Titusville teen accused of cruise killing stays free pending trial

• A 16-year-old Titusville teen is charged with sexually assaulting and killing his 18-year-old stepsister on a cruise ship.
• The teen, who has pleaded not guilty, is being tried as an adult for first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse.
• A federal judge will decide whether the teen will remain free or be held in custody pending his trial.

A federal judge ruled that the 16-year-old Titusville teen charged with sexually assaulting and killing his 18-year-old stepsister during a family cruise will remain free pending his upcoming trial in September, according to multiple media reports.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres reviewed motions Wednesday, May 27, over whether the teen — who is not being named by FLOIRDA TODAY because of his age — should be placed in pretrial detention since the case is now being handled in adult court.

Federal prosecutors had motioned that the teen be remanded into pretrial detention as the case winds its way through federal adult court. If the judge had ruled for the teen to be placed in custody, he could have been ordered held in a contracted, state-run juvenile facility since there are no federal holding facilities for juveniles in Florida. The murder trial itself was initially slated to begin June 1 but was continued until September.

Prosecutors said Anna Kepner was found dead Nov. 7, 2025, in the cruise ship cabin she shared with the 16-year-old and a 10-year-old male sibling. Her biological father and stepmother were staying in another family cabin across the hall on the ship.

The teen charged in her murder has been free, in the custody of his uncle and working alongside his father at one point, since entering a not guilty plea in April following an indictment as an adult on first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse in connection with the death of his stepsister, a high school senior in Titusville.

The case has drawn intense scrutiny on social media, with questions surrounding the blended family dynamics, an ongoing custody hearing and the location of the homicide on the high seas aboard the Carnival cruise ship Horizon.

The cruise ship, carrying some 1,500 passengers, returned to port in Miami, where federal investigators began questioning potential witnesses, quickly narrowing the focus on Anna's stepbrother. Prosecutors have since said in statements that Anna, who would have graduated in May, was suffocated.

J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or [email protected]. X, formerly known as Twitter: @JDGallop.