December 23, 2025, 12:43 pm ET
- Court filings reveal text messages between the parents of a 16-year-old boy discussing his possible involvement in his stepsister’s death.
- Anna Kepner, 18, was found dead in her cabin on a Carnival cruise ship on November 7.
- The FBI is investigating the death, but no charges have been filed and the cause of death has not been released.
Recent court filings show a series of text messages between the stepmother of Anna Kepner and her ex-husband, discussing public speculation surrounding the 18-year-old Titusville cheerleader’s death aboard a six-day family cruise and how to shield their 16-year-old son from the media.
Shauntel Kepner, formerly Shauntel Hudson, and her ex-husband, Timothy Hudson, have been engaged in an acrimonious custodial proceeding involving their 16-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter. The text thread between the two, surfacing in court documents, provide some insight into the family’s already ruptured ties.
Anna Kepner’s body was found 11:17 a.m. Nov. 7 in the Carnival Horizon cabin she shared with her 16-year-old stepbrother and a younger stepsibling.
The Horizon, which traveled to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and other stops, returned to Port Miami on Nov. 8, with authorities removing the Temple Christian senior’s body from the ship, which carried at least 4,000 passengers. Her stepbrother was transferred to a facility for an evaluation before being released to another relative, court records show.
The FBI, which has maritime authority to investigate potential crimes on the high seas, has not filed any charges in the case.
Several news outlets, including ABC News and People.com, reported that the medical examiner determined Anna Kepner died as a result of mechanical asphyxiation. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s office, however, as of Dec. 23, has not released any official or preliminary cause of death in the case, even though court records include detailed discussion of the 16-year-old’s possible involvement with his stepsister’s death.
Text messages speak of keeping things ‘hush hush’
The first text came at 7:34 p.m. following the Nov. 7 discovery of Anna Kepner’s lifeless body in her cabin, which was located across the hallway from that of Shauntel Kepner and her husband, Chris Kepner.
“I need you to call me asap it’s an emergency,” Shauntel Kepner texted her former husband.
Timothy Hudson offered to take the couple’s daughter as media scrutiny of the case grew. Shauntel Kepner, however, shut down the suggestions, saying the girl was already traumatized and didn’t need to be moved.
“She doesn’t know anything about (her brother) The only thing I told her is that he was having a hard time coping with losing Anna so he’s getting checked out by the hospital,” Kepner wrote in a Nov. 8 text.
“I was able to talk with (the brother) last night for under two minutes briefly. He just keeps repeating over and over he can’t remember anything,” she told her former husband the next day.
Hudson responded: “I just want him to know that he isn’t just dead to everyone. Regardless of everything at the moment he needs his parents I know you know that. I just would like to have a chance to talk with him as soon as possible.”
Kepner then reassured Hudson that the Kepner family told the boy that he wasn’t (alone).”
Later, the pair talked about speculation swirling around the family on social media, as statements from other relatives surfaced saying that Anna had been “murdered.”
Shauntel Kepner, who had posted on Facebook asking for people to give the family privacy, tried to reassure her ex-husband as the case garnered increasing international attention. Speculation, however, continued to grow, as Anna Kepner’s face graced the cover of People magazine and as reporters crowded into the courtroom of the Moore Justice Center in Viera as details of the custody case were heard.
“Nobody knows anything about him. He is a minor and has been kept completely out of it. We have not said anything to anybody and we are to try our best to keep completely out,” Kepner texted.
“We’ll know exactly more when the autopsy is done. Once we get the autopsy today, depending on what it says, depend on whether he’s booked on these charges.”
Additionally, on Nov. 9, Shauntel Kepner texted her ex-husband that “OK, I know everything is supposed to be hush hush for now but ive seen that it is still getting out with post and comments between facebook tiktok and stuff … i just want to make sure until things are certain that he doesn’t get an(y) unnecessary comments towards him.”
Stepbrother’s medication, more discussed in texts
Kepner, who was divorced from Hudson in 2023, said in court filings that she has been warned that the 16-year-old boy’s possible involvement in the death is being investigated and that charges could be pending.
On Nov. 11, the pair finalized an agreement to turn the boy over to the care and supervision of a family member on Florida’s west coast, after Kepner said the boy could not return to the Titusville home she shares with Anna Kepner’s father.
Both discussed the prescription medication the 16-year-old boy was on and gave the family member the power of attorney to allow him counseling and medical treatment where needed.
Hudson pleaded in the texts to talk with his young daughter, but Shauntel Kepner told him the child, who was also close to Anna Kepner, did not want to talk.
“I spoke with (her). At this time, she doesn’t want to talk. I let her know that you care about her and that you love her,” she wrote.
Hudson responded minutes later on the thread, expressing growing concern about his daughter’s emotional state following her stepsister’s death.
“I want to hear it from her with everything going on Shaun … I need to hear her,” his text said.
The girl was later given counseling through the Florida Department of Children and Family Services, shortly after a Nov. 20 memorial service for Anna Kepner.
By Nov. 14, Shauntel Kepner told Hudson, who continued to text with questions and concerns, to direct his inquiries to her attorney.
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. X: @JDGallop.
