A court document file in a separate case reveals that the stepbrother of Anna Kepner has been charged with her murder along with a second charge that was redacted from the released document.
According to WESH, the document was filed on Friday by the stepbrother’s biological father.
Kepner’s father, Chris Kepner, said that the 16-year-old stepbrother had been arrested and charged earlier this month, as CrimeOnline reported. A judge sealed all the records, however, and the charges against him were blocked from release.
A room steward found Anna Kepner dead in her room on board a Carnival cruise ship on November 8. The ship had been in Cuba at the time, and it detoured back to the Port of Miami after the discovery of Kepner’s body. Officials said she died of “mechanical asphyxia,” likely by some kind of chokehold.
In the document filed Friday, the stepbrother’s biological father, Thomas Hudson, asks for sole custody of the boy, who has been living with Chris Kepner and the boy’s biological mother, Shauntel Hudson. Chris Kepner said at the time of the boy’s arrest that he had been handed into the custody of a guardian.
The court filing alludes to two charges, citing social media from the Kepners, WESH said.
“On Feb. 3, 2026, the petitioner/father’s son was charged by the United States Attorney in the Southern District of Florida for [REDACTED] and homicide of Anna Kepner,” the document says.
“Immediately after the cruise, the respondent/mother and Chris Kepner expelled [the minor] from their household, and neither has seen [the minor] since then,” the document says. “Social media from the Kepner family has indicated that they want the ‘nails in the coffin’ of [the minor] and that both the Kepner family and the Respondent ‘want him buried.’”
News outlets saw the stepbrother leaving federal court on Miami on February 6, but they had not been allowed inside the courtroom. Since the documents were sealed, only Chris Kepner’s word indicated that the boy had been charged.
Previous court filings in the apparently contentious custody case between the Thomas and Shauntel Hudson had indicated the teen was a suspect in Anna Kepner’s murder. The two shared a room on board the cruise ship.
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[Featured image: Anna Kepner/Instagram]
