Stepgrandmother of teen charged in stepsister Anna Kepner's death blames parents
· Toronto Sun
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The stepgrandmother of the teenager accused of killing his stepsister is demanding justice.
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Anna Kepner, 18, was found dead in her cabin during a cruise vacation with her family last November. Her 16-year-old stepbrother, Timothy Hudson, has since been charged with murder and sexual assault .
Sonya Ziske believes the high school cheerleader’s father and stepmother, Chris and Shauntel Kepner, need to be held accountable for what she says was a lack of supervision that ultimately led to Anna’s death.
“The lack of parental supervision on a floating city,” Ziske told CBS News . “Putting three teenagers, two boys and a girl in a room together that were not raised together, it’s just a recipe for disaster.”
Ziske, who says she helped raise Hudson, told the outlet that she and her husband, who is Shauntel Kepner’s biological father, tried to reach out to her after learning about the incident through online reports, but Shauntel would not discuss it.
“Whatever you do, just don’t talk to the media,” is all Shauntel told them, according to Ziske.
Suspect from the get-go
Hudson, who has been a suspect almost from the beginning , told his family he does not remember anything from the night of the killing.
Ziske suspects alcohol was involved and that her stepgrandson blacked out.
“He truly does not remember,” the stepgrandmother said. “Timothy has said that they were drinking. I believe 100% those kids were drinking on the ship.”
During a November custody hearing, Chris and Shauntel denied through their lawyer that the teens had been boozing it up on the night of Anna’s death.
“The issue that counsel raised about drinking, there are videotapes on the ship that confirmed that there was absolutely no drinking,” attorney Millicent Athanason said during the family court hearing, per Court TV .
Hudson has been charged as an adult and is facing first-degree murder and sexual assault charges.
However, because he is a minor, the teen is not being detained while awaiting trial, which is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8, 2026.
Hudson is currently in the custody of his maternal uncle but has spent time with Ziske and other family members, including young cousins who live with him in a home in the Tampa area of Florida, CBS reported.
Anna’s cellphone was key evidence
It was the victim’s cellphone that led investigators to her stepbrother .
Authorities recovered the phone from the Carnival cruise ship’s lost and found after a crew member initially discovered it in a trash can, where Hudson was allegedly later seen on surveillance video disposing of the “smashed” device.
“I’m not saying he did, or he did not. I’m saying it’s not his character,” Ziske told the outlet.
“Everybody’s out there saying how he’s walking free. He is not free. His life is over, whether he is innocent or guilty.”
As for Chris and Shauntel, Ziske believes they are unfit to have custody of the remaining children given what allegedly transpired on the cruise ship.
“She kept them isolated from everybody over here. From their dad, from their grandparents. From all of us,” Ziske said.
“So, I don’t know the past two years,” she added. “Like, if he was angry, or his mental state, I don’t know any of that.”