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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
CRUISE TEEN CHEERLEADER DEAD FROM 'BAR HOLD' AFTER STEPBRO-SUSPECT SKIPS DAILY DRUG COCKTAIL
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The Cruise 2 Teen Cheerleader Anna Kepner dead from a bar hold asphyxiation after her stepbrother, 16, now named a suspect. We learn he misses. He skips his daily drug cocktail of meds. Was he on some type of an agitated withdrawal? And tonight we learn as punishment he's sent to relatives. Why no charges in the death of a teen girl cheerleader found stuffed under a Twin bed on a cruise. I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. That little girl stuffed under a cruise ship bed, wrapped in a blanket, mummy style, with life estimates over her. She, quote, fought for her life.
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And this is one thing I don't get. Why am I learning all of these facts from a seemingly unrelated custody argument? The family dynamic lands this very, very blended family in court, fighting over custody, the of the younger children. Straight out to investigative journalist, author of down the My Descent into the Double Murder of Delphi, Susan Hendricks. Why am I having to learn all of this from a seemingly unrelated custody fight? Absolutely. And the infighting, it's been going on a while and we're getting information from this through that, as you said. And where is the outrage? I watched the entire hearing. We're getting bits and pieces. And the suspect's older brother, it stood out to me that he said he was put in a chokehold. So is that where I'm guessing that the suspect learned to do that? But you're right, Nancy, we are only hearing details through this somewhat unrelated hearing. It's just very complicated, I feel. You know what's missing? The outrage of this 18 year old girl, Anna. Yeah, everybody was sitting in court like they were all on sedatives talking about getting custody issues when Anna, we believe, is either nude or partially nude, dead, wrapped mummy style in a blanket and stuffed under a twin bed. And we find out the parents haven't even seen her for how many hours? To Sydney Sumner joining us in addition to Susan, Sydney Sumner, investigative reporter for Crime Stories. Sydney, how long was it the parents didn't see Anna on the cruise and didn't check on her? 16 hours that Anna was not checked on, seen alive before her body is found brutally stuffed under that bed, hidden, covered with these life jackets. Guys, we're only getting dribbles and drabbles of evidence. Facts that we are learning. Including nearly a day passes without the parents checking on Anna. Well, the whole time she's dead, her body cooling, decomposing, evidence drifting away while they're what, at the buffet and the bar? I don't know, but we will find out from all of the video cameras. I mean, you know Spencer Ehrenfield, you're the cruise lawyer. I'll introduce you formally in a moment. But these cruise ships are. They're like gambling in Vegas. It's like you're at NASA. Everywhere you go there's a video camera and I want to see that video. Who went in and out of that cabin where Anna was found dead. But I want to know. What were the parents doing? The bio dad and the stepmom. What were they doing for nearly a day without checking on Anna? What were they? The bar, the buffet. Round two, most likely. Nancy, they were probably at the casino or in the spa or enjoying themselves. Remember, this young lady was my. Wait a minute. Did you say casino? So people can drink like fish and then belly up to lose all their money at a casino? What Casino? Absolutely. I mean, these are like floating Las Vegas resorts. So there are casinos, there are spas, there are numbers of pools, there are shops, there are tons of restaurants and most importantly, tons of bars. But this was an 18 year old. So probably the level of supervision was not as intense as it would have been if she had been 15 or 14 or younger than that. Put him up. Here I am. I believe at one juncture you told me you had children, did you not? I do have kids. They're adult children. I can tell you exactly where my 18 year old twins are right now. I can tell you how they feel. They don't have a temperature. Lucy actually has a mild temperature right now. And a little cough. I know exactly where they are. I don't know what you're even talking about. You've got a young girl on the high seas. You know how fast she could be sold into sex slavery? She's just what those people want her. Oh, no, no, no, no. 18, not supervised. You know what I'm calling defects on you tonight. As soon as I get off the air, Susan Hendricks. Nearly a day passes, they don't know where she is. And in the midst of all this, where are they? I asked Aaron Field and he brought up the specter of. I felt I'd seen a monster of a casino. So they can drink like fish, eat at buffets all day long and then gamble. Do we have any idea where they were while Anna was stuffed dead under that twin bed? Well, we heard this also at the emergency custody hearing. Anna's stepmom, Chantel said that she went in her room at 7pm, that she was tired, she was there for the night, went to sleep, but again, we don't know what she was doing all day. She asked about gambling. She said that Anna was 18, so she assumed she was in the casino, but again, no supervision. And guess what, Nancy? She was asked during this Chantel on the stand, is it true that they stayed across the hall, all of them together? Her stepbrother, her biological brother and her. And she said yes. It was recommended by the travel agent. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I heard she tried to blame the travel agency. Hold on, I got to go to John Bueller. Guys, if you don't know the name John Bueller, Google it. As soon as I found out that Lacey Peterson had disappeared on Christmas Eve while her husband, Scott Peterson was fishing. Yeah, John Bueller, one of the very first detectives on that case. Worked the case like a dog there at Modesto PD. 31 years, robbery homicide.
