75 Days Into Anna Kepner Homicide Investigation and Still No Arrests Following Teen's Death on Carnival Cruise By Chris Spargo

On Nov. 7, 2025, the body of 18-year-old Anna Kepner was discovered under a bed in her stateroom aboard the Carnival Horizon.

An investigation was immediately launched and agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation were waiting for the cruise ship when it docked in Miami, Fla. two days later after a week at sea.

It has now been 75 days since that investigation began — and still there have been no arrests made or charges filed in the case.

There has also been no information or updates regarding the investigation shared by local police, federal agents and local, state or federal prosecutors regarding the case.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

What is known about the incident comes almost entirely from court documents previously obtained by PEOPLE that were filed by the parents of Anna’s 16-year-old stepbrother who shared a room with her on that trip.

Anna returned to the room on the night of Nov. 6, 2025, and shortly after 11 a.m. the next morning, she “was found asphyxiated under the bed,” according to one of those court filings.

In another filing, Thomas Hudson, the young boy’s father, stated that his son was “currently under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a federal crime.” 

At a Dec. 5, 2025 court hearing, the lawyer for the boy’s mother, Shauntel Kepner, provided a status update of sorts regarding the investigation.

Millicent Athanason told the judge that Shauntel had sent her teenage son to live with a relative in order to remove “any risk of any danger to any of the other children in the home.”

Both parents agreed to this, according to court filings, though in one terse exchange Hudson sent a message to Shauntel saying: “”I kept my mouth shut when you told me that you can’t jeopardize your marriage for helping [redacted] your son.”

Athanason also told the judge at the hearing that the delay in the investigation was because the FBI was determining whether to turn over the evidence in the case to state or local authorities.

“My clients were informed [the teenager] was a suspect, and since his release from the hospital after his return to the United States, he was placed with a relative of the mother,” Athanason said in court.

The FBI declined to comment at that time — and when asked about the current status of the investigation on Jan. 21, 2026, again declined to comment.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Office of the Miami-Dade State Attorney did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

Even the custody dispute between Shauntel and her ex-husband remains unresolved after lawyers for both sides were unable to present their arguments in front of the court in the allotted time at their scheduled hearing.

Hudson is seeking custody of the couple’s minor daughter in the wake of the cruise ship incident.