{"id":27242,"date":"2026-04-13T17:08:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T17:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=27242"},"modified":"2026-04-13T17:08:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T17:08:26","slug":"stepbrother-charged-with-murder-sex-abuse-in-teen-girls-cruise-ship-death-doj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=27242","title":{"rendered":"Stepbrother charged with murder, sex abuse in teen girl&#8217;s cruise ship death: DOJ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in the <a data-i13n=\"cpos:1;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/US\/passenger-died-carnival-cruise-ship-identified-18-year\/story?id=127365664\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:death of his stepsister during a family cruise vacation;cpos:1;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkPosition&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yPosition&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;death of his stepsister during a family cruise vacation&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" class=\"link \">death of his stepsister during a family cruise vacation<\/a>, the Department of Justice announced Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a data-i13n=\"cpos:2;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/US\/anna-kepner-teen-died-carnival-cruise-honored-funeral\/story?id=127709795\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Anna Kepner, 18, died on the Carnival Cruise ship Horizon;cpos:2;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkPosition&quot;:&quot;2&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yPosition&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Anna Kepner, 18, died on the Carnival Cruise ship Horizon&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" class=\"link \">Anna Kepner, 18, died on the Carnival Cruise ship Horizon<\/a> in November while the ship was in international waters and heading to Miami, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The DOJ alleged the stepbrother &#8220;sexually assaulted and intentionally killed&#8221; Kepner. The Florida high school senior died from mechanical asphyxiation, officials said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">Gary Hershorn\/Getty Images &#8211; PHOTO: The Carnival Horizon cruise ship sits docked in the Caribbean Sea at the Aruba Cruise Terminal, November 11, 2025, in Oranjestad, Aruba.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a data-i13n=\"cpos:3;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/US\/slashing-suspect-shot-new-yorks-grand-central-station\/story?id=131951237\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Slashing suspect shot by police after injuring 3 at Grand Central subway station in New York;cpos:3;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkPosition&quot;:&quot;3&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yPosition&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Slashing suspect shot by police after injuring 3 at Grand Central subway station in New York&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" class=\"link \">Slashing suspect shot by police after injuring 3 at Grand Central subway station in New York<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"max-md:faux-bleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex ad-container\" id=\"_R_5csl3b3aglqnpfivb8lbH1_\">\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The boy was initially charged as a juvenile, prosecutors said. He&#8217;s now been indicted as an adult by a federal grand jury on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Kepner\u2019s family said in a statement last year that the 18-year-old &#8220;loved being around people\u201d and \u201cdrew you in with her smile and the way she carried herself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">She was set to graduate from high school this May and was interested in joining the military, her family said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/stepbrother-charged-murder-sex-abuse-162200308.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in the death of his stepsister during a family cruise vacation, the Department of Justice announced Monday. Anna Kepner, 18, died on the Carnival Cruise ship Horizon in November while the ship was in international waters and heading to Miami, prosecutors said. The &#8230; <a title=\"Stepbrother charged with murder, sex abuse in teen girl&#8217;s cruise ship death: DOJ\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=27242\" aria-label=\"Read more about Stepbrother charged with murder, sex abuse in teen girl&#8217;s cruise ship death: DOJ\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Stepbrother-charged-with-murder-sex-abuse-in-teen-girls-cruise.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27244,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27242\/revisions\/27244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}