CRUISE SHIP ANNA KEPNER ASSAULTED, STRANGLED, STEP-BRO UNMASKED
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
4.2 • 8.1K Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2026
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We now know Anna Kepner's stepbrother sex assaulted the 18-year-old before he killed her. That according to court documents. He is now charged in federal court with murder and aggravated sexual abuse. The arrest comes months after Anna Kepner dies on a cruise with her family. The manner of death ruled a homicide by mechanical asphyxiation.
Anna Kepner, 18, had begun her senior year at Temple Christian School, and was reportedly excited about her future, painting her school parking spot to match her favorite movie, "Clueless. " Anna plans included joining the military after high school.
Anna was found dead aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship during a recent western Caribbean voyage that ended in Miami. Her body stuffed under a bunk in the room she shared with her stepbrother.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Danny Rubin - Criminal Defense Lawyer and Founder of Rubin Law, PC. website: rubinlawpc.com
- Dr. Geri-Lynn Utter - Clinical Psychologist specializing in psychological evaluations and risk assessments for individuals involved in the criminal justice system, Author of “Mainlining Philly: Survival, Hope and Resisting Drug Addition,” and “Aftershock: How Past Event Shake Up Your Life Today”, and Producer of “Utter Nonsense,” a documentary of exploration of addition and severe mental illness, available to stream on Apple TV and Prime Video, website:drgerilynnutter.com, Instagram & Facebook: DrGeriLynnUtter
- Joseph Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan", Instagram @JoScottForensic
- Sydney Sumner - Investigative Reporter, ‘Crime Stories’
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.3 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.6 | Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. |
| 0:10.5 | The cruise ship girl teen, Anna Kepner, scrubbed in sunshine. |
| 0:17.3 | Tonight we learn was sex assaulted before she was mechanically strangled dead on the cruise ship. |
| 0:26.4 | And tonight, for the first time, that stepbrother of hers unmasked, we see his face for the first time. |
| 0:34.4 | Now, he is indicted. I'm Nancy Grace. This is crime stories. I want to thank you for being |
| 0:40.9 | with us. A beautiful young teen cheerleader found dead on a cruise ship. Her body there for hours and |
| 0:48.5 | hours before anyone even notices she's missing? Where were the parents for Pete's sake? It happened all right, and it is a torpedo to the defense. |
| 1:00.0 | All this time, family, friends, the media, legal, eagles like you, waiting for an answer in the brutal murder of Anna Kepner. |
| 1:10.0 | Her body found, nude, wrapped up in blankets, and stuffed |
| 1:14.6 | under a twin bed on the cruise ship. Then stuffed on top of that life jacket, someone desperately |
| 1:24.2 | trying to conceal her body until a maid comes the following morning to |
| 1:29.2 | clean the room and makes the discovery, the horrific discovery of a teen girl dead, stuffed |
| 1:34.4 | under a bed. |
| 1:36.2 | Tonight, finally, will there be justice? |
| 1:41.5 | Sydney Silvani, Crime Stories investigative reporter, |
| 1:44.5 | what happened? Is it true |
| 1:46.1 | according to federal |
| 1:48.2 | documents? And the feds |
| 1:50.1 | don't play. Let me tell you. |
| 1:52.2 | We kept wondering why they were waiting |
... |
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