Federal authorities may now be looking into the stepsibling of a Florida high school cheerleader whose body was found wrapped in a blanket and hidden under a bed aboard a Carnival cruise ship, according to a startling new court filing per the New York Post.
The possible federal investigation comes nearly two weeks after 18-year-old Anna Kepner was discovered dead inside her cabin on Nov. 7 during a six-day Caribbean trip with her family on the Carnival Horizon.
In an emergency motion filed Monday in Brevard County and obtained by the Daily Mail, Anna’s stepmother, Shauntel Hudson, asked the court for more time to respond to filings related to her 2024 divorce. She cited an “extremely sensitive and severe circumstance,” hinting at the unfolding and deeply troubling situation involving her family.
“Currently there is an investigation being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (F.B.I.) arising out of the sudden death of eighteen-year-old Anna Kepner,” the filing states, adding that Hudson and her children were on the cruise with the teen and her father, Christopher, at the time she was found dead.”
“The respondent has been advised through discussions with the FBI investigators and her attorneys, that a criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children of this instant action,” the filing added per ABC News.
Hudson — a mother of three who recently married Anna Kepner’s father — asked the court to delay the case until the “criminal investigation has concluded.” She warned that giving testimony now could harm both her and her “adolescent” child while the federal probe is still active.
Sources told the Daily Mail that Anna, known as “Anna Banana,” was found dead wrapped in a blanket, covered with life jackets, and pushed under a bed.
Anna, a gymnast and cheerleader who was preparing to graduate from Temple Christian School in May, told her family at dinner the night before that she wasn’t feeling well and went back to her cabin. The next morning, she didn’t show up for breakfast.
A search began across the huge ship, which can hold nearly 4,000 passengers, until a cabin steward found her body around 11 a.m. The discovery forced the ship to turn back toward the Port of Miami.
The Miami-Dade medical examiner recorded her time of death as 11:17 a.m. on Nov. 7 but did not list a cause.
The FBI is leading the investigation because the teen died in international waters, but officials have released very little information about what happened. Hudson could not be reached for comment, and both the FBI and her ex-husband did not respond to the New York Post’s requests for comment.
