A fellow passenger on the same cruise ship as 18-year-old Anna Kepner, who tragically passed away five days into the trip, inadvertently captured some of her final moments on video.
Nicholas Giddens filmed the footage on the pool deck of the Carnival Horizon as it set sail from Miami on November 2. He shared the clip on TikTok, unaware of its significance at the time.
The video depicted passengers enjoying a synchronized dance to the popular “Cupid Shuffle” during the ship’s Sail Away Party.
It wasn’t until Kepner’s untimely death made headlines that Giddens realized the importance of his recording. A commenter drew his attention to Kepner dancing in the crowd, dressed in a white top and black shorts.
“At first, I thought it was just a joke,” Giddens recounted to the Daily Mail. “But when I rewatched the video, I first noticed her grandmother, and right beside her was Anna. There she was.”
Giddens, who was on the cruise with his family, reposted the same video on December 4 but included an on-screen caption that memorialized Kepner. It has more than 875,000 views on TikTok.
Kepner, a former high school cheerleader from Central Florida, was on a family cruise with her father, stepmother, brother, stepbrother, other stepsiblings, and grandparents. The six-day journey included stops in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, Mexico.
On November 7, while the ship was in international waters between Mexico and Florida, her body was found in the cabin she was sharing with her brother, 14, and 16-year-old stepbrother underneath her bed. She was wrapped in a blanket and covered with life vests.
Anna Kepner is seen dancing on November 2 during the Carnival Horizon’s Sail Away Party in a video recorded by Nicolas Giddens, another passenger
The video was taken by Giddens five days before her body was found inside her cabin
Giddens told the Daily Mail that he heard an announcement on the ship’s PA system on November 7 that there was a medical emergency in one of the cabins. He didn’t know it at the time, but this announcement came after Kepner’s body was found
Kepner is pictured on the cruise with her grandparents, Jeffrey and Barbara Kepner
The Daily Mail was the first to report that Kepner’s stepbrother was under investigation and was being considered a ‘suspect’ in the death of the teen.
On the morning of November 7, Giddens told the Daily Mail that he heard an announcement on the ship’s PA system that there was a medical emergency in one of the cabins.
‘Everybody was just talking, but we all thought it was an older person that died from natural causes,’ he said. ‘I didn’t know it was Anna until after the cruise was over, until we got out and off the ship and everything.’
Kepner’s cause of death was listed as ‘mechanical asphyxia’ on her death certificate.
The certificate said she ‘was mechanically asphyxiated by other person(s).’ Her death was ruled a homicide.
Kepner was expected to graduate high school in May and join the US Navy, according to her grandparents.
The stepbrother’s status as a ‘suspect’ was later revealed in court documents that were filed in a custody case between the boy’s divorced parents Shauntel Hudson, 36, and Thomas Hudson, 37.
The stepbrother is currently living at an undisclosed relative’s house in rural Florida, The Daily Mail revealed.
Kepner is pictured alongside her father, Christopher Kepner, her stepmother, Shauntel Hudson and her other stepsiblings
Kepner is pictured with her 16-year-old stepbrother who was described as suspect in her death in court papers for a custody battle between his biological parents
The boy, whose identity is being withheld because he is a minor and has not been formally charged, was spotted selling firewood from a roadside stand near a relative’s home on December 12
When approached, he told the Daily Mail: ‘I’d rather not talk,’ tugging the brim of his cap lower to obscure his face
Daily Mail photographed the boy this week as he was spotted selling firewood from a roadside stand near a relative’s home on December 12.
When approached, he told the Daily Mail: ‘I’d rather not talk,’ tugging the brim of his cap lower to obscure his face.
During a December 5 custody hearing, Hudson’s lawyer, Millicent Athanason, shed more light on the criminal investigation into the boy.
‘We’re not sure what the FBI is going to do – whether he’ll be charged federally or if the case will be turned over to the state,’ Athanason told the Brevard County Court.
‘They’re also waiting on testing results. They don’t know how long it’s going to take.’
FBI investigators swarmed the ship on November 8 when it docked in Miami. They interviewed the family and secured CCTV footage as evidence.
More than a month later, authorities have not yet made a decision whether to move forward with a prosecution.
