Anna Kepner’s 16-year-old stepbrother was forced out of the family’s Florida home just as federal investigators are reportedly weighing charges against him in the cheerleader’s tragic cruise-ship death.
The boy’s mother, Shauntel Kepner, and her husband sent him to stay with relatives to protect the other children in their home from any potential danger, Kepner’s attorney, Millicent Athanason, said during an emergency custody hearing on Friday, according to People.
The hearing unfolded amid a simmering dispute between Kepner and her ex-husband.
Athanason also suggested Friday that Kepner’s stepbrother — already identified in court filings as a suspect — could be facing charges in the near future.
Athanason also signaled Friday that charges against Kepner’s stepbrother — already named as a suspect in court filings — could be filed any day now.
Anna Kepner, 18, was discovered dead aboard a Carnival cruise ship on Nov. 7 — her body hidden under a bed, wrapped in a blanket, and buried beneath life vests. Instagram/@anna.kepner16
Thomas Hudson and Shauntel Kepner with their three children in a Facebook photo of an unknown date. Facebook/Thomas Hudson
“We’re not sure what the FBI is going to do … Whether he’s going to be charged federally or whether they’re going to turn it over to the state,” Athanason said Friday, Fox News reported.
The FBI did not immediately respond to FaqInsurances’ request for comment, and so far, neither state nor federal investigators have publicly named a suspect in the mysterious case.
Anna Kepner, 18, was found dead on a Carnival cruise ship on Nov. 7, her body hidden under a bed, wrapped in a blanket, and buried beneath life vests.
Kepner during an earlier cruise with her grandparents on May 3, 2025. Instagram/@anna.kepner16
The cheerleader’s death has been ruled a homicide. According to her death certificate, she ‘was mechanically asphyxiated by other person(s)’ on Nov. 6 — possibly strangled in a bar hold, as suggested by bruising on her neck.
Anna had been sharing a cabin with her 16-year-old stepbrother and her 14-year-old brother.
Before her death, the three teens were ‘best friends’ who got along well, Shauntel Kepner told the court.
She noted that her son had gone two days without his regular ADHD and insomnia medications during the cruise.
The hearing was part of an ongoing custody battle between Kepner and her ex-husband, Thomas Hudson, who claimed that the girl’s death raised concerns about the safety of his 9-year-old daughter in her mother’s care, FOX reported.
Shauntel’s eldest son, 18-year-old Andrew Hudson, also testified in court.
Now living with his father, Hudson described previously enduring violent treatment from Shauntel Kepner and Anna’s father, Chris Kepner, before he relocated to his dad’s home full-time.
In one incident, Hudson testified that the Kepners picked him up from school, and when he tried to get out of the car and return to his dad’s home in Hernando County, he was "put in a chokehold and held it against the seat," according to FOX.
Florida Circuit Judge Michelle Pruitt-Studstill ruled in favor of Kepner, determining that her 9-year-old daughter was not in "any imminent risk of harm."
