Anna Kepner’s Aunt Speaks Out After the Teen’s Cruise Ship Murder, Says ‘I Know She Fought for Her Life’

The aunt of 18-year-old Anna Kepner is speaking out, sharing her grief and frustration after the Florida teen was found dead aboard a Carnival cruise ship.

Anna, of Titusville, Fla., was discovered under a bed on the Carnival Horizon on Nov. 8. According to her death certificate, she died after being “mechanically asphyxiated by other person(s).”

No arrests have been made, but court filings in a custody dispute between Anna’s stepmother, Shauntel Hudson, and her father, Christopher Kepner, indicate that Anna’s 16-year-old stepbrother is the subject of a criminal investigation.

Reacting to her niece’s death, Anna’s aunt, Krystal Wright, told Fox 35 Orlando, “I know Anna fought. I know she fought for her life.”

“We don’t understand why, if the boy is a suspect, why has he not been charged yet? What’s happening there?” she continued, referring to Anna’s stepbrother.

Describing the loss as “rough,” Wright said that she and other relatives are increasingly distressed by the lack of clarity about what happened to Anna and what investigators will do next.

“It’s a turmoil. We’re just sitting here waiting,” she told Fox 35 Orlando.

An autopsy concluded that Anna died from asphyxiation caused by a bar hold — an arm held across the neck — according to ABC News.

At the time of her death, the teenager was traveling on the cruise with her father, stepmother, siblings, stepsiblings and other relatives. Anna was sharing a cabin with two of her stepsiblings.

After reports emerged suggesting that his stepson was a possible suspect in Anna’s death, Christopher said in an earlier interview, “I cannot say that he is responsible, but I can’t decline.”

“He was the only one that was in the room, and the FBI has an ongoing investigation, in which they will have to provide the evidence to say that he did do it or did not do this,” he added.

The FBI has not publicly named any suspects in the case.