Text messages sent by the family of 18-year-old Anna Kepner after her death on a Carnival cruise ship have surfaced.
A legal expert criticized the family over these messages, suggesting they were more focused on “damage control” and “public relations” than grieving the loss of the teenage cheerleader.
Anna’s body was tragically discovered under a bed in one of the cruise ship cabins, wrapped in a blanket. Her death certificate indicated that she died due to “mechanical asphyxiation.”
She was sharing a cabin with two siblings and was a student at Temple Christian School, with plans to graduate in May.
Court documents have identified one of her step-siblings, a 16-year-old boy, as a potential suspect in the case.
Text messages sent by the family after Anna’s discovery have been released as part of a separate custody case. The messages were exchanged between Anna’s stepmother, Shauntel Hudson-Kepner, and her ex-husband, Thomas Hudson.
Hudson-Kepner’s first message, sent around 7:30 PM on November 8, stated: “I need you to call me asap. It’s an emergency.”
She mentioned that her daughter was informed only that her brother was “having a hard time coping with losing Anna so he’s getting checked out by the hospital.”
On November 9, Hudson-Kepner updated Kepner on their son’s condition: “I was able to talk to him last night for under two minutes briefly he just keeps repeating over and over he can’t remember anything.”
“I don’t even know if they were allowed to let me talk to him or not but the nurse was very nice and let me talk to him just to tell him that you and I love him,” she added.
The stepmother was attempting to keep details about her son’s involvement under wraps and expressed a desire to prevent his name from being released to the media and public.
“OK, I know everything is supposed to be hush hush for now but I’ve 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.”
They also indicated that the teenage boy might face charges.
Hudson-Kepner emphasized: “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 going to try out best to keep it completely out he is a minor so his name shouldn’t be anywhere and when we talk to the FBI again we will reiterate that we do not want his name out there and everything that’s been posted on TikTok and social media.”
“Nobody knows anything and everybody’s just speculating, we know what I told you last night and 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 those charges.”
Former sheriff’s detective and investigator Jamie Copenhaver remarked that the messages seemed like a coordinated PR effort.
He told FOX 35: “They did damage control, their own PR department. I’m going to say 100% they know more than what they are telling. We are going to protect you. We are going to keep you out of the light. Let’s stay off of special media.”
Hudson expressed his support for his son: “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 to him as soon as possible.”
“We told him that yesterday, before they took him, we told him no matter what you and us are with him he isn’t alone,” Hudson-Kepner responded.
Court documents confirm that Anna’s death is being investigated as a homicide, and authorities are still probing the case.