Anna Kepner’s Stepmom Is Pleading the 5th Amendment in Emergency Hearing Surrounding Explosive Custody Battle By Liam Quinn

The stepmother of Anna Kepner, the 18-year-old found dead under a bed on a cruise ship, is invoking her Fifth Amendment right not to testify at a separate divorce hearing.

Shauntel Hudson was aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship at the time her stepdaughter’s body was found aboard the vessel on Nov. 8.

Hudson is currently engaged in a custody battle with her ex-husband, Thomas Hudson, who filed an emergency motion for temporary relief in Brevard County, Fla., which was obtained by PEOPLE. The motion states that one of his kids — one of Kepner’s stepsiblings — is considered a suspect in her death.

“The sixteen year old child is now a suspect in the death of the step child during the cruise,” the filing states.

Thomas Hudson further alleges that his ex-wife’s choices have put the 16-year-old’s future “in jeopardy.”

In Shauntel’s response to the motion, she requested that a scheduled hearing be delayed due to the ongoing investigation into Kepner’s death, while acknowledging that a “criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children.”

The response further states she intends to invoke her constitutional right not to self-incriminate and notes that any testimony she potentially gave “could be prejudicial to her or her adolescent child in this pending criminal investigation.”

Kepner’s body was found under a bed on the Carnival Horizon, CBS News previously reported, citing investigators.

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Kepner was on the cruise with her father, stepmother and three stepsiblings, according to the outlet.

The night before she went missing, Kepner reportedly told her family she wasn’t feeling well and then went to her room.

The FBI is investigating Kepner’s death, which occurred in international waters. No criminal charges have been filed as of Thursday, Nov. 20.