Anna Kepner Update: Stepbrother Charged With Homicide — Custody Court Reveals Sealed Federal Case
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
Breaking developments in the Anna Kepner case: her sixteen-year-old stepbrother has been charged with federal homicide, according to custody court filings that exposed what the FBI won't confirm.
The February 20th emergency petition filed by the suspect's biological father reveals the teenager was charged on February 3rd, 2026, by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. He appeared in sealed federal court on February 6th, was processed for pretrial release, and returned to guardian custody in Brooksville.
Anna Kepner, eighteen, was found dead aboard the Carnival Horizon on November 7th, 2025. She was discovered under a bed in her stateroom — asphyxiated by what her family says was a bar hold restraint. She shared that cabin with her stepbrother and her fourteen-year-old biological brother. The adults slept across the hall.
The federal case remains sealed. But the custody battle between the suspect's divorced parents has become the only source of public information. His father is funding his defense. His mother — married to Anna's father — wants accountability. The family expelled the teenager immediately after docking. Neither has seen him since.
Today we examine the charges, the legal pathway to adult prosecution, and whether this sealed case will ever see daylight.
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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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