Federal authorities may now be investigating 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 new court filing reported by the New York Post.
The development comes nearly two weeks after 18-year-old Anna Kepner was found dead in her cabin on Nov. 7 during a six-day Caribbean cruise with her family on the Carnival Horizon.
In an emergency motion filed Monday in Brevard County, Anna’s stepmother, Shauntel Hudson, asked for more time to respond in her 2024 divorce case. She cited a highly sensitive situation involving the family and confirmed that the FBI is investigating Anna’s sudden death. According to the filing, Hudson and her children were on the trip with Anna and her father when the teen was found dead.
Hudson said she has been told by FBI investigators and her attorneys that a criminal case may be brought against one of her minor children. She asked the court to delay proceedings until the federal investigation ends, saying giving testimony now could harm both her and her adolescent child.
Sources told the Daily Mail that Anna, known as Anna Banana, was discovered wrapped in a blanket, covered with life jackets, and pushed under a bed.
Anna, a gymnast and cheerleader preparing to graduate in May from Temple Christian School, told her family the night before that she felt sick and went back to her cabin. She never appeared for breakfast the next morning. A search began across the ship, which carries nearly four thousand passengers, until a cabin steward found her body around 11 a.m., prompting the ship to turn back toward Miami.
The Miami-Dade medical examiner listed her time of death as 11:17 a.m. on Nov. 7 but did not name a cause.
The FBI is leading the investigation because the death occurred in international waters, but officials have released little information. Hudson could not be reached, and the FBI and her ex-husband did not respond to requests for comment.