NEED TO KNOW
- The stepbrother of Anna Kepner — who is under FBI investigation in connection with her death — is currently living with a relative at an undisclosed location known only to his parents and law enforcement
- Shauntel Kepner, the boy’s mother, said that she sent the teen away with the intention of “removing any risk of any danger to any of the other children in the home”
- A lawyer for Shauntel strongly suggested criminal charges would be filed in Anna’s death, but it’s unclear if state or federal prosecutors would handle the case
The stepbrother of Anna Kepner is living with relatives while the FBI continues to investigate the teenager.
Shauntel Kepner, the mother of the 16-year-old boy and stepmother of Anna, appeared in court on Friday, Dec. 5, for a custody hearing. During the hearing, Shauntel’s lawyer said Shauntel and her husband Christopher Kepner sent the teenager away with the intention of “removing any risk of any danger to any of the other children in the home.”
Later in the hearing, Shauntel testified that Anna, her stepbrother, and her 14-year-old half-brother were the closest of friends — and said the trio shared a room on a Carnival Horizon cruise from Nov. 2 to Nov. 9.
Shauntel was in court because her ex-husband Thomas Hudson filed an emergency custody motion last month after Anna “was found asphyxiated under the bed in the room which she shared with [his teenage son],” according to a court filing obtained by PEOPLE.
The divorced couple have three children, and Thomas appeared in court asking the judge to grant him custody of their youngest daughter in the wake of Anna’s death.
Anna Kepner/Instagram
No charges have been filed and officials have not named a suspect, but Shauntel’s attorney, Millicent Athanason, strongly suggested that charges would be filed. The attorney also said that the FBI was determining whether to turn over the evidence in the case to state or local authorities. When asked to confirm this, an FBI spokesperson declined to comment to PEOPLE.
“My clients were informed [the teenager] was a suspect, and since his release from the hospital after his return to the United States he was placed with a relative of the mother,” Athanason said in court.
Athanason also noted that her client and her ex-husband had worked together on this issue.
PEOPLE obtained documents confirming that the teenager is staying with a third party who holds power of attorney, and can only be removed with the consent of both parents. The documents also state that his location is known only to Shauntel, Thomas and law enforcement.
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Anna was found dead in her cabin on the Carnival Horizon on the morning of Nov. 7 as the ship travelled back to port in Miami. According to her death certificate, she had been “mechanically asphyxiated by other person(s).” Her death has been ruled a homicide.
It has now been close to a month since her death and there has not been an arrest or any charges filed in the case.
On Friday, Judge Michelle Studstill denied Thomas’s request for an emergency motion.
Thomas will be back in court on Dec. 17 for a contempt hearing after filing a motion alleging that his wife did not have his permission to take their two children out of the country on the cruise.
He also said he had been blocked from seeing his two younger children for the past 18 months, and described an incident two weeks ago in which Christopher and his parents allegedly interfered with a custody exchange between him and Shauntel when she went to pick up their daughter, leading to a verbal altercation, according to a filing obtained by PEOPLE.
Thomas was allowed to spend time with his youngest daughter for the first time in over a year on Thanksgiving, just after a date was set for the emergency custody hearing.
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