Anna Kepner’s grim cause of death aboard Carnival cruise ship confirmed, as homicide investigation continues

Cheerleader Anna Kepner’s mysterious death onboard a Carnival cruise ship has officially been declared a homicide.

The 18-year-old was found dead in her cabin on November 7, wrapped in a blanket and covered with life vests during a Caribbean getaway with her blended family. 

Authorities now say Kepner died of mechanical asphyxia (suffocation) one day prior, though the time of the injury remains unclear, according to a death certificate obtained by ABC News.

Autopsy and toxicology reports are still pending.

But police are zeroing in on Anna’s 16-year-old stepbrother as a suspect, alleging he may have put her into a bar hold, with his arm pressed across her neck.

The teenagers had shared a cabin on the Carnival Horizon for the family’s six-day Caribbean getaway, along with Kepner’s 14-year-old brother who was reportedly ‘obsessed’ with his stepsister. 

The night of her death, Anna’s brother heard yelling and chairs being thrown in the cabin, where she was alone with the stepbrother, her ex-boyfriend Josh Tew told reporters at a memorial service for the slain teenager last week.

He said the younger brother told him their stepbrother barred his entrance into the room and then ‘heard her yelling at her in a harmful way, like “shut the hell up” and stuff like that.

‘And that’s when he knew something was going on. There was screaming going on. Something was banging around, like chairs were getting thrown around in the room.

‘But he wouldn’t talk to me any more. He said the FBI told them that if they talk they’ll get arrested because it’s tampering with an investigation or something.’

Josh said he called the FBI because he was so concerned about what he had been told. ‘They told me they’re glad I gave them the information,’ he said.

The teenager who spoke to the media with his mother’s permission also claimed the stepbrother tried to climb on top of her against her will months before she died.

He said he was having a late-night FaceTime call with his then-girlfriend in the house she shared with her dad Christopher Kepner, 41, and his new partner Shauntel Hudson, who had brought her children into the home when she moved in.

Anna was laying down and ‘he walked in there and tried to get on top of her … but he got caught by me in the process of it. I was like, “What the hell are you doing in her room?” Then he got scared and ran away. And I heard his footsteps running through the house because he got caught.’

He added: ‘She was too scared to tell anybody. Because that one time that he said that if she said anything about getting on top of her he’d do something to her.

‘She told me that she was uncomfortable with them [his step relatives] being at the house because she didn’t fully know who they were.

‘That their dad had just met this woman, not even like a year ago, and she doesn’t really like her… she has an attitude most of the time and was very controlling over her. But I told her, they’re going to be your parents at the end of the day, you know.’

The Daily Mail was the first to report her 16-year-old stepbrother was under investigation and a ‘suspect’ over the death of the teen from Titusville, Florida. 

In a filing obtained by the Mail, it was disclosed that Anna’s stepmom Shauntel Hudson, 36, was locked in a custody battle with her ex, Thomas, which is now enmeshed in the tragedy. 

In a motion to Brevard County Court in Florida, her attorney writes: ‘An extremely sensitive and severe circumstance has arisen wherein there is an investigation being conducted by Federal Bureau of Investigations, (FBI) arising out of the suspected murder of the Respondent/Mother’s stepdaughter. 

‘The minor child, TH, is currently the subject of the active FBI criminal investigation. There is good cause for the need to protect the privacy, sensitivity, and well-being of not only the minor child, TH, but the other individual family members as well.’ 

Shauntel’s new plea is part of her motion just filed to seal the divorce case and stop any further information about her family and many circumstances surrounding Anna’s death becoming publicly available.

She also wants ‘all proceedings be closed to the press in the event criminal charges are filed against the minor child, his right to a fair trial may be tarnished’.

The stepmom’s motion adds she is ‘requesting that the court close the proceedings in order to protect the interests of the minor child and the family’.

Shauntel also criticizes her ex Thomas in the motion, saying he may have ‘impeded the active criminal investigation’ with ‘confidential’ comments she understands he has made.

The motion calls for a Non-Dissemination Order, preventing ‘both parties’ from discussing or giving out information – and to seal the case ‘where the court documents are not available to the public’.

Specifically, she demands the shutdown of information about the FBI probe, her custody battle, any law enforcement activity and the passing on of documents, photographs or texts relating to her ‘suspect’ son.

She also wants ‘sensitive information’ redacted from public court records.

Meanwhile, Kepner’s grandmother Barbara said her family was stunned that Anna’s stepbrother has been accused of her murder. 

‘They were like brother and sister, he was a good student,’ she said. ‘He played soccer, and is a very quiet young man.’ 

The heartbroken grandmother went on to say that the teen ‘had demons in his past and was trying to deal with those’, and revealed that he broke down when confronted by investigators. 

‘I heard him say in his own words that he does not remember what happened,’ she said. 

‘During (his police interview) he was an emotional mess, he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t believe what happened.’ 

Known by her nickname Anna Banana, Kepner was set to graduate in May and had plans to join the military.

A gymnast and varsity cheerleader, she attended Temple Christian School in Titusville, where her Kia Forte remained parked up this week, covered in flowers and tributes from heartbroken pals.

She was a ‘bright, kind-hearted young woman whose presence brought warmth and energy into the classroom,’ the school said in a touching Facebook post.

Christopher said his daughter’s ultimate career goal was to join the local police department so she could protect her friends and family.

‘The whole family is lost for words. We miss her and love her more than anything,’ he added.