The stepmother of 16-year-old Anna Kepner has been charged with murder, according to a new report.
Florida singer Kepner, 18, died after choking at a bar and cleaning crews found her dead body under the bed in the room she shared with her stepmother on the Carnival Horizon cruise ship in November last year.
The boy, who reportedly had a high school temper tantrum, was considered a suspect and has now been charged, according to court documents filed by attorneys representing his biological father Thomas Hudson, who was first seen by WESH.
The court documents relate to a custody dispute between Hudson and his ex-wife Shauntel Kepner.
In the papers, Hudson is asking for sole custody of Kepner’s child – who has been living with his father, Chris, and Shauntel since the shipwreck.
“According to social media from the Kepner family, on Feb. 3, 2026, the petitioner’s son/father was charged by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida … with the murder of Anna Kepner,” the docket said last Friday.
“Immediately after the cruise, the defendant/mother and Chris Kepner were fired [the minor ] of their family and he has never seen [the minor] since then.
“Social media from the Kepner family revealed that they are looking for the ‘nails’ of [the minor] and that both the Kepner family and the Defendant “want him to be buried,” according to the document.
The FBI has not officially named Kepner’s cousin as a suspect and there is a case against the boy, according to CBS News.
Earlier this month, he appeared before a federal judge in Miami and was seen wearing a concealed zip on his way to another courtroom. He was then considered for pretrial release.
Kepner’s body was found wrapped in a blanket and covered in life vests after he was killed.
Krystal Wright, his aunt, said he was “fighting for his life” in his final moments, as reported by Fox affiliate WOFL.
Kepner’s half brother reportedly heard screams and chairs were thrown in the room where he was sleeping with his stepmother.
“You heard [the stepbrother] yelling at him in a hurtful way like ‘shut the hell up’ and stuff like that and that’s when [the brother] I knew something was going on,” Kepner’s ex-boyfriend Joshua Tew told Inside Edition last year, recalling the painful moments.
Kepner’s younger brother ended up lying next to his sister’s body before he was found.
Kepner, who was set to graduate from high school this year and had aspirations of joining the Navy, was last seen alive at a family dinner on Nov. 6 — the day before his death in international waters — and returned to his room because he wasn’t feeling well.
Carnival Cruise Line previously said it was cooperating with the law enforcement investigation.
