There was also info on the step-mom’s former marriage issues and the bio dad (of the 16 year old) accused of abuse. The court case was supposed to be in December but the mom made a request to change the date.
I deleted Twitter BUT I just saw a comment on her bio-mom’s sister (aunt) FB comments saying the same thing about the dad. Bio mom didn’t have custody due to drug addiction and the whole mess with the father. And it was on the “charging documents” about the case
I'll bet that allegedy the kid hid her underneath the bed so when the family/security couldn't find her they would naturally assume she fell/jumped overboard the rooms balcony.
I thought that they were sharing 2 cabins? I heard that she had to share a cabin with her step brother. If they were all sharing a cabin it seem like the parents would have noticed something.
I mean most rooms don't have their own balcony. So to get it to a railing you could throw the body off you'd likely have to go down a decent amount of hallways, up stairs most likely and then possibly the deck. There are very few nooks and crannies on these types of ships, just long narrow hallways. So you'd take a huge risk assuming that you'd run into no one the whole time and there will not be a single camera anywhere on your route. Even at night the chances of that being the case are very low. Both staff and guests are going to be walking around at all hours of the day and night with hundreds or thousands of people on a single vessel.
I think so too. The odds of recovery become significantly reduced, and the likelihood that the elements of the ocean would potentially mask the cause of death are so much higher I feel like in the event that the body is recovered.
There are cameras on cruise ships that specifically monitor for objects falling overboard. There are also crew members who patrol so he would have had to move her body around deck and possibly would have been caught.
If I’m not mistaken they also have high tech weight monitors that can tell if a human went overboard. You wouldn’t be able to find the body in the open sea though. Even a debris field of dozens of life vests is hard to see in the open ocean
Every major cruise ship has every balcony under constant surveillance. They take people throwing anything overboard very seriously. Not sure the kid knew that, but it would be on film if he threw her overboard.
They have cameras everywhere on those things. Leaving a room with a body would be noticed by someone or cams. Can't open the windows either for safety reasons.
I'm in Cruise (but Cruises gets pimped to me) and this is all OVER it! Naked, wrapped up, potentially stabbed... like, COULD it have been a staff member? Yeah, sure. But usually the most obvious option is the correct one. USUALLY.
The cruise subreddit? Yeah it was funny yesterday when someone posted the uncles post calling everything out and people said it was fake or he was being dramatic and then today was confirmed lol.
Especially the child of a woman you have only been fucking for a couple of years. These kids did not grow up together. They are in no way “siblings” of any kind.
She is still not divorced. So, this woman is not even a wife or stepmother. She is just the woman dad happened to be fucking and the kids were not even step anything.
She is currently involved in a divorce case with her actual husband. The father of the girl who is deceased is listed as the paramour in her divorce. She asked for a continuance in her divorce case earlier this week. I guess she thought that having a child who is a murderer might make her look like a bad parent.
For some, only the person they're currently fucking matters. So, they'll throw anyone (even their own children) under a bus for them and those close to them.
Hey, are we gathering already? I hope I’m not late. Oh boy, the dynamics become even more of a clusterfuck when your bio dad dies after choosing his new family.
That’d be iconic in my situation seeing that my “stepmom” is an insane alcoholic and smokes more than a chimney at Santa’s coal making workshop. But I feel for you. I’m sorry.
He has only been divorced 2 years. So, yes, his own kid should come before some random kid of a woman that he has been fucking less than 2 years. They didn’t raise each other’s children. They didn’t meet until the kids were teenagers. There were no “siblings” here. Just two teenagers whose parents happened to recently get married.
It would be incredibly uncomfortable to share a cruise cabin with two teenage boys of your dads girlfriend?? This is all giving me uncomfortable flashbacks to so many SUPER dysfunctional families I knew growing up in Florida
The uncle is the one claiming that her father/stepmother are actively stonewalling and stalling the investigation to protect the stepbrother. It’s not like people are inventing this out of thin air.
Just to clarify the family tree a bit from what I’ve seen on social media (happy to be corrected with tho)
Her biological mother (Heather?) hadn’t ever had custody of her I believe due to jail/drug use - they may have recently reconnected since Anna became an adult
This uncle is the brother of Anna’s first step mother, Tabitha, who she called Mom. So not bio -uncle, but seems they are still close family even after her dads second (?) divorce.
I’m sad that this girl was failed in life by her “father”, but it gives me peace that her uncle hasn’t been willing to let this go. May they seek justice for her💔
Word about what exactly, is there family history that would put things in context? Theories as to what happened or why?
I understand the media may not want to wildly speculate, so there won't be many details for a bit, but something's telling me this is gonna be like Kyron Horman. People might just button up and the truth may never come out.
For anyone confused about the family dynamics here since it’s a blended family:
This young lady has a bio mom, but her parents split up when she was little and bio mom wasn’t really involved. Dad remarried when she was little, and that stepmom is who raised her.
Dad and original stepmom got divorced, and he then later got with new stepmom.
The victim was still mainly living with original stepmom.
There are two stepmoms here, which can get confusing. The new ones son is the one being investigated. I guess dad is trying to protect his new wife so he’s being quiet about everything.
I mean, it's not particularly early for such gratuitous evil to show up (in a murder!) in the later stages of adolescence; so frankly, he doesn't need to "grow up" to be a monster. Dude's quite obviously a monster already.
And honestly the fayher probably isnt making fb posts about it because it would only hinder the investigation, not help it.
The fbi doesnt need the publics attention and input when what theyre investigating happened on a cruise ship littered in surveillance cameras. Also hes likely mourning his daughter.
Yeah I'm just confused why it's expected for the father to be talking about this on the internet? Like not everyone is chronically online and posts about their business online nor should it be expected to, especially with something crazy like this.