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John.
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Who gets stolen into sex slavery on cruises and trips abroad. Hey, forget it. At the Atlanta airport, beautiful young teen girls. Agree. Disagree. Bueller. Oh, totally agree. This is the target rich environment when it comes to the people that are trading in that. And they lure them with a variety of different promises and things like that that they find hard to resist. Then all of a sudden, it's too late. They're trapped, and they can't get away from it. Bueller. You know, I've had so many sex trafficking cases, but one that really shocked me. A young teen girl goes to daddy and me. The dad wants to do something, bond with his daughter. He takes her to a Mavs game. Control room. Wasn't it a Mavericks game? They go to a professional game. He goes to the bathroom, she goes to concessions. She's lured away. You know how they found her? A detective like you, by the way, is trolling online. He sees her. She's been missing for days. They think she's dead. She pops up on an Internet site and in racy lingerie, some hooker site, this little teen girl, sex trafficked. I don't know how many clients she had before she was saved. So, to have your daughter or your son, but your daughter in the casino, where grown men are in there drinking as much as they can and gambling, and then they see Anna Kettner. That is a recipe for disaster. Well, just because she's 18, of course, isn't going to take her out of, you know, the realm of these guys. Any young girl like this, and especially on a cruise ship, inhibitions are low, the drinking is high, she's ripe to be attacked. But of course, it goes right back to the main suspect, the stepbrother on this. Well, yeah, you're right. She was not sex trafficked. We know that, but what I'm saying is there's no supervision. Okay, how are we finding out all of this information? Listen, a family court hearing regarding Thomas Hudson's emergency petition for custody of the nine year old daughter he shares with Chantel Hudson reveals new details in Anna Kepner's murder Hudson tells the court he's concerned for Brooke's safety under Chantel Hudson and Christopher Kepner's care due to their failure to supervise their children during the cruise. Thomas didn't want the children to take Chantel. Hudson testifies her 16 year old son staying with relatives after his release from psychiatric observation. Oh, my goodness. Let me understand something. Wait a minute. Susan Hendricks, the judge in this hearing confirmed the teen stepbrother is the main suspect in Anna's chokehold asphyxiation. That's murder. There's no two ways around it. Chokehold asphyxiation, neck covered in bruises, and his punishment is Ow. He has to go live with relatives. That's the punishment? Yeah, even Chantel and the suspect's mom said that when she was on the stage. Why are you referring to her as Chantel? You're on a first name basis? No, it's confusing to me. By the way, Chantelle Hudson, stepmother, Correct? Correct. And the mother of the suspect. She was on the stand and did say he was the only one seen in and out. It's like they're all in agreement that, yeah, he's the main suspect. Why isn't he arrested? He's staying with her relatives. Just staying there, chatting on the phone. Okay, you know what? I don't know how to say this without my head exploding, but Karen Stark. I'm going to use some Karen Stark psycho talk. That's sending the wrong message. He's a suspect in a brutal murder of a little teen cheerleader who stuffed under the twin bed. Nobody knows she's missing for nearly a day. Nobody checks on her. There she is. He's a suspect and he is, quote, sent to live with relatives. That's his punishment. Might as well just sit him in the corner. Well, as you could tell, Nancy, something is really wrong here. And that's to say it mildly with the parents. They didn't supervise enough. And what is he