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Father says ex-wife didn’t supervise son who’s focus of probe into stepsister’s cruise ship death
Original Publication Date: December 5, 2025 8:53AM
Publication Updated: December 5, 2025 9:48AM
TITUSVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A 16-year-old boy who is the subject of an FBI investigation into the death of his older stepsister on a Carnival cruise ship last month never had permission from his father to go on the trip, the dad said in family court papers accusing his ex-wife of failing to supervise the teen.
The teenage boy and his 18-year-old stepsister, Anna Kepner, were allowed to share a room aboard the cruise ship and the boy’s mother “failed to properly supervise” the teen, the father, Thomas Hudson said Thursday in a court motion seeking greater visitation with the two children he shares with his ex-wife.
Kepner was found asphyxiated under a bed in the room she shared on the ship with the teenage boy, Hudson said in the court documents.
Her death was ruled a homicide, according to a copy of her death certificate obtained by ABC News. The case has received worldwide attention.
Kepner was a high school cheerleader from Florida’s Space Coast who was set to graduate next year. She had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship with her father, stepmother, her stepmother’s two children and her grandparents.
Kepner’s death aboard the ship that sailed from Miami has remained shrouded in mystery with the FBI and medical examiner’s office in South Florida refusing to disclose any information about the case for weeks.
Telephone messages left for family members Friday were not immediately returned.
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Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social
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