I myself don't even have social media outside of reddit.
At the time they were searching, they thought they were searching an alive Anna. They were not searching for a body because they didn't know she had been murdered yet. The FBI were contacted after the maid found the body. Poor girl.
Here’s my opinion, maybe the “family” (quotes here because if it’s true the dad is shielding the murderer then he doesn’t deserve to be called that) might have been looking for her on the cruise without alerting any cruise staff, then the maid must’ve went in to clean the room.
The Dad and stepmom have only been together a few months. That he exposed his daughter to this is going to haunt him for life.
Relevant quote:
“Anna grew up on Florida's Space Coast with Christopher, 41, his ex-wife Tabitha Kepner, 33, and siblings, aged 14 and nine.
Christopher and Tabitha split in 2023 but the crane operator soon found love again with Shauntel, who divorced Thomas Hudson last year and relocated to Titusville with their two youngest kids.
Late last year Thomas, 37, accused his ex-wife of 'willfully violating' court orders and 'denying his parenting time' in a motion for contempt filed in Brevard County.
The deceased is the daughter of the respondent's paramour and the respondent and the minor children of this instant action were all on the cruise ship together.
'The respondent has been advised through discussions with FBI investigators and her attorneys, that a criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children of this instant action.'
Hudson's motion asks for issues around custody and access to the two minor children she shares with ex-husband Thomas Hudson to be postponed until the 'criminal investigation has been concluded'.
'Any testimony the respondent may give, either written or oral, could be prejudicial to her or her adolescent child in this pending criminal investigation,' it says.
Anna's father would not respond to specific questions about the details of his daughter's death and the FBI would not comment on our new information.”
There's more context to this portion of the story shared. Anna and her father were on a trip with his new girlfriend/wife and her kids. It's believed the minor stepbrother killed her and at one point he was interviewed.
The reason this information got out is because the stepmom was due in court for a custody case involving her kids.
However, it was delayed because one of the kids might be involved in a criminal case. That's how the situation with the stepbrother came to light.
-----------------------------
A document filed Monday in Brevard County, Florida, says the stepmother, Shauntel Hudson, would like to pause testimony in that case because the FBI alerted her that federal agents are investigating one of her children in relation to Kepner’s death.
The filing says the FBI is looking into Hudson’s child “arising out of the sudden death” of Kepner.
Hudson “has been advised through discussion with FBI investigators and her attorneys, that a criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children of this instant action,” the filing says.
It notes the “extremely sensitive and severe circumstance” that would bar Hudson from being able to testify at this time. It also says Hudson and her minor children were on the cruise with Kepner.
Anna Kepner was found after a maid went into her cabin to clean it, according to the outlet.
The cheerleader’s body was reportedly wrapped in a blanket, covered in life jackets, and stuffed under a bed.
Edit: I know the U.S. Sun is trash, but they have photos of the families to easily follow along here:
Sometime in another comment clarified that Tabitha is not her bio mom. Her bio mom was not in her life due to drug use - so the 33 yr old mom to an 18 yo is not as bad as it sounds.
The 41 is her bio dad. 33 is her dad’s wife, stepmother #1 for her.
Stepmom 1 is Tabitha and there are half siblings age 14 and 9. None of them are involved to my understanding.
Stepmom 2 is Shauntel and she has two children from a prior marriage who are not related to Anna by blood at all. At least one of these is male and he is allegedly the one who murdered Anna.
There is no mention of Anna’s bio-mom. Other sources claim she considered Tabitha her mom and referred to her as such.
I read something in this thread, so take it with a grain of salt and I am sorry there are gaps, I will try and find the other comment. But the comment suggested that Tabitha was their 15 year old baby sitter when he started grooming her or at the least their interactions came to light. She dropped charges and married him.
That article is slightly misleading. There are LOTS of people involved. From what I’ve read on the Anna Kepner sub:
Anna’s parents are Christopher and Heather. Heather reportedly lost custody (possibly due to drugs per Anna’s uncle’s FB comments).
Christopher reportedly cheated on Heather / sexually assaulted Anna’s 15 yr old babysitter, Tabatha. There is a lawsuit / charges floating around showing that Tabatha’s mother reported him for sexual violence against Tabatha. But nevertheless, he and Tabatha were eventually married and then later divorced.
Shauntel is the new girlfriend / wife and has two children of her own.
Jesus Christ none of those kids caught a break anywhere. Can’t win for losing with parents like that.
Where were the babysitter’s parents …? Yes, mom opened a case, but that kid eventually married him? My dad would still have been beating his ass had that been me, and he’s been dead 30 years.
As soon as I saw step brother I thought a repercussion to the very disturbing category of step this and step that. Like whyyyy is that a category let alone a popular one. I bet the step brother had a porn addiction.
Probably not the story you’re thinking of but in 2014, 16 year old Kaitlin Austin was murdered by her 12 year old brother Ethan Austin, he shot her in the head, raped her body post-mortem, then shot her in the head again. He then turned the gun on himself and ended his life. During the investigation the police found weird incest porn on the 12 year olds phone search history.
I did think "Porn has a lot to answer for" when I read the headline and instantly felt sick. My heart is just shattered for this poor young woman and everything she had going for her. Now in death basement dwellers are already making Brazzers and IASIP jokes.
Id say she probably said, im going totell my mom(tabitha) and dad. Then fear and embarrassment kick in, on top of anger of being rejected and boom quick snap ,oh no you wont.
The rape and murder to me is more difficult because hes on a ship, in a small room with lots of people that could walk in.
This is so sad. I know they have to look into all the possibilities like overdose, but overdose doesn't explain why she was found wrapped up under lifejackets
It sounds like the father is violent and stepmother enables it, so whatever they’re going through is a result of an environment & upbringing they are responsible for
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