doing at a relatives? I'm particularly concerned because there were two nights where he did not take his insomnia medicine, which is Klonopin. And Klonopin is something especially for a teenager who has adhd, which allegedly he has. It's not a good thing to stop the Klonomid. There's a rebound effect. He could have all of a sudden be out of control, not make wise decisions, be impulsive. So even there, something was very, very wrong with this family supervising this boy. Or all of them, I guess. You know, you said that they didn't supervise enough. They didn't supervise at all. I know from for nearly a day. They didn't supervise Anna because they didn't know she was dead, her body stuffed under a twin bed. Let's jump to the fact that this teen stepbrother suspect skipped his daily drug cocktail. Listen. Hudson admits their son missed two doses of his nighttime prescription for insomnia. Clonidine. Chantelle Hudson testifies she carried her son's medication, dispensing it to him at the appropriate times. Clonidine is prescribed to manage high blood pressure, ADHD, or withdrawal symptoms. It's also often used off label as a sleep aid. While clonidine doesn't have serious side effects, abruptly stopping can lead to a rebound in blood pressure, sweating and agitation. Did I hear the word agitation causes agitation to Dr. Kendall Crowns joining us, he is a renowned chief medical examiner in Tarrant County. That's Fort Worth, never a lack of business, as I like to say. He is the esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine at tcu and he is the star of a hit new podcast which I have played on loop. Please, I need a new one. By the way, feed my addiction to mayhem in the morgue.
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Dr. Kendall crowns. I have cross examined many a doctor, which is hard to do because we lawyers really don't know what we're talking about when we talk about meds or operations or, you know, medical examiners, autopsies. We're just reading your reports and extrapolating. But I learned how to read the side effects of various drugs and I'm pretty sure that agitation is can be a side effect to this particular drug. What does that mean? If he skipped his daily meds, what would happen as a withdrawal? And is agitation a side effect of this particular drug?
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So the answer is yes. Clonidine is used to treat ADHD and hyper or high blood pressure. When you stop taking it, you get rebound headaches and you also get irritability, mood swings, agitation and kind of increasing in your ADHD symptoms coming back. So one of the symptoms of not taking it is irritability and mood swings with frustration. Can you say the part about frustration again? Yes. Well, one of the side effects of not taking one of the withdrawal symptoms is frustration or become irritated by minor things quite easily. You know, I'm just thinking this through and I want to circle back to Susan Hendricks joining us, investigative reporter. We're learning a lot of information from this emergency custody hearing which the judge denied, by the way. The bio dad is trying to get the younger children away from Chantelle Hudson. That's Anna's stepmother and Anna's bio dad, they're married. Christopher Kepner, the bio dad is trying to get his younger children is Thomas Hudson away from Chantelle Hudson. And they're duking it out. It's become a mud fight, a mudslinging showdown in the courtroom. And we're learning this evidence. So so far we have learned under Chantel Hudson's watch, the stepmother, no one was supervising Anna. Nearly a day passes and nobody has even seen her, much less know whether she's at a bar, at a restaurant, face down in the pool, at a casino. Nobody knows where she is. She's actually stuffed under a twin bed, dead. The stepbrother, now murder suspect, according to the judge, missed two days of his daily cocktail of drugs, meds he's prescribed.
