What began as a dream trip quickly thrust a tight-knit blended household into shock and anguish when one in every of their very own, a beloved teenage woman, was found useless on a cruise ship earlier this month.
Much more baffling and heartbreaking, her grandparents mentioned in an interview with ABC Information, the particular person authorities informed the household is suspected of Anna Kepner’s dying: her stepbrother.
“We have been all having a good time,” grandmother Barbara Kepner recalled of the journey. “I could not fathom why anybody would wanna harm my child.”
The grandparents of the 18-year-old who was discovered useless on a cruise ship sit down with ABC Information.
ABC Information
Her grandparents mentioned 18-year-old Anna had her complete life forward of her. She was an impartial and “mighty” younger lady, set to graduate highschool in Could and aspiring to affix the Navy, the Kepners mentioned. These hopes got here to a screeching halt when Anna’s physique was discovered aboard the Carnival Horizon, the place she and eight different relations have been on vacation.
A reason for dying has not been introduced by authorities, however the Kepner household says the FBI has informed them Anna apparently died from asphyxiation, presumably brought on by a bar maintain — an arm throughout the neck.
“We have been wanting ahead to seeing her develop,” grandfather Jeffrey Kepner mentioned. “The cruise itself wasn’t what made me excited. It was the truth that I used to be gonna get to spend one other week with my youngest son and his household and all of the grandkids.”
The FBI on Sunday continued to say no to touch upon the continued investigation, and ABC Information has not independently confirmed the small print of Anna’s dying.
“No such factor as steps”
The Kepners, their son, his three youngsters, together with Anna, his new spouse, and her youngsters from a earlier marriage, took the journey collectively. It was to be a brand new custom they have been wanting ahead to preserving, Jeffrey Kepner mentioned. The three generations had three staterooms on the ship.
“The 2 youthful women stayed with the mother and father after which the three youngsters, they determined amongst themselves they needed to remain within the room collectively. However we had a bigger room and we made it very clear that at any time in the event that they weren’t getting alongside, they did not wish to be collectively, we had an additional mattress in our room that they might come to,” Barbara Kepner mentioned.
The grandparents of the 18-year-old who was discovered useless on a cruise ship sit down with ABC Information.
ABC Information
The Kepners painted an image of a contented group, the place familial ties reached additional than blood, and there’s “no such factor as steps” for siblings.
“It is all household. It is a blended household, sure, however that is not how our household is,” Jeffrey Kepner mentioned. “Our dynamic is we’re all simply household.”
When Anna’s father remarried, the Kepners mentioned they gained two new grandchildren.
“I beloved them identical to I’ve beloved the remainder of my grandchildren. They referred to as us Memaw, Peepaw, informed us they beloved us,” Mrs. Kepner mentioned.
“They have been identical to brother and sister,” Barbara Kepner mentioned of the stepbrother now referred to as a “suspect” in Anna’s dying, in accordance with courtroom papers filed by his mom and Anna’s father in an unrelated matter.
Anna’s grandmother described the 2 teenagers as having been “two peas in a pod.”
“I do know that these two children cared about one another in the best method,” Barbara Kepner mentioned. “I am unable to accuse him as a result of I do not know what occurred in that room.”
No formal prices have been filed.
The grandparents of the 18-year-old who was discovered useless on a cruise ship sit down with ABC Information.
ABC Information
Anna’s grandparents mentioned authorities informed the household that the stepbrother, in accordance with safety cameras, was “the one one seen entering into and the one one seen going out” from the room he had been sharing with Anna.
Kepner mentioned she could not perceive why anybody would do such a factor to Anna — and desires to see justice accomplished.
“That might be for the courts to resolve,” Kepner mentioned.
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s workplace declined to remark Friday. The Kepners mentioned the household has been informed preliminary data signifies that there have been no indicators of sexual assault and that there didn’t look like medication or alcohol in Anna’s system.
Post-mortem and toxicology studies that might affirm these particulars haven’t been accomplished.
