In a bombshell that has left even hardened FBI agents shaken, a leaked transcript from a Tampa interrogation room reveals 16-year-old T.H. breaking down in tears and allegedly confessing to strangling the 18-year-old on the Carnival Horizon before stuffing her body under a bunk bed wrapped in life vests and a soaked blanket. “I didn’t mean for her to die… I just wanted her to shut up,” the boy reportedly sobbed, according to two separate sources who heard the audio. “I panicked. I dragged her under the bed and hid her like trash. I’m so sorry.”
The confession, recorded on November 18 during a six-hour marathon interview, has detonated across law enforcement channels and is now tearing through Florida courtrooms like wildfire. Federal prosecutors are said to be racing to certify the minor for trial as an adult while Carnival Cruise Line scrambles to contain a scandal that threatens to sink the entire industry.
The chilling exchange reportedly unfolded after agents confronted T.H. with CCTV stills showing him entering Cabin 7423 at 3:42 a.m. (hours after the explosive teen-lounge fight) and leaving 47 minutes later carrying what appears to be a rolled blanket. When asked why he returned to the room alone, the teenager allegedly went silent for nine minutes before the dam broke.
Excerpt from the leaked transcript (sources speaking on condition of anonymity):
Agent: “You were the last person seen going into that cabin, son. Help us understand.” T.H. (voice cracking): “She wouldn’t stop screaming at me… calling me a loser, saying I ruined the whole trip. I just… I put my hands on her neck to make her be quiet.” Agent: “Did you squeeze?” T.H.: “Yes… she went limp. I thought she was faking at first. Then I realized… I killed her. I killed Anna. I dragged her under the bottom bunk, wrapped her in the blanket from my bed, grabbed those orange life jackets from the closet and piled them on top so no one would see. I hid her like she was nothing.”
The boy then allegedly curled into a ball on the interview-room floor, repeating “I’m going to hell” until medical staff were called.
Investigators say the confession lines up perfectly with forensic evidence:
Ligature marks consistent with manual strangulation
Fibers from the cabin blanket embedded in Anna’s fingernails
T.H.’s DNA under her nails and on the life-vest straps
A single tear-shaped blood droplet on the underside of the bunk frame matching Anna’s type
Carnival crew members are now under scrutiny for allegedly helping delay the search. One steward reportedly told the family Anna was “probably at the buffet” when they first raised concerns at 9:30 a.m., giving T.H. precious hours to compose himself and rehearse the story that Anna had “stormed off after the fight.”
Shauntel Hudson, the boy’s mother and Anna’s stepmother, collapsed in the Brevard County courthouse hallway when informed of the leak yesterday. Clutching her attorney, she screamed, “He’s just a child! They tricked him!” before invoking the Fifth again. Her emergency motion to halt all questioning of T.H. was denied this morning by a judge who ruled the confession “voluntary and corroborated by physical evidence.”
Chris Kepner, Anna’s father, has gone full ghost: phones off, blinds drawn, armed private security now stationed outside the family’s Titusville home. Neighbors report hearing “blood-curdling howls” coming from the house late last night.
Birth mom Heather Wright, who first learned of her daughter’s death via social media, posted a gut-wrenching 3-minute TikTok at 2:17 a.m.:
“They made my baby disappear under a bed like she was garbage. That boy took her from me twice: once when they shut me out of her life, and now forever. I hope he rots.”
The video has 42 million views and counting.
Online the rage is nuclear. #AnnaKepner trends worldwide as former classmates flood feeds with cheer videos slowed to funeral-dirge tempos. A GoFundMe titled “Justice for Anna – No Mercy for Monsters” shattered $400,000 in twelve hours. Meanwhile, a dark corner of the internet has already doxxed T.H., posting his middle school photos with devil horns edited on.
FBI sources tell us charges are imminent, likely murder in the second degree or manslaughter with a hate-crime enhancer (prosecutors are examining years of T.H.’s private messages calling Anna “the spoiled princess who ruined my life”). Because the crime occurred in international waters, federal statutes apply, meaning no automatic juvenile protection. If certified as an adult, he faces up to life.
Carnival’s stock plunged 11% at open. CEO Christine Duffy issued a statement saying the company is “devastated” and has suspended all unaccompanied teen programs fleet-wide “until further notice.” Behind the scenes, lawyers are reportedly offering the Kepner family a nine-figure settlement in exchange for a sweeping NDA, sources say it has already been rejected.
As Brevard County braces for what many are calling “the trial of the decade,” one image burns brighter than the rest: Anna’s final selfie, taken hours before the murder, smiling on the Lido Deck at sunset with the caption “Living my best life.”
Tonight, that life is a hashtag, a confession tape, and a nation that can’t look away from the horror of what one moment of teenage rage can do on a boat full of strangers.
Little sister has been removed to protective custody. Child services confirm she woke up that morning, stepped over the hidden body to get dressed, and never knew her stepsister was already dead beneath her feet.
The Carnival Horizon sails again tomorrow, Cabin 7423 has been stripped to the bolts, repainted, and quietly removed from booking maps.
But for America, the nightmare cruise has only just begun.