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And we know that there was a prior altercation that the boyfriend of Anna Kettner observed. He saw it. Could you describe what Anna's boyfriend saw? The attack by the stepbrother on Anna and the parents did nothing? Yes, they were on a FaceTime call and apparently they were talking for a long time. She fell asleep. Anna did. All of a sudden he sees now the suspect, the stepbrother come in, tried to get on top of Anna and He said on FaceTime, the ex boyfriend now what are you doing? Get off of her. He even went to the parents and said this is happening. No, it's not. He said they ignored him and the warnings. So it's not like nothing had ever happened before this happened. The ex boyfriend went to the parents and said this is happening, you have to do something. And they did nothing. As I mentioned, Chantel, the stepmom who was on the stand, she was asked about that. Oh no. I call them the three amigos. Best of friends. Did she forget that that incident happened? In denial about it? I think so. Let's hear it from the horse's mouth. This is Anna's ex boyfriend, her little teen ex boyfriend. And according to the boyfriend and his father, they warned the bio dad, listen, she just didn't feel safe around him. She's scared to tell anybody because she was scared that he would do something to her. Joshua too says Anna's close relationship with her stepbrother was one sided. The 16 year old is obsessed with Anna and made her uncomfortable with romantic advances. He once even caught him trying to climb into Anna's bed while the two were on FaceTime. Anna already asleep. He said that I tried to tell the parents that this was happening and they didn't want to believe me. He's like infatuated, attracted to her like crazy. He's always wanted to date her. Chris doesn't realize it's his fault. This whole thing is his fault. If he would have taken.
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The warnings that Anna's ex boyfriend gave him.
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Then she would still be here.
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So keep that in mind. Christopher from Inside edition at Just Mom 1984 on TikTok. She's dead. Stuffed under a cruise ship bed and a head, two bruises on the side of her neck. There are so many confusing details about this case. Spencer Arendelle Joining us is so called Cruz lawyer. He is not only a veteran trial lawyer, he is an author and he is the founder of the Arendelle trial lawyer firm. Spencer, I want to talk to you about a very serious issue. It came up during the hearing.
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The parents, the stepmother and bio dad vehemently deny it. But can underage minors get alcohol on cruise ships? Absolutely, Nancy. There's 1,001 ways that an underage minor can obtain alcohol on a Carnival cruise. Number one is Carnival can serve it to them either accidentally or on purpose. I've seen it both ways. Another passenger can give them alcohol or here is one of the most common ways is they sneak it on board. There are hundreds of videos on TikTok of inventive passengers who have found ways to sneak alcohol onboard Carnival cruise ships. They put it in mouthwash, they put it in feminine hygiene packages, they reseal them, they relabel them. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if there is going to be a positive alcohol finding in this case. The majority of cases that I had in my 35 years of suing Carnival involve the consumption of alcohol.
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Susan Hendricks, the stepmother and the bio dad. They insist none of the teens had alcohol, but I want to circle back to clonidine. I've researched it and I'm going to throw this to you. Dr. Kendall Crowns is joining us. Chief Medical Examiner, Tarrant County Agitation as a withdrawal system quote it's critical not to stop taking clonidine abruptly as it can lead to withdrawal reaction, a rapid, dangerous increase in blood pressure, agitation, nervousness, headache, tremor, shaking hands, pounding or fast heartbeat. And he missed, I believe, two days of his drug cocktail that he was prescribed. And now she's dead.