“I could not cease screaming.”
The final night time her grandparents noticed Anna alive, her dental braces had been bothering her at dinner, Barbara Kepner mentioned. However Anna was nonetheless decided to affix within the enjoyable.
“She simply mentioned, ‘Meemaw, I feel I am gonna return to my room for a bit of bit, I do not really feel nicely.’ And she or he should have felt higher, as a result of she acquired dressed up. And she or he got here down, we have been taking part in within the on line casino. And she or he sat down and he or she performed $20. And she or he did not win something. And she or he mentioned, ‘Meemaw, I like you guys, I will so long,’” Mrs. Kepner mentioned. “She’d pop out and in to examine in with us. And we by no means noticed her once more after that.”
The following morning, Jeffrey Kepner mentioned he was shopping for bingo playing cards when a medical alert blared over the ship loudspeakers. He acknowledged the room quantity.
“I went clean,” Jeffrey Kepner mentioned. “I hoped that it was one thing minor.” As a substitute, what he noticed when he walked in haunts him. “I nonetheless get up seeing that,” he mentioned.
Anna’s physique was found by a room attendant “hid beneath the mattress,” and there have been bruises on the facet of her neck, in accordance with the Kepners and a safety supply briefed on the investigation.
When her son — Anna’s father — entered the room, Barbara Kepner mentioned, “all he needed to do was have a look at her and he knew she was gone. After which my husband acquired there and pulled them out of the room. As he mentioned, they can not see what they noticed.” Then her husband got here to inform her what had occurred.
“I knew when he walked within the room, one thing was fallacious,” Mrs. Kepner mentioned. “And all he may say to me was, ‘Anna.’ The final I can bear in mind for most likely hours that morning is I simply screamed. I could not cease screaming.”
The utter shock of the state of affairs hasn’t left a lot room for grief but, the Kepners mentioned — but it surely has made them crave understanding and rack their brains for clues.
“These are the questions that we have been asking — what did we miss?” Mr. Kepner mentioned.
Barbara Kepner mentioned she thought Anna would have informed her if she had any considerations about her security.
“With my grandchildren, I’ve one rule, and it is the one rule I’ve with all of them. You be truthful with me, I will be truthful with you, and we’ll determine this out,” Kepner mentioned.
She mentioned on the ship, the stepbrother informed her, “In his personal phrases, say he doesn’t bear in mind what occurred.” She added, “I consider, to him, that’s his fact.”
The stepbrother was questioned together with different relations by regulation enforcement — who additionally pored over the ship’s safety digital camera footage and access-card swipes to get an image of who was the place on the numerous instances previous to the dying, in accordance with the Kepner household and a safety supply briefed on the investigation.
“He was an emotional mess. He could not even converse. He could not consider what had occurred,” Mrs. Kepner mentioned of the stepbrother. After the boat docked in Miami, the stepbrother was hospitalized for psychiatric commentary after which launched to stick with a member of the family, Kepner mentioned.
Showing just about in a Florida household courtroom in reference to an unrelated custody matter related to the divorce of Anna’s mother and father, the lawyer for Kepner’s stepmother informed the courtroom Thursday that, instantly after the incident on the cruise ship, the stepbrother was “hospitalized.” He has since been launched from the hospital and is now dwelling with a relative of the mom and receiving counseling, the lawyer mentioned. The lawyer didn’t clarify the explanation for the hospitalization.
“The largest query that I would like answered is the why. And that is the reply that I do not know if we’ll ever get,” Jeffrey Kepner mentioned.
Together with the ache of the unknown, the grandparents mentioned, has additionally come the sensation they’ve misplaced not one, however two children they cared for.
“I now understand how she died. It helps a bit of bit, but it surely’s not going to convey Anna again,” Barbara Kepner mentioned. “It doesn’t matter what we discover out, it doesn’t matter what they inform us, it is not going to convey both of these youngsters again.”
