ORLANDO, Florida – In the shadow of a sunlit church parking lot, where mourners in vibrant colors gathered to celebrate a life cut brutally short, Joshua Tew wiped away tears and stared into the camera with the raw ache of first love lost. It was November 20, 2025, just hours after the emotional funeral service for 18-year-old Anna Kepner at a Titusville congregation outside Orlando – a “celebration of life” that doubled as a quiet demand for justice. Kepner, the bubbly high school cheerleader with dreams of college and a future in equine therapy, had been found dead on November 7 aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship, her body stuffed under a bed in her stateroom, wrapped in a blanket and hidden beneath life vests like a discarded secret. Tew, her ex-boyfriend of several months, spoke exclusively to Inside Edition in the lot, his voice cracking as he unveiled allegations that have sent shockwaves through investigators and shattered the facade of a “family vacation gone wrong.”

“Anna was so afraid of him,” Tew, 18, said of Kepner’s 16-year-old stepbrother, Timothy Hudson, whose name surfaced in explosive court filings this week as a prime suspect in her death. “She’d crash at friends’ houses just to avoid being alone with him. He… he harassed her. Sexually. It wasn’t a one-time thing.” Tew’s words, delivered with the weight of a young man who’d held her secrets, paint a portrait of domestic terror hidden behind blended-family smiles. He recounted a FaceTime call months earlier where Hudson allegedly burst into Kepner’s bedroom uninvited, climbing onto her bed while she slept – a violation witnessed in real-time that left her trembling and too scared to tell her parents. “She said he was obsessed,” Tew added, echoing claims from his father, Steven Westin, who corroborated the story to Daily Mail. “He always carried this big knife, like it was his security blanket. Anna begged me not to say anything because she thought he’d hurt her worse if it got out.”

The funeral itself was a tapestry of grief and defiance – no black attire, per the family’s wishes, but bursts of turquoise and yellow honoring Kepner’s “bright and beautiful soul,” as her mother Heather Wright described her in a tearful eulogy. Over 200 attendees filled the pews of the nondenominational church, including Kepner’s biological father Christopher, stepmother Shauntel Hudson (Timothy’s mother), and a phalanx of cheer squad teammates clutching pom-poms like talismans. Wright, who learned of her daughter’s death via a Google alert after a chilling text from a friend (“Check if Anna’s on a cruise”), delivered a gut-wrenching speech: “She was always happy, my girl – horseback riding, flipping in the air, lighting up every room. Now she’s in heaven, but her light? It’s screaming for truth.” Notably absent: Wright herself from the service, barred by a family court gag order amid custody battles, a detail that fueled whispers of deeper fractures in the Kepner-Hudson household.

Kepner’s death aboard the 3,646-passenger Carnival Horizon – during a six-day Caribbean itinerary from Miami – unfolded like a locked-room thriller with oceanic stakes. The family, including Christopher, Shauntel, and the stepsiblings, boarded October 31 for what was billed as a healing getaway. But by November 7, as the ship sailed international waters between Mexico and Florida, tragedy struck. Kepner, exhausted from a day of shipboard fun, retired early to her stateroom – a cozy king-bed setup shared with her younger biological brother Connor (11) and stepbrother Hudson, who bunked above. Connor later told investigators he heard muffled yelling – Hudson allegedly snarling “Shut the hell up!” in a “harmful” tone – followed by crashing furniture and chairs scraping across the floor. The cabin door was locked from inside, per ship logs, and the room’s access card showed no external entries after 10 p.m.

The next morning, November 8, a housekeeper discovered the horror: Kepner’s body crammed into the under-bed void, asphyxiated in what preliminary FBI forensics describe as a “bar hold” choke – an arm-barred neck compression leaving ligature marks consistent with manual strangulation. Wrapped in her own blanket and buried under orange life vests – perhaps to muffle sounds or conceal the scene – she was pronounced dead at 11:17 a.m. by the ship’s medical team. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office, in coordination with the FBI, ruled out overdose or medical emergency early; toxicology came back clean, no drugs or alcohol. Carnival’s statement was terse: “We cooperated fully with authorities; passenger safety remains paramount.” But behind the PR polish, ship security footage – reviewed by feds – captures Hudson exiting the cabin at 6:45 a.m., disheveled and avoiding cameras, before rejoining the oblivious family for breakfast.