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It's correct. So the withdrawal symptoms start occurring immediately but in 24 to 48 hours, they're going to be increasing over that time period and becoming worse. So all those things you're describing, the headaches, the nervousness, the agitation, frustration, are all going to be compounding as well as his ADHD symptoms, whatever those may be, may be coming back as well. So he may be having psychomotor disturbances are like, he can't sit still or he can't control his thoughts, and thoughts are racing. And all that's going to be occurring during these two days and becoming worse the longer he's off the medication. So the more time, the worse the symptoms. And any potential alcohol consumption is only gas on the fire. I've got another issue. What we're talking about is no supervision. These teens. I want you to hear what the younger brother says happens. The night Anna is murdered, Anna's brother heard a heated argument between them in their cabin the night before Anna was found dead. He heard the stepbrother yelling at Anna, the sounds of furniture overturning and screams from inside their room. He heard him yelling at her, like, in a harmful way of like, shut the hell up and stuff like that. Like something was, like, banging around and stuff, and like the chairs were getting thrown around in the room. Now that is Anna Kettner's little ex boyfriend. And he learned that information, obviously from the younger brother. That's from our friends at Inside Edition. So John Bueller, former homicide detective, the younger brother, I believe he's 14. What? Coward in the hallway? Because what we're learning is right across the hallway. All he had to do is.
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At stepmom's door, but he didn't. Where were they? Why couldn't he go to the bio dad and the stepmom? Why? Where were they? Back at the buffet? Yeah, it looks to me like there was complete lack of supervision. And they had a lot of warning signs coming up on this. They should have known that there was friction between, you know, our cheerleader victim and this stepbrother. They saw it. They heard it from her ex boyfriend. And even in spite of that. Why would you put these two teens together in a room? It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Complete lack of any type of responsibility on the part of the parents from what we've seen. Now, maybe there's things we don't know about, but there's also going to be problems with the case when it comes to a variety of different things that have popped up that are going to frustrate investigators. Now, again, Chantelle Hudson, the stepmother, and Christopher Kepner and his biodette, they're married now, insist nobody drank. Listen on the stand, Chantel Hudson testifies her 16 year old son was not allowed to consume alcohol during the cruise. Chantel's oldest son Andrew testifies his mother allowed him to drink alcohol in the past, a story corroborated by Chantel's stepmother, Sonya Ziski. Zisk witnessed Chantel pour herself and both of her sons, 16 and 14 at the time, a shot of liquor because they wanted to know how it tasted. They wanted to know how it tasted. So mom pours them a shot of liquor. Okay. Normally many people would say not judging. Karen Stark, when you mix liquor alcohol with clonidine, what happens?
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Well, then the symptoms are exacerbated for sure, Nancy, because you become much more uninhibited. Think about what alcohol does to you. Then you're adding on the fact that this boy did not take his medications if he did have alcohol and he has hormones that are raging. He's 16 years old. That's a very dangerous situation and it's so surprising to me, I have to agree that anyone would ever let this boy be in a cabin with an 18 year old beautiful stepsister, not a bio sister, which also could be a problem. But this is a stepsister and he apparently is attracted to her. But I'm not surprised about that. He's 16 and he doesn't make great decisions. He has ADHD, poor executive functioning. So this was a disaster waiting to happen. You know, I know that Chantel Hudson and the bio dad Christopher Kepner are insisting that the travel agent arranged the location of the room and did not get adjoining rooms. And I'm going to go into that in just a moment but I'm trying to figure out when the stepbrother, the little, the Little brother, the 14 year old is hearing chairs being thrown around and the 16 year old yelling shut the hell up at Anna when you hear a physical fight going on, the little 14 year old brother standing out in the hall listening, cowering, afraid. What time was that? Because according to what we are learning tonight, stepmommy and husband were right across the hall asleep in their cabin. Is that real? Listen. Questioned about the last time she saw the teens the night before Anna found dead, Chantel Hudson says Anna leaves dinner for her room 6pm in pain from her braces. She last sees the boys an hour later returning to her own room. 7.30pm, neither she nor Christopher Kepner check on the teens at all, meaning Anna isn't seen for more than 16 hours before her body is discovered. Let me understand Susan Hendricks. So while Anna, we believe is getting bar hold asphyxiated in her own room, what, 10ft across the way? I mean, the hallways are about four feet wide, max. And they're in the next room over. And the little brother standing in the hall crying and cowering. What? Where were they asleep? Why couldn't he just knock on the door? What really happened? Why didn't they just walk across the hall and put an end to it? Yeah, why didn't they hear that? And the 14 year old. You're right, Nancy. Why didn't he just knock on the door? By the way, the grandparents were one floor above. Could he run up there? Could he scream out for help? Nothing. Then he went back in and he didn't see Anna. Meanwhile, she's dead under the bed. We feel there are some circumstances regarding that, the 16 year old and the mother's judgment regarding that cruise that would affect, you know, obviously that her ability to care for the minor child, the 9 year old, the 16 year old was allowed to drink. The teenagers were given their own room.
