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Family vacation on Carnival Horizon turned into a nightmare at age 18 Anna Kepner was found dead in her cabin earlier this month.
his grandparents now say FBI Privately he is told that Anna has likely died from suffocation – possibly from a bar hold – and that the teenager suspected in her death is his own half-brother.
“We were all having a great time,” said grandmother Barbara Kepner. ABC News in an exclusive interview on Monday“I can’t understand why someone would want to hurt my child,”
Anna, described by her grandparents as “strong”, independent and eager to join the Navy after high school, was traveling with three generations of a blended family. Kishore, Anna and two step-siblings chose to share a room. Earlier this month, Anna was found dead on the cruise and the FBI launched an investigation to find out what happened to the teen.
“It’s all family,” said her grandfather Jeffrey Kepner. “Our dynamic is that we’re all just a family.”
The saddest thing, her grandparents say, was when authorities told the family that Anna’s half-brother was a suspect in her death.
“I know that both of those kids cared deeply for each other,” Barbara said. “I can’t blame him because I don’t know what happened in that room.”
The last night she was seen alive, Anna’s braces were bothering her so she went back to the room for a while, her grandmother said. But then later returned ready to join them at the casino.
“She just said, ‘Meemaw, I think I’m going to go back to my room for a while, I’m not feeling well,’ ” Barbara recalled. “And she must have felt better, because she got dressed up. And she came down, we were playing in the casino. And she sat down and she played $20. And she didn’t win anything. And she said, ‘Meemaw, I love you guys, I’ll see you later.’ She kept coming back and forth to check in with us. And after that we never saw him again.”
A medical alert came the next morning. Jeffrey recognized the room number.
“I went blank,” he said. “I still wake up looking at him.”
A crew member found Anna’s body “hidden under the bed,” with injuries to her neck, the grandparents said.
When Anna’s father entered the room, Barbara said, “All he had to do was look at her and he knew she was gone.” When her husband told her, she said, “I just screamed. I couldn’t stop screaming.”
The family says investigators told them that security footage showed the stepbrothers were “the only person seen going in and the only person going out” of the cabin that night. No charges have been filed.
Barbara said the teen later told her he “didn’t remember what happened.” He added, “I believe, for them, this is their truth.”
The teen, who has not been named, was questioned by investigators, and then hospitalized for psychiatric observation after the ship docked. He was later released to live with a relative, according to family and court records.
In a separate custody case involving his mother, her attorney wrote that “a criminal case may be initiated” against one of her children and that she could not testify because it “could be prejudicial to this pending criminal investigation.”
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner has completed an autopsy but has not released findings.
But Anna’s grandparents say they were told there was no sign of sexual assault and there was no sign of drugs or alcohol in Anna’s system. Toxicology results are pending.
“The biggest question I want answered is why,” Jeffrey said. “And that’s the answer I don’t know if we’ll ever get.”
Barbara said the tragedy had taken away more than one of her children.
He said, “Now I know how she died. It helps a little, but it won’t bring Anna back.” “No matter what we find out…it’s not going to bring any of these kids back.”
“We were looking forward to watching him grow,” Jeffrey said.
Carnival said it is supporting and cooperating with the family. FBI,