BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Friday morning, a Brevard County family court case may shed new light on the troubling death of a Titusville teen killed on a Carnival cruise ship homeported in Miami.
Anna Kepner died on November 7th. Her body was found in the same cabin she shared with her stepbrother.
Now, new documents reveal the boy’s father didn’t even give him permission to go on the cruise.
In a custody dispute, the teen’s father accuses Anna’s stepmother of failing to properly supervise their son on the trip. Shauntel Hudson took the trip with her new husband, his parents, her kids, and his kids, including Anna Kepner.
According to new court filings, Thomas Hudson claims his ex-wife, Shauntel, took their two kids on a cruise in international waters without his consent.
He alleges the two kids were “under exclusive supervision and responsibility” of Shauntel. He writes that Shauntel allowed the child listed in documents as “TH” to share a room with his 18-year-old stepsister who we know was Anna Kepner.
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office says Anna died by asphyxiation.
Her body hidden under the bed in the cabin-- wrapped in a blanket and covered with life jackets. Thomas Hudson writes that during the cruise, Shauntel Hudson “failed to properly supervise” their child now at the center of the death investigation.
He alleges, “The actions of the unsupervised TH are currently under investigation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” He writes that on November 8, Shauntel asked for him to call her, and that it was an emergency.
He says, that’s when he learned Anna Kepner was dead and their child was being questioned about the teen’s death. He also alleges that he reached out to Kepner’s stepmother for months in the hopes of spending more time with his own children but that she has refused.
He later filed this emergency motion. Now, Anna’s father and members of her stepmother’s family could all be called as potential witnesses in family court Friday.
We could hear more about what happened on that cruise that’s now part of this custody dispute.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2025 Cox Media Group
