{"id":351893,"date":"2026-04-21T15:44:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/stepbrother-pleads-not-guilty-to-murder-sex-abuse-charges-in-teens-cruise-ship-death"},"modified":"2026-04-21T15:44:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:44:53","slug":"stepbrother-pleads-not-guilty-to-murder-sex-abuse-charges-in-teens-cruise-ship-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/stepbrother-pleads-not-guilty-to-murder-sex-abuse-charges-in-teens-cruise-ship-death","title":{"rendered":"Stepbrother pleads not responsible to homicide, intercourse abuse fees in teen’s cruise ship loss of life"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A 16-year-old boy charged as an adult with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse<\/a> in the\u00a0death of his stepsister during a family cruise has pleaded not guilty, court records show.<\/p>\n

The teenager was due in court in Miami on Wednesday morning for his arraignment, though he waived his appearance, according to a filing from his attorney.<\/p>\n

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\"Anna<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>
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The Carnival Horizon cruise ship sits docked in the Caribbean Sea at the Aruba Cruise Terminal, November 11, 2025, in Oranjestad, Aruba.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Gary Hershorn\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Department of Justice announced the charges last week, months after 18-year-old Anna Kepner died in November on the Carnival Cruise ship Horizon<\/a>\u00a0while the ship was en route to Miami.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors alleged that the stepbrother “sexually assaulted and intentionally killed” Kepner. The Florida high school senior died from mechanical asphyxiation, officials said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Aruba<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>
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The family of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, who was reported dead while aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship on Saturday, says they will remember her as a happy, bubbly, straight-A student with a bright future ahead.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Kepner family<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Anna Kepner’s father, Chris Kepner, is married to the suspect’s mother, Shauntel Kepner.<\/p>\n

Chris and Shauntel Kepner said in a statement last week, “Our family is devastated by the loss of Anna and continues to grieve this unimaginable tragedy.”<\/p>\n

“This situation is deeply painful and complex for our entire family,” the Kepners said. “Anna was deeply loved, and we remain committed to honoring her life and memory every day.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 16-year-old boy charged as an adult with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse in the\u00a0death of his stepsister during a family cruise has pleaded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":351896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2913,27844,6757,1682,14867,5303,3,1578,6982,28439,14869],"class_list":["post-351893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-anna-kepner","tag-aruba-cruise-terminal","tag-caribbean-sea","tag-carnival-cruise","tag-chris-kepner","tag-division-of-justice","tag-florida","tag-miami","tag-oranjestad","tag-shauntel-kepner","tag-stepbrother"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351893"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":351895,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351893\/revisions\/351895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}