Anna Kepner: Stepbrother Charged With Homicide — The Case the Feds Won't Unseal
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 907 Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Anna Kepner's sixteen-year-old stepbrother has been charged with federal homicide. The FBI won't confirm it. The DOJ won't comment. But a custody battle just exposed everything.
A February 20th filing in Brevard County, Florida, revealed the teenager was charged on February 3rd, 2026, by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida in connection with Anna's death aboard the Carnival Horizon. The eighteen-year-old was found asphyxiated under a bed in the cabin they shared — wrapped in a blanket, covered with life vests.
The federal case is sealed. Juvenile proceedings are closed to the public. But the suspect's divorced parents are fighting over custody of their nine-year-old daughter, and their court filings have become the only window into what's actually happening.
His biological father is funding his defense. His biological mother — married to Anna's father — is publicly calling for accountability. The family expelled him from their home the day they returned from the cruise. Allegations from Anna's ex-boyfriend describe obsession, warning signs, and a recommendation for separate rooms that was overruled.
This episode breaks down what the charges mean, how a juvenile gets tried as an adult under federal law, and why this case may stay sealed forever.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. Here now, Tony Brucey. |
| 0:06.8 | A 16-year-old has been charged with federal homicide in the exfixiation death of his 18-year-old |
| 0:14.0 | step-sister on a cruise ship. And the only reason the public knows is because his own father said |
| 0:19.8 | so in a custody petition, |
| 0:22.7 | which is how we've been learning about every aspect of this case. |
| 0:26.5 | Not an FBI press conference, not a Department of Justice announcement, |
| 0:29.7 | a divorce court filing in Brevard County, Florida dated February 20, 20, 26, |
| 0:34.3 | citing social media posts from the Kempner family. |
| 0:37.5 | That's how we learned that TH, the stepbrother of Anna Kempner, was charged by the U.S. |
| 0:43.5 | attorney for the Southern District of Florida on February 3rd for, quote, the redacted and |
| 0:50.2 | homicide of Anna Kempner. |
| 0:54.4 | There you go. |
| 0:55.5 | The federal case is sealed. |
| 0:56.8 | The exact charges are sealed. |
| 0:58.1 | The courtroom was locked when the teenager appeared before the judge on February 6th, |
| 1:02.5 | but the custody dispute between his divorced biological parents just ripped the lid off anyway. |
| 1:10.4 | And now we're watching a federal homicide prosecution unfold through the cracks of family court, |
| 1:15.6 | because that's the only window anyone has into what's actually happening. |
| 1:20.1 | Anna Kempner was 18 years old, a high school cheerleader from Titusville, Florida, |
| 1:24.1 | a straight A student at Temple Christian School who had her brother's, or rather her |
| 1:28.7 | boaters license before she could drive. She wanted to join the Navy after graduation, become a |
| 1:34.8 | canine officer. Her obituary described her as pure energy, bubbly, fun, outgoing, completely |
... |
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