Death of Florida teenager on Carnival cruise ship ruled a homicide

Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Horizon cruise ship is shown docked at PortMiami, Friday, April 9, 2021, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee,File)

The death of a Florida teenager on a Carnival cruise ship earlier this month has been ruled a homicide, the latest development in a case that has drawn international attention and sparked intense speculation on social media.

Anna Kepner’s cause of death was “mechanical asphyxia,” according to a copy of her death certificate obtained by ABC News, which said the 18-year-old “was mechanically asphyxiated by other person(s).”

Mechanical asphyxia is when an object or physical force stops someone from breathing, according to Stephen Nelson, a chief medical examiner in Central Florida who is not involved in the case.

“In some way, shape or form, your airway has been cut off,” said Nelson, a former chair of Florida’s Medical Examiners Commission.

A family vacation that ended in tragedy

A high school cheerleader from Florida’s Space Coast who was set to graduate next year, Kepner had been travelling on the Carnival Horizon ship with her father, stepmother, her stepmother’s two children and her grandparents.

The night before she was found dead, Kepner had spent time with her grandparents in the ship’s casino, her grandmother Barbara Kepner told ABC News.

“She said, ‘Meemaw, I love you guys. I’ll see you. ... I’ll see you later’,” Barbara Kepner recalled. “We never saw her again after that.”

The next morning, a medical alert blared out over the ship’s broadcast system, directing first responders to the room Kepner was sharing with two other teens, including a younger stepbrother.

A room attendant found Kepner’s body “concealed under the bed,” according to her grandmother.

“I just screamed. I couldn’t stop screaming,” Barbara Kepner said.

Teenager’s stepbrother identified as a suspect

Kepner’s death aboard the ship that sailed from Miami has remained shrouded in mystery with the FBI and medical examiner’s office in South Florida refusing to disclose any information about the case for weeks.

The teen’s 16-year-old stepbrother has been identified as a suspect in her death, according to court documents filed by his parents.

The disclosures — contained in motions filed in an ongoing custody dispute — offer the clearest public indication that federal investigators are scrutinizing a member of the victim’s own blended family.

As of Tuesday, a final autopsy report had not been released and the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office has not responded to recent messages left by the AP.

Kepner’s time of death was 11:17 a.m. on Nov. 7, according to the medical examiner’s office, and the ship returned to PortMiami on Nov. 8 as scheduled.

Carnival Horizon cruises the Western Caribbean with stops in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, according to itineraries posted on the company’s website.

Lawyers who practice maritime law say they’re not surprised that nearly three weeks have passed with no charges filed in the case.

“When I’ve had international marine deaths — deaths on a vessel in international waters in the high seas — it can take quite some time to get the final autopsy reports,” said Houston attorney Marcus Spagnoletti. “It’s not unusual.”

A ‘highly suspicious’ death

Nelson, the medical examiner, said he considers Kepner’s death “highly, highly suspicious” and said the reports that her body was concealed support the homicide finding.

“The concealment part alone is very troubling,” Nelson said.

Kepner’s family has been told that preliminary information indicates there were no signs of sexual assault and that there did not appear to be drugs or alcohol in Anna’s system, ABC News reported.

Nelson, who has not been briefed on the case, said there are a range of deaths that can be defined as asphyxia, including drowning, strangulation and hanging.

The language stating that Kepner “was mechanically asphyxiated by other person(s)” is fairly standard language, Nelson said, and an acknowledgment that Kepner had been sharing a room with other people.

“It would be up to law enforcement to narrow down what role, if any, each of those other people in the room played,” Nelson said.

The challenges of a floating crime scene

Determining who has the authority over a criminal investigation can be complicated since cruise ships are registered in one country but often travel through many others, all while carrying thousands of passengers and crew members from around the world, according to the FBI.

On the open ocean where U.S. law, international law and the laws of other nations might be involved, cooperation is critical to any investigation.

The nature of a floating crime scene can also make investigations challenging because it can leave a small window of time to investigate before the ship departs on its next voyage.

“You have a short amount of time to do the best you can to solve this case or collect all the evidence you need to solve this case and then your crime scene leaves,” FBI Special Agent Matt Parker said in the FBI document.

Preserving the integrity of the crime scene can also be a challenge, “given that law enforcement wouldn’t even have had access to the crime scene until they were in port,” said David Edelstein, a South Florida lawyer.

“They don’t have the same safeguards that they do when law enforcement is in charge of the crime scene,” he said. “It’s really imperative that the scene be secured, otherwise the evidence could be contaminated.”

Crimes on cruise ships

A federal law, the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, requires that most cruise ships operating out of U.S. ports report certain types of serious crime to the FBI.

In 2023, the FBI received 180 reports of alleged criminal activity on cruises, ranging from thefts to sexual and physical assaults to missing persons cases, the agency said. No suspicious deaths were reported during the period, according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“They’re almost like small cities, so anything that could occur in a small city could conceivably happen onboard one of these boats, including violent crimes,” Edelstein said.

Martin reported from Atlanta. Payne, who reported from Tallahassee, Florida, is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Kate Payne And Jeff Martin, The Associated Press