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In which to stay. Just a lot of circumstances that showed that the mother in this case was not exercising appropriate supervision over this child. They've got Anna dead, stuffed under a bed. They've got the 16 year old reportedly a target. Everybody now asking these questions. The stepbrother being a suspect. What is the truth? Why no charges? Tonight we understand the 16 year old stepbrother, a suspect and teen cheerleader Anna Kepner's death, the bar hold, asphyxiation of a little girl.
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Even though he is the only target, the only suspect at this juncture and he has not been arrested, he is not in custody. As punishment he has been sent to, quote, live with relatives. Okay, tonight we learn that the stepmother, Chantelle Hudson and Anna's bio dad, Christopher Kepner, place the blame of the rooming arrangement on the travel agent. Listen, so this is what it looks like in the rooms when you have the two twins, whereas the other one is the one king. The only difference is obviously that. But those two in the middle and the two side tables go on the end. I'll double back to my room just to show you. But again, this is the interior of 6209. The king bed is in 6 to 15 totally adjoining rooms. So I'll shuffle back to mine really quick. So again, that's the king bed with the two side tables and the two beds pushed together. Carnival provides options for family lodging, including adjoining Interior balcony, ocean view and cove rooms on nearly every deck. And the family harbor section of the ship caters to parents with children that from ask cooks on YouTube. But again, Hudson and Kepner lay the blame on the sleeping arrangements on the travel agent. Listen. Chantel Hudson testifies their travel agent recommended teens Anna Connor and her 16 year old son share a room while Hudson and Christopher Kepner sleep across the hall with younger daughters Brooke and Kylie. Hudson says the teens were all for it, describing them as the three amigos. Hudson claims all three teens were where grandparents Barbara and Jeffrey Kepner had an extra bed in their room and someone could sleep with them. When I was looking at the layout that we just showed you, I'm thinking Sidney Sumner. The adjoining rooms are highly popular and as a matter of fact, on Carnival cruises there's a whole area of the ship, the cruise ship, that caters to children that are traveling with parents and it's a very common feature, adjoining rooms. Isn't that true? Yes, it's very common across Carnival cruise ships on the horizon. Nearly every single deck has adjoining rooms available to passengers, but they do sell out really quickly. Carnival says that these are their most popular rooms and they encourage people to book early if they're wanting accommodations like that because they sell out so quickly. We are also learning, as Susan Hendricks has told us, about a very contentious custody hearing and an emergency hearing relating to taking the younger children away from Chantelle Hudson. Listen to this arrangement. Despite their written custody arrangement, Thomas testifies Chantel agrees to exchanges, then doesn't bring the children at the stipulated times. When Chantel does show with Christopher Kepner in tow, Kepner is the one to approach him and say the children don't want to go. Thomas claims he gets no unsupervised contact with the children and can hear them in the background on speaker as Chantel and Chris tell him they don't want to see speak to him.
- [39:16]
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- [43:20]
Shortly after his mom's move, Andrew says Chantel and Kepner unexpectedly pick him up from school. In the car, Chantel turns his phone off, explains they're heading to Titusville. Andrew says he doesn't want to go. The 16 year old tries to get out at a stoplight, but Chantel and Kepner put him in a chokehold nearly half an hour. When they arrive, Andrew immediately calls his worried dad, who couldn't reach Andrew for hours after the school notified him the team was picked up. Thomas drives four hours round trip to return a shake and Andrew home. Susan Hendricks, I need a flowchart to figure out who is who, what happened. And I hear that disturbing phrase choke hold used again.
