Teen Suspected in Cruise Homicide Claims Amnesia

A 16-year-old boy suspected in the strangulation death of his 18-year-old stepsister aboard a Carnival cruise ship last month has repeatedly told family members he remembers nothing about the incident, according to text messages exchanged between his parents and revealed in court documents.

Anna Kepner, a high school cheerleader from Titusville, Florida, was found dead in her cabin on the Carnival Horizon on November 7 during a six-day Caribbean voyage that departed from Miami. The ship's staff discovered her body wrapped in a blanket and covered with life jackets under a bunk bed. Her death certificate lists the cause as mechanical asphyxia due to the actions of other persons, and authorities have ruled it a homicide. The FBI is leading the investigation, with no charges filed to date against the teenager, whose name has not been publicly disclosed as he is a minor.

Kepner was vacationing with her father, Christopher Kepner; grandparents, Jeffrey and Barbara Kepner; stepmother, Shauntel Hudson-Kepner; and her stepmother's two sons, including the 16-year-old and a 14-year-old. The three teenagers shared a cabin, despite the availability of other rooms with the grandparents....