The Carnival Horizon was supposed to be a floating birthday party. Instead, it became a crime scene that keeps getting darker.

Five weeks after 18-year-old Anna Kepner was found strangled and hidden under her cabin bed, federal investigators have uncovered evidence that turns the original “possible accident” narrative inside out:

Anna’s blood on two separate crew-only doors near Cabin 8341.
A 45-minute CCTV blackout in the exact hallway during the murder window.
A partial blood smear on the back of her 16-year-old stepbrother Matthew Kepner’s right hand — the same hand that would have been behind her neck in a rear-naked choke.

Sources close to the FBI maritime task force tell us the blood on the crew doors is not random transfer. One smear is consistent with a hand dragged along the wall while carrying weight. The second is a low-velocity spatter pattern — the kind you get when someone’s nose starts bleeding under pressure.

Even more disturbing: the ship’s security system logged a complete camera failure on Deck 8, Port Side, from 10:45 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. — the precise 45 minutes Matthew was alone in the cabin with Anna. Carnival insists it was a “routine network glitch,” but federal warrants now demand the raw server logs and every maintenance ticket filed that night.

Matthew Kepner, now the only person of interest, told crew he “couldn’t remember anything” after dinner. Yet his phone shows deleted searches in the days prior: “can siblings wrestle choke,” “how long to make someone pass out,” and repeated late-night views of Anna’s private Instagram stories.

Anna’s father Christopher Kepner, still wearing the same Georgia Bulldogs cap he had on the cruise, broke down outside the federal courthouse yesterday: “My daughter had defensive wounds under her nails. She fought. And someone on that boat made sure no camera saw it.”

The family has hired former prosecutor Tony Buzbee. A $500,000 reward is now posted for information leading to charges.

As the Horizon sits docked in Miami under FBI seal, one question echoes through Titusville chat groups and national headlines alike:

How did a “blended family vacation” turn into a floating murder mystery — and why did every safeguard fail the moment Anna needed it most?

The investigation is active. Anyone with photos or video from Deck 8 that night is urged to contact the FBI tip line immediately.