- [43:59]
Yeah, the suspected killer here in all of this. His older brother Andrew, 18 years old, said that he was picked up. It sounds like this has been going on for quite a while, this nasty act for custody battle. He was picked up. He said, no, I don't want to go to my mom's nandel. I want to stay with my bio dad. They say, no, you're staying here. And he was put in a chokehold. So when I heard that, when I listened to that emergency hearing, I thought, is that what the suspect saw? Is that why he knew how to do that? And what's lost in this again, Nancy, is Anna. How did she die? How did she literally slip through the cracks with her parents right across the hall? Even if they just heard that and didn't believe it from the ex boyfriend that something went on, you knew that that was in the back of your head and you put them in a room together unsupervised, on a cruise. It's unforgivable. The Carnival cruise teen girl, the little cheerleader, fought for her life, strangled, dead. A mechanical strangulation. When is something going to happen? When is there going to be an arrest? When are the answers going to come out? And what does Anna Kepner, the teen cheerleader's biological mother, have to say about all of this? The relationship between her bio mom and her bio dad, Christopher Kepner, who was on that cruise with her, apparently across the hall from her at the time she was strangled dead, has been contentious to. To put it mildly. Listen, you cheated on me with 24 other women, including Tabby, and then you married her after she turned 18. And I'm not okay with that, mind you. I say that, but I'm not mad at Tabitha. Tabitha is a great person. She was a mother to my daughter when I couldn't be. By the time Anna is 5, Christopher Kepner is having an affair with a teenage babysitter. When Tabitha Donahue turns 18, Chris marries her and they have two children together. Heather has a hard time maintaining a relationship with Anna due to the bitter divorce with Chris. That from usmom1984 TikTok. Joining me right now is the bio mom, the biological mother of Anna Kepner, the teen cheerleader sister Crystal Wright. Thank you for being with us, Ms. Wright. Yeah, absolutely.
- [46:27]
How is the bio mom.
- [46:32]
Heather Wright handling everything that she is learning about her daughter's death?
- [46:39]
I think she's trying to keep it together.
- [46:43]
She's trying to do right for Anna and make sure that those that are accountable are held accountable. What does she make of the fact there is no arrest yet? He is beside herself, but at the same time, she's just trying to tell herself that it's because they want to make sure they get him properly charged and that his charge is able to uphold in court so that he does take the time. Joining us to shed some light on this for Crystal Wright and Heather Wright is a renowned cruise line lawyer, is Spencer Ehrenfeld. Spencer, right now there's a game of hot potato being played between the feds and the state and we don't know who is going to take jurisdiction. What's going on? Why the delay? Okay, so both the federal government and the state can simultaneously, if they choose to prosecute this young man and they can both have different results. He could be acquitted in one, convicted in the other. And this is exactly what happened, if you recall, Nancy, in the Rodney King case, he was prosecuted both in federal and state court and only was convicted in one. So both of these prosecutors are probably fighting to have an opportunity to take this case and both can and probably will proceed with this under the dual sovereignty doctrine. Well, what I'm curious about Spencer Ehrenfeld, and you're the expert in this. What is taking so long? And if the stepbrother, the teen stepbrother off his meds is the target, is the suspect, and they've been very clear that he is nobody else, why hasn't he been arrested?
- [48:35]
My guess is they're just trying to get their ducks in a row. They may be waiting for the toxicology report.
