Federal authorities could also be investigating the stepsibling of the Florida highschool cheerleader whose lifeless physique was discovered wrapped in a blanket and stuffed below a mattress on a Carnival cruise ship, a stunning new courtroom submitting revealed.
The potential federal probe comes almost two weeks after Anna Kepner, 18, was found lifeless in her cabin on Nov. 7 throughout a six-day Caribbean cruise together with her household aboard the Carnival Horizon.
In an emergency movement first obtained by The Day by day Mail that was filed Monday in Brevard County, Kepner’s stepmom, Shauntel Hudson, requested further time to reply to filings tied to her 2024 divorce from her ex-husband, citing an “extraordinarily delicate and extreme circumstance.”
“At the moment there may be an investigation being performed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (F.B.I.) arising out of the sudden demise of eighteen-year-old Anna Kepner,” the submitting states, noting that Hudson and her kids have been all on the cruise with the teenager and her father, Christopher, when she was discovered lifeless.
“The respondent has been suggested by discussions with the FBI investigators and her attorneys, {that a} legal case could also be initiated towards one of many minor kids of this instantaneous motion,” the submitting continued, in accordance to ABC Information.
Hudson, a mom of three who not too long ago married Kepner’s father, requested that the proceedings be postponed till the “legal investigation has concluded,” cautioning that her testimony may very well be “prejudicial” to each her and her “adolescent” youngster whereas the probe continues.
Hudson couldn’t be reached for remark.
The FBI and her ex-husband didn’t instantly reply to The Put up’s request for remark.
Kepner — affectionately nicknamed “Anna Banana” by her household — was wrapped in a blanket, coated in life jackets, and shoved beneath a mattress when she was discovered lifeless, sources informed the Day by day Mail.
The gymnast and cheerleader, who was set to graduate from Temple Christian Faculty in Titusville in Could, had informed members of the family at dinner the night time earlier than that she was not feeling properly and went again to her room, the sources mentioned.
However the subsequent morning, she was nowhere to be discovered when her household gathered for breakfast.
A determined search swept the huge ship, which may carry almost 4,000 passengers, till a maid stumbled upon Kepner’s physique in her cabin round 11 a.m., prompting the ship to abruptly change course for the Port of Miami, Florida.
The Miami-Dade County medical expert lists her time of demise as 11:17 a.m. Nov. 7, however doesn’t say how she died.
“I don’t know what’s going on proper now,” her grieving father, Christopher Kepner, informed the outlet final week, including that the heartbroken household remains to be at midnight over what occurred.
“We’re simply making an attempt to sit down nonetheless and look ahead to solutions.”
The FBI is dealing with the investigation for the reason that bubbly teen died in worldwide waters, however officers have supplied frustratingly few particulars about how she died.
