A 16-year-old stepbrother of Anna Kepner has been charged with homicide as a minor in the death of the Florida teen, who was found dead aboard a Carnival cruise ship during a family vacation in November, according to court documents obtained by CBS News, which cited the Kepner family’s social media.
In an emergency filing, dated Feb. 20, attorneys for Thomas Hudson, the stepbrother’s father, wrote: “According to social media from the Kepner family, on February 3, 2026, the Petitioner/Father’s son, TH, was charged by the United States Attorney in the Southern District of Florida for the [redacted] and homicide of Anna Kepner.”
The filing is part of an ongoing custody dispute between Hudson and Shauntel Kepner, the parents of Anna Kepner’s stepbrother.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the FBI have not commented on developments in the Kepner case.
However, CBS News has learned there is an ongoing case against the teen that is currently under seal and being overseen by Miami federal judge Beth Bloom.
The stepbrother, who CBS News is not naming because he is a minor, appeared in federal court in Miami on Feb. 6, for a hearing but because the case is under seal media was not allowed in the courtroom
“If it’s a juvenile you won’t know until he’s charged as an adult,” Dave Aronberg, a former Palm Beach state attorney, told CBS News.
According to Aronberg, federal charges against a minor are typically under seal because there are vast protections for minors under federal law. An indictment could be unsealed if the person is later charged as an adult.
Anna Kepner, 18, was on a Caribbean cruise with her father, stepmother and three stepsiblings on the Carnival Horizon. Law enforcement sources previously told CBS News that she died on Nov. 7 and her body was found by a housekeeper under the bed in her stateroom. The ship returned to Miami on Nov. 8.According to family members, she had told them the night before that she wasn’t feeling well and returned to her room. When she didn’t show up for breakfast the next morning, a frantic search began.
The FBI had been investigating Kepner’s 16-year-old stepbrother for possible involvement in her death, CBS News previously reported. A law enforcement source said investigators believe Kepner may have been strangled during an altercation, and that the suspect may have been using alcohol.
“There is an open investigation regarding [Kepner’s] death… and T.H. [a stepbrother] is a suspect regarding this death which occurred recently on a cruise ship,” Shauntel Hudson said in a Nov. 18 court filing in the custody dispute in Brevard County, Florida.
That filing was in response to another filing entered by Hudson’s ex-husband a day earlier, which also asserted the 16-year-old is a suspect. CBS News reached out to Hudson and her attorneys.
The FBI had not publicly named anyone as a suspect in this case. The agency said in a statement that it does not provide operational updates on its investigations except in rare circumstances.
Carnival Cruise Line previously told CBS News that it’s cooperating with the federal investigation. The FBI has jurisdiction because Kepner is a U.S. citizen and the death occurred in international waters.
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