The FBI’s involvement, triggered by the international waters jurisdiction under the Death on the High Seas Act, has escalated into a full homicide probe. Agents from the Miami field office seized the ship’s hard drives, passenger manifests, and even the stateroom’s linens for trace DNA. A bombshell court filing in a separate Brevard County custody case – unsealed November 19 – explicitly names Hudson as a “suspected party,” citing “obsessive and inappropriate” behavior toward Kepner predating the cruise. The document, from a hearing where Shauntel Hudson was barred from testifying, references prior complaints of harassment – including the FaceTime incident Tew described – and notes Hudson’s possession of a “large folding knife” during family outings. “This wasn’t isolated; patterns of fixation and boundary violations were reported but dismissed,” a source familiar with the filing told NBC News. Hudson, now 16 and placed with a third-party guardian pending investigation, has lawyered up; his attorney, citing juvenile protections, declined comment. No charges yet – Florida’s age of criminal responsibility is 7, but federal maritime law could bypass that for murder – but whispers of an indictment swirl as the FBI interviews Kepner’s friends and reviews her deleted TikToks hinting at “family drama.”

Tew’s revelations, first aired post-funeral, have cracked the case wide open. “She was my first love – the greatest thing ever,” he told Inside Edition, clutching a photo of them at prom: Kepner radiant in a sequined gown, pom-poms swapped for a corsage. “Josh was supposed to go on that cruise with us,” his uncle Jim Tew added to Local10, revealing the breakup months earlier stemmed partly from Kepner’s escalating fears. “There were signs. She complained about him making her uncomfortable – always in her space, watching too close. We told her parents, but they didn’t want to believe it.” Westin, Tew’s father, went further: “He climbed on top of her while she slept. Anna was terrified he’d do something if she spoke up.”

The blended family’s fractures run deep. Wright, estranged from Christopher since their 2015 divorce (he remarried Shauntel in 2018), learned of the cruise – and Anna’s death – through a schoolyard whisper to Connor and a frantic Google search. “I called her on birthdays and holidays – that’s all I had,” Wright confessed to NewsNation, her voice hollow. “I didn’t even know she was living with stepsiblings. Now my baby’s gone, and they’re silencing me in court.” A gag order in the custody case – unrelated to the death but tangled in it – prevented Wright from attending the funeral, a blow that left her “shattered.”

Kepner’s light, snuffed too soon, flickers in memories: A straight-A student at Titusville High, captain of the cheer squad, volunteer at local horse rescues where she’d whisper to skittish rescues like they were old friends. TikToks from six months prior show her dancing on the Horizon itself, captioning: “I wanna go back” – a post now viewed 1.2 million times, haunted by irony. Friends launched a #JusticeForAnna fund, raising $180,000 for Wright’s legal fees and equine scholarships in Kepner’s name. “She flipped for joy, not fear,” squadmate Mia Rodriguez posted on Instagram. “Timothy’s obsession stole that. The FBI better nail him.”

As the Horizon sails its next voyage – scrubbed clean but scarred – the probe barrels forward. FBI divers scoured the ship’s underbelly for discarded evidence; keycard logs place Hudson in the cabin until 6:45 a.m., with Connor – asleep in the bunk – waking to silence. Experts like maritime law prof Dr. Lena Vasquez warn: “International waters mean federal hammer – no state leniency for juveniles in homicide.” Hudson’s silence, through counsel, looms large; a psych eval is pending, but Tew’s testimony could seal it.

In Titusville’s quiet streets, where palm fronds rustle like whispers, Kepner’s absence echoes. Tew, driving home from the funeral, texted friends: “She deserved the world. Now we fight for her corner.” The church lot, once filled with laughter and tears, stands empty – but the roar for answers? It’s just beginning. Anna Kepner didn’t just vanish; her story demands reckoning – for the girl who cheered through fear, and the family that failed to hear.

Anyone with information: Contact FBI Miami at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov. In Anna’s honor, wear color – and demand truth.