- [48:42]
So, you know, I would rather them wait and get it together and get it right. Than rush to file this and risk the chance it might get dismissed on some technicality or worse. Spencer, the defense could always slap the state with a speedy trial demand, which means the state's got to go forward within the next two, typically next two grand jury sessions. And if the state's not ready when the charges are brought, they may face an acquittal if there was a speed of trial demand. So you're right. Right. You're not and you're right. And then I hate to say this, but in the midst of all this was Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. I hate to think they're waiting to get through the holidays to do this, but that is something I see frequently where they're saying, you know, what will tackle this the beginning of 2026. So there's that possibility. Oh, my stars, I hope you're wrong. I mean, to Crystal, right? This is Anna's maternal aunt Crystal. The thought that everybody's taking a break over Christmas and Thanksgiving instead of handling this case, that's disturbing to Heather's understanding. What has she been told? Certainly law enforcement has briefed Anna Kempner's biological mother about what happened. Yeah. No, Heather doesn't know anything. She finds out from the news. She just sits and waits for the news. That is horrible. No one is speaking to her and telling her what happened to her daughter. Isn't it true, Crystal, that the bio mom, Heather Wright, had to sneak into her own daughter's memorial? She did. Chris had told her that if she attempted to come that he was going to have her arrested for back child support. He never once tried to call me, get a hold of me and anything when she died. I found out through Google. Heather says on top of discovering Anna died through Internet searches instead of her father, Kepner also told her she wasn't welcome at Anna's celebration of life service. She claims Kepner threatened to have her arrested for a disguise to her own daughter's memorial so she could say goodbye in peace. Heather is not mentioned in anna's obituary. From WESH 2. That is heartbreaking. I mean, to you, John Bueller, you are a veteran homicide detective. Can that be true that the non custodial biological mother is calling law enforcement asking about what happened to her daughter and they won't tell?
- [51:11]
Well, it's certainly true that that can happen depending on the detective you're dealing with. Some have a little bit more heart than others and are maybe willing to talk to them. But there may be some efforts by the prosecut to say, hey, look we gotta keep some of this stuff close to the vest and we don't want you talking to these people. But it really doesn't take into the human account that you have to have for victims families when it comes to these things. I know from personal experience getting a lot of family members involved can create some friction in the investigation, but they have enough on their hands with a crime scene that was probably compromised. You got family loyalties that are conflicting with the truth interviews and all sorts of things. This really is a salad bowl of all sorts of things that are difficult to work with when you're putting a murder case together. The biological mother, Heather Wright has had nothing but trouble since her split with Christopher Kepner. Listen, Christopher.
- [52:11]
Made it next to impossible for me to have a relationship with my daughter. He made it extremely hard for me to see her. He would ignore my phone calls, not tell Anna that I called, and then call like a week and a half, two weeks later. And Anna be like, mom, why haven't you called me? And I'm like, I've been calling you. You didn't get any of my voicemails. Your dad didn't like, listen to him. No, he said you haven't called tonight. If you know or think you know anything about the death of teen girl Anna KEPNER, please dial 754-7703 2000. Anything that's been said, anything that you've learned, if you were on the cruise and you observed something. 754-703-2000 we remember an American hero officer Austin Cooley, Kaufman PD, Texas. Just 27, killed in the line of duty, leaving behind his wife turned widow and a three month old baby girl. American hero officer Austin Cooley Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye friends.
- [53:38]
With diabetes, everyday decisions feel like a mystery without a solution. But with Dexcom G7, the most accurate CGM system, you can quickly and easily see your glucose in real time on your phone, helping you make confident decisions that keep your glucose levels in range and lower your A1C which can help protect your long term health. Dexcom G7 gives you the knowledge to better control diabetes today for healthier tomorrows. Start your healthier tomorrow@dexcom.com knowledge dexcom data on file. For full prescribing information on risks, benefits and compatible smart devices, visit dexcom.com.
- [54:24]
It'S the coziest time of year on Britbox. That means curling up with a gripping murder mystery, basking in a sumptuous period drama, or discovering a new hidden gem. See the holidays differently when you stream the best of British TV with BritBox. Watch Britbox original series, including the new season of the award winning Belfast police drama Blue Lights. However you cozy this holiday, it's a