Anna Kepner’s stepbrother has been indicted on federal charges months after the 18-year-old cheerleader was found dead during a family vacation on a Carnival cruise ship.
According to NBC News, the US Justice Department said Monday, April 13, that a 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his stepsister.
The 16-year-old stepbrother is facing federal charges of murder and aggravated sexual abuse, as per statement by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Court documents show the motion in the case was initially filed February 2, under seal, but the case was transferred to adult prosecution and unsealed Friday.
The press release refers to him only as T.H., and that is also how he is referred to in the court documents. He has been released into the custody of a guardian, but not his parents, according to court documents.
Anna Kepner was found dead Nov. 7 while vacationing with her family on a Carnival Horizon cruise ship. The cruise ship returned to the Port of Miami the next day, as planned, Carnival said in a statement at the time.
The press release says that while in international waters en route to Miami, “T.H. allegedly sexually assaulted and intentionally killed Kepner.” The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office determined Kepner’s cause of death was “mechanical asphyxiation.”
A judge on February 6, said T.H. must wear an electronic tether while living with an uncle. The order was later amended to allow him to temporarily work with his father at a landscaping business.
Teens prosecuted in federal court are extremely rare. T.H. was seen at the Miami courthouse in February, wearing a ball cap and a hoodie pulled tightly around his face.
