Family of 18-year-old who died on cruise speaks out as step-brother named ‘suspect’

Fam­i­ly of 18-Year-Old Who Died on Cruise Speaks Out as Step­broth­er Named ‘Sus­pect’

What began as a dream fam­i­ly vaca­tion quick­ly turned into tragedy when 18-year-old Anna Kep­n­er was found dead aboard a Car­ni­val cruise ship ear­li­er this month. Now, her dev­as­tat­ed grand­par­ents are speak­ing out — and reveal­ing that author­i­ties have named Anna’s step­broth­er as a sus­pect in her death.

“We were all hav­ing a great time,” grand­moth­er Bar­bara Kep­n­er told ABC News. “I couldn’t fath­om why any­one would wan­na hurt my baby.”

A Family Vacation Turns to Horror

Anna and eight fam­i­ly mem­bers were trav­el­ing togeth­er on the Car­ni­val Hori­zon, a cruise meant to cel­e­brate togeth­er­ness for their new­ly blend­ed fam­i­ly. Three gen­er­a­tions — grand­par­ents, par­ents, and chil­dren — shared three state­rooms on the ship.

“The two younger girls stayed with the par­ents, and the three teenagers decid­ed they want­ed to stay in the room togeth­er,” Bar­bara recalled. “We made it clear that if they weren’t get­ting along, we had an extra bed in our room they could come to.”

The trip, meant to be the start of a joy­ful new tra­di­tion, instead became the site of unimag­in­able loss.

The Discovery

Accord­ing to the Kep­n­ers, Anna’s body was found under a bed in her state­room. Author­i­ties told the fam­i­ly she died from asphyx­i­a­tion, pos­si­bly from a bar hold — an arm across the neck. Secu­ri­ty footage report­ed­ly showed her step­broth­er as “the only one seen going in and the only one seen going out” of the room.

Anna’s grand­fa­ther, Jef­frey Kep­n­er, described the hor­ri­fy­ing moment he learned some­thing was wrong.

“I was buy­ing bin­go cards when a med­ical alert came over the ship’s loud­speak­ers,” he said. “I rec­og­nized the room num­ber. I went blank. I was hop­ing it was some­thing minor.”

Instead, what he saw when he reached the cab­in will haunt him for­ev­er.
“I still wake up see­ing that,” he said qui­et­ly.

When Anna’s father entered the room, Bar­bara said, “All he had to do was look at her and he knew she was gone. Then my hus­band came and told me — all he could say was, ‘Anna.’ The last thing I remem­ber is scream­ing. I couldn’t stop scream­ing.”

“There’s No Such Thing as Steps”

The Kep­n­ers describe their fam­i­ly as a tight-knit blend­ed unit with no divi­sions.
“It’s all fam­i­ly,” Jef­frey said. “It’s a blend­ed fam­i­ly, yes, but that’s not how our fam­i­ly is. Our dynam­ic is — we’re all just fam­i­ly.”

When their son remar­ried, the Kep­n­ers said they gained two new grand­chil­dren — Anna’s step-sib­lings — and loved them as their own.

“They called us Memaw and Peep­aw,” Bar­bara said. “They told us they loved us. They were just like broth­er and sis­ter.”

That’s what makes the tragedy even hard­er to com­pre­hend. “I know that those two kids cared about each oth­er in the right way,” Bar­bara said. “I can’t accuse him because I don’t know what hap­pened in that room.”

The Investigation

The FBI is lead­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion into Anna’s death but has so far declined to com­ment pub­licly. No for­mal charges have been filed. The Mia­mi-Dade Med­ical Examiner’s Office has also not released offi­cial autop­sy results, though the Kep­n­ers say they were told there were no signs of sex­u­al assault or drugs or alco­hol in Anna’s sys­tem.

After the ship docked in Mia­mi, Anna’s step­broth­er was report­ed­ly hos­pi­tal­ized for psy­chi­atric obser­va­tion and lat­er released to stay with a rel­a­tive while receiv­ing coun­sel­ing.

“In his own words, he said he does not remem­ber what hap­pened,” Bar­bara said. “I believe, to him, that is his truth.”

Remembering Anna

Anna was a bright, inde­pen­dent young woman with dreams of join­ing the Navy after her high school grad­u­a­tion next spring. Her grand­par­ents described her as “mighty” — small in stature but full of deter­mi­na­tion and heart.

The last night they saw her alive, she wasn’t feel­ing well because of her den­tal braces. “She said, ‘Meemaw, I think I’m gonna go back to my room for a bit,’” Bar­bara recalled. “But lat­er she got dressed up, came down to the casi­no, played a lit­tle, told us she loved us — and that was the last time we saw her.”

“We’ve Lost Two Children”

For the Kep­n­ers, the pain runs deep­er than los­ing Anna. They say they’ve also lost the boy now at the cen­ter of the inves­ti­ga­tion — anoth­er grand­child they loved.

“I now know how she died,” Bar­bara said soft­ly. “It helps a lit­tle bit, but it’s not going to bring Anna back. No mat­ter what we find out, no mat­ter what they tell us, it’s not going to bring either one of these chil­dren back.”

Her hus­band added, “The biggest ques­tion I want answered is the why — and that’s the answer I don’t know if we’ll ever get.”

A Family Searching for Answers

As the inves­ti­ga­tion con­tin­ues, the Kep­n­er fam­i­ly remains in shock, strug­gling to under­stand how their joy­ful vaca­tion became a tragedy.

“What did we miss?” Jef­frey asked. “What didn’t we see?”

For now, all they can do is wait — and hold on to the mem­o­ry of the girl who brought them so much love and laugh­ter.

“We were just look­ing for­ward to see­ing her grow,” Jef­frey said. “That’s all we want­ed — one more week togeth­er.”