Anna Kepner may have been living in fear of her own 16-year-old stepbrother, who might face charges in connection with her tragic passing, according to the victim’s ex-boyfriend and his father.
As investigators look into how the Florida cheerleader wound up lifeless on a cruise ship, a troubling picture of her life at home is coming to light.
“She was too scared to tell anybody,” said ex-boyfriend Josh Tew, who once caught the stepbrother climbing on top of her as she was lying down.
Anna Kepner may have been living in fear of her own 16-year-old stepbrother, according to the victim’s ex-boyfriend and his father
Anna Kepner was laid to rest at a funeral in Titusville, Florida, on Thursday, November 20.
The 18-year-old was meant to graduate in Spring from Temple Christian School and had dreams of joining the US Navy and becoming a K-9 police officer.
She was nearing the end of a six-day Caribbean cruise with her biological father, stepmother, siblings and step-siblings when her body was found in international waters on November 7.
A housekeeper found the teenager’s body wrapped up in a blanket, covered in life jackets, and stuffed underneath her bed.
Reports revealed that Anna’s 16-year-old stepbrother may be facing charges in connection with her passing.
Josh Tew, who previously dated Anna, spoke about the dynamics between his ex-girlfriend and her 16-year-old stepbrother.
He explained that Anna was living at home with her father, Christopher Kepner, 41, and his new partner, Shauntel Hudson, as well as Shauntel’s children.
“Their dad had just met this woman, not even like a year ago, and she doesn’t really like her… ” Josh said, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
“She has an attitude most of the time and was very controlling over her. But I told her, they’re going to be your parents at the end of the day, you know,” he continued.
“She was too scared to tell anybody,” Josh said after recalling a disturbing incident involving the stepbrother
Josh claimed that Anna slept in the home’s dining room most of the time or “in her friend’s beds and stuff” because she was “uncomfortable” with Shauntel’s 16-year-old son “being at the house.”
On one occasion, Josh allegedly caught the stepbrother climbing on top of her as Anna was lying down.
“He walked in there and tried to get on top of her … but he got caught by me in the process of it. I was like, ‘What the hell are you doing in her room?’ Then he got scared and ran away. And I heard his footsteps running through the house because he got caught,” Josh recalled.
“She was too scared to tell anybody,” he recalled. “Because that one time that he said that if she said anything about getting on top of her he’d do something to her.”
Anna spoke to him about being “uncomfortable” with the stepsiblings being in the house, “because she didn’t fully know who they were,” Josh claimed.
“She was scared of him because he always carried around a big knife,” Josh’s father said
Although Josh and Anna apparently broke up about six months ago, Josh said she was “the best thing that ever happened” to him.
“I last talked to her three weeks ago. I was meant to go on that cruise,” he added.
Josh’s father, Steven Westin, made similar claims about the 16-year-old brother being “obsessed” with Anna.
“He’s infatuated, attracted to her like crazy,” he told Inside Edition. “He always wanted to date her.”
“She was scared of him because he always carried around a big knife,” he added.
The father claimed his son Josh wanted to warn Anna’s parents.
They “didn’t want to believe” him, Steven said.
After investigators reviewed surveillance footage from the ship, it was revealed that Anna was captured walking back to her room on November 6.
She met with her family for dinner earlier but said she wasn’t feeling well and returned to her cabin.
Her step-brother and other 14-year-old biological brother were later captured entering the cabin.
At some point, the 14-year-old was seen leaving the cabin and wandering around the ship, clicking pictures.
When he returned to the cabin, he found his sister missing but didn’t find it suspicious. He went to sleep, thinking she may have been out with other family members aboard the ship.
The 14-year-old didn’t realize Anna’s body was stuffed underneath her bed just a few feet away.
Anna’s 14-year-old brother slept off in their cruise cabin, not realizing his sister’s body was underneath her bed just a few feet away
While speaking to the media, Josh claimed he spoke to Anna’s 14-year-old brother about the events that unfolded on the cruise ship before the teen’s body was found.
He said the stepbrother barred him from entering their common room and “heard” someone yelling “in a harmful way, like ‘shut the hell up’ and stuff like that,” Josh said.
“And that’s when he knew something was going on. There was screaming going on. Something was banging around, like chairs were getting thrown around in the room,” he continued.
While Anna’s investigation continues, the custody battle between Shauntel and her ex-husband, Thomas Hudson, is also unfolding in parallel.
Thomas shares an adult child, the 16-year-old son, and another 9-year-old child with Shauntel.
He blamed Shauntel’s decisions for putting their son’s future in jeopardy.
During a custody hearing that was unrelated to Anna’s case, the attorney representing Thomas claimed the teen was “allowed to drink” aboard the cruise ship.
“The teenagers were given their own room in which to stay,” said attorney Scott Smith.
“Just a lot of circumstances that showed that the mother in this case was not exercising appropriate supervision over this child or the other child involved,” he added.
However, Shauntel’s attorney Millicent Athanason claimed there was video evidence that proved the teen stepbrother wasn’t drinking.
She also said the 16-year-old was hospitalized for an undisclosed reason “immediately after the incident” but was eventually released. He has since been living with his mother’s relative.
Shauntel mentioned in court that her 16-year-old son has a “psychiatrist appointment” scheduled in December.
In addition to exploring whether the stepbrother had a role to play in Anna’s passing, investigators are also looking at other possibilities, like an overdose or a medical emergency.
Image credits: Inside Edition
Following the grisly discovery of Anna’s body, her biological mother, Heather Kepner, claimed she found out about her daughter’s passing days after it took place.
“Her dad and stepmom didn’t even try to contact me, so I’m gonna give that to God and let Him sort it out, along with whoever did this to my baby girl,” she said in a November 11 TikTok video.
The mother has been living in Oklahoma and hadn’t seen her daughter in years. She had separated from Christopher about 13 years ago, when Anna was five years old.
Heather claimed she was told not to attend her daughter’s funeral due to family tensions. But the mother was determined to say her final goodbye.
“I’m going to wear a disguise, I’m going to put a wig on and wear some really tall shoes because I’m 4 ft. 9,” she told Inside Edition ahead of the funeral.
“She was scared of him and the parents put them together in the same room?” one commented online
