BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Shauntel Kepner, the stepmother of 18-year-old homicide victim Anna Kepner, declined to answer questions as she left the Brevard County courthouse Friday.
But inside the courtroom, she was required to respond during a hearing focused on whether her youngest child with ex-husband Thomas Hudson was at risk in her care, given Anna’s death aboard a cruise ship and an ongoing FBI investigation involving her 16-year-old stepbrother.
Kepner said she last saw her stepdaughter on the evening of November 6, 2025. She was sharing a cabin with her brother and stepbrother.
Hudson’s attorney, Scott Smith, asked Anna Kepner, “With the teenagers across the hall, did you ever go in and check on them?” She said, “No, I had gone to sleep.” Kepner’s 16-year-old stepbrother is now staying with relatives amid safety concerns involving the other children.
Kepner’s attorney told the judge the family isn’t sure what the FBI is going to do, whether Anna’s stepbrother is going to be charged federally, or if he could potentially face state charges; some testing is still pending.
The hearing also revealed Thomas Hudson did not want his children on the Carnival Horizon or any other cruise ship. The court just determined that Hudson’s daughter was not at imminent risk in her mother’s care. Shauntel Kepner and Thomas Hudson are expected to return to family court later this month.
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