ANNA Kepner’s death has reportedly been ruled a homicide as the cheerleader’s heartbroken grandparents revealed their granddaughter’s final words.
Kepner, 18, died of asphyxiation after being viciously suffocated from a chokehold and her body wrapped in a blanket and stuffed under a bed in her cabin on board a Carnival Cruise Line ship.
Now, weeks after the high school cheerleader’s body was found, a death certificate revealed Kepner died by “mechanical asphyxia by other person (s),” according to ABC News.
The date of the injury was reportedly listed as November 6; however, a time was not recorded.
Preliminary information obtained by the outlet showed Kepner’s body showed no signs of sexual assault, and traces of drugs or alcohol were not found in her system.
Investigators did uncover two bruises on the side of her neck.
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‘WE NEVER SAW HER AGAIN’
Kepner’s heartbroken grandparents, Barbara and Jeffrey, said their granddaughter had her whole life ahead of her and are now crushed by the fact that they will not see the bubbly teenager grow up.
“We were looking forward to seeing her grow,” grandfather Jeffrey told ABC News.
“She had purpose, she wanted to do things. This little tiny, 110-pound girl, she was mighty, she was very mighty,” Barbara, Anna Kepner‘s grandma, added.
Barbara described going into complete shock when she learned from her son Christopher, Kepner’s father, about what happened to her granddaughter after a housekeeper found her body concealed under the bed in her cabin on the morning of November 7.
“I knew when he walked in the room, something was wrong,” the grandmother said.
“And all he could say to me was, ‘Anna.’ The last I can remember for probably that morning is I just screamed. I couldn’t stop screaming.”
Barbara and Jeffrey painfully remembered the last evening their granddaughter spent with them, playing $20 at a casino.
The grandparents said earlier that evening Kepner’s braces had been bothering her at dinner, and she ended up going back to her room early.
“She just said, ‘Meemaw, I think I’m gonna go back to my room for a little bit, I don’t feel well,” Barbara told the outlet.
“And she must have felt better because she got dressed up and she came down. We were playing in the casino. And she sat down and she played $20.
“And she didn’t win anything. And she said, ‘Meemaw, I love you guys, I’ll see you later.
“She’d pop in and out to check in with us. And we never saw her again after that.”
RELATIVE UNDER INVESTIGATION
Kepner and her family were at the end of their six-day trip through the Caribbean on board Carnival Cruise Line’s Horizon.
The high school cheerleader was with her grandparents, her father, Christopher, her stepmom, Shauntel, and four other siblings, including her 16-year-old stepbrother who is under investigation by the FBI.
Kepner was sharing a cabin with her stepbrother and her other young sibling, Barbara said.
“The two younger girls stayed with the parents, and then the three teenagers, they decided amongst themselves they wanted to stay in the room together,” the grandmother told ABC News.
“But we had a larger room and we made it very clear that at any time if they weren’t getting along, they didn’t want to be together, we had an extra bed in our room that they could come to.”
However, the devastated grandparents are still trying to piece together what unfolded in the cabin between Kepner and her stepbrother, whom they described as having a “sister and brother” relationship.
“I know that those two kids cared about each other in the right way,” Barbara said.
The grandmother said she sat in on parts of the 16-year-old’s interview with federal investigators and described him as an emotional wreck.
“I heard him in his own words say he does not remember what happened,” added Barbara.
“He was an emotional mess. He couldn’t even speak. He couldn’t believe what had happened.”
The FBI has not named Kepner’s stepbrother a suspect in her death.
Court filings from an unrelated custody battle between the 16-year-old’s parents identify him as “a suspect in the death of a step child during the cruise.”
Timeline of Anna Kepner’s death
Anna Kepner was a high school senior and cheerleader when she found dead on board a Carnival Cruise ship on November 7.
Timeline:
- Nov. 2: Carnival Cruise Line’s Horizon disembarks the Port of Miami to begin its six-day journey through the the Carribean, with stops in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, Mexico, before sailing back to Florida.
- Nov. 6: Anna Kepner’s family said the 18-year-old teen was with them during the evening, but returned to her room early after telling them she was not feeling well.
- Nov. 7: Kepner’s relatives grew concerned after the teenager failed to show up when the family gathered for breakfast that morning.
- Nov. 7, 11:17 am: A housekeeper reportedly located Kepner’s body under a bed in her cabin as the family searched the enormous vessel.
- Nov. 8: The Carnival Cruise’s Horizon returned to the Port of Miami after Kepner’s body was discovered. The ship was enroute to Mexico but rerouted to Miami.
- Officials with the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office board the vessel after it docked in Miami and removed Kepner’s body.
- The FBI takes over the investigation as Kepner died on international waters.
- Nov. 9: Kepner’s family breaks silence in a statement to ABC News, mourning the teen as someone who would light up any room she walked into.
- Nov. 17: Kepner’s stepmom filed an emergency motion in an unrelated custody hearing with her ex-husband indicating the FBI is considering a “criminal case” against a young relative.
- The ex-husband of Kepner’s stepmom filed a separate emergency motion revealing that a 16-year-old stepsibling is considered “a suspect” in the “death of the step child during the cruise.”
- The 16-year-old “suspect” was briefly placed into custody before being released.
- The young relative is currently staying with a third party at an unknown location.
- Nov. 21: Kepner was suffocated to death from a chokehold, according to ABC News.
- Nov. 24: The teenager’s death was reportedly ruled a homicide.
