🚨 3 A.M. FaceTime call. One final goodbye. Then… blood-curdling screams from a locked cruise cabin that her own little brother will never unhear. 😱

The next morning, 18-year-old cheerleader Anna Kepner was found dead under a bed, wrapped in sheets like someone was trying to hide what really happened.

Her 16-year-old stepbrother had scratches on his face. Life jackets were stuffed in strange places. And now the FBI has named him a SUSPECT in court documents that just dropped.

But the most chilling part? Three months earlier, Anna told her ex-boyfriend on a 3 a.m. video call: “If anything ever happens to me… promise you’ll look into it.”

That promise is being kept right now. And what investigators are uncovering hour by hour is absolutely horrifying.

You need to see the full timeline before it gets taken down. Tap below. This one will keep you up tonight. 👇

What started as a celebration cruise for a blended Florida family ended in a locked cabin nightmare that has federal agents racing against the clock. Eighteen-year-old Anna Grace Kepner, a popular Titusville cheerleader with Navy dreams, was found dead on November 8 aboard the Carnival Horizon — stuffed beneath a bed, wrapped in bedding, with trauma to her neck that the medical examiner has ruled homicide by strangulation.

Now, explosive new court filings and exclusive details obtained by Fox News Digital reveal a terrifying timeline: a cryptic 3 a.m. FaceTime “warning” months earlier, screams heard through cabin walls the night before her body was discovered, and a 16-year-old stepbrother who sources say is the sole focus of the FBI investigation.

Anna’s final hours began like any other cruise night. On November 7 — the fifth night of the six-day sailing — the family sat down for dinner in the ship’s main dining room. Photos from that evening show Anna smiling in a bright blue top, her long blonde hair swept over one shoulder. But she told her stepmother she wasn’t feeling well and headed back early to Cabin 8341, a modest balcony stateroom she shared with her 14-year-old biological brother Connor and her 16-year-old stepbrother, identified in court records only by his initials “T.H.”

That’s when things took a dark turn.

Connor later told investigators he was awakened around 1:30 a.m. by the sound of his sister screaming. He described hearing a struggle — thuds, muffled cries, then sudden silence. Terrified, the 14-year-old pretended to stay asleep. When he woke up hours later, Anna was gone from her bed. The cabin appeared untouched, except for two life jackets that had been removed from their storage spot and oddly placed on the floor.

At 9:15 a.m., with the ship already docking back in Miami, the stepmother returned to the room and made the grisly discovery: Anna’s body wedged under one of the beds, wrapped tightly in sheets and a blanket. The teen’s cellphone was missing. Her Apple Watch was later recovered from the ocean, sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital.

Carnival security immediately locked down the cabin and called the FBI, which has sole jurisdiction over crimes on the high seas. By the time the ship tied up at PortMiami, federal agents were waiting.

The bombshell came ten days later in a Brevard County family courtroom hundreds of miles away.

On November 17, attorneys for Shauntel Hudson — Anna’s 36-year-old stepmother — filed an emergency motion to postpone a custody hearing with her ex-husband. The reason, spelled out in black and white: “The FBI has advised that a criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children.”

Multiple sources confirm that minor is Hudson’s 16-year-old son, the same teen who shared Anna’s cabin. Photos taken by family members after the discovery show the boy with fresh scratches on his face and neck. When questioned by Carnival security, he allegedly gave conflicting stories about where he was when the screams occurred.

But perhaps the most haunting piece of evidence predates the cruise by months.

In August 2025, Anna FaceTimed her ex-boyfriend at 3 a.m., visibly upset. According to friends briefed on the call, she made him promise that “if anything ever happens to me, you’ll make sure people know the truth.” She never explained what frightened her that night, but friends say she had grown increasingly uncomfortable around her stepbrother in the months leading up to the trip.

Those close to the family describe a volatile blended household. Anna’s father, Christopher Kepner, 41, has been married four times. His third wife, Tabitha Kepner, started as the family babysitter when she was just 15, according to Anna’s biological mother Heather Wright. Wright, who lost primary custody years ago, told NewsNation she had almost no contact with Anna in recent years but was devastated to learn her daughter died sharing a room with step-siblings she barely knew.

Shauntel Hudson, Christopher Kepner’s latest partner, was in the middle of a nasty custody fight of her own when the cruise departed November 2. Her ex-husband Thomas Hudson fired back in court papers last week, accusing her of “recklessly” taking their son on the trip “knowing tensions existed within the blended family.”

The FBI has seized keycards, cellphone records, and the missing iPhone, which was eventually located in a ship trash compactor. Agents are also examining surveillance footage from Deck 8 hallways — footage that allegedly shows the 16-year-old stepbrother leaving and returning to the cabin multiple times in the early morning hours of November 8.

Carnival Cruise Line has stayed tight-lipped, releasing only a short statement: “The safety of our guests is our top priority. We are fully cooperating with the FBI.” Behind the scenes, however, crew members tell Fox News Digital the ship’s security team was stunned by how long it took for anyone to report Anna missing — nearly 12 hours after her little brother heard the screams.

Back in Titusville, grief has turned to anger. Hundreds gathered last week wearing bright blue — Anna’s favorite color — for a celebration-of-life service. Her cheer coach called her “the heartbeat of our squad.” Classmates have launched a #JusticeForAnna campaign that’s trending nationwide.

The Brevard County Medical Examiner officially ruled the death a homicide on November 20. Cause of death: manual strangulation. Manner: homicide.

As the FBI continues its investigation, one question looms larger every day: Why did no one act when a 14-year-old boy heard his sister screaming for her life?

Anna Kepner was supposed to graduate high school in December and ship out to Navy boot camp in January. Instead, her family is planning a funeral — and federal agents are preparing a case that could put her own stepbrother behind bars for life.

The high seas have seen plenty of mysteries. Few have ever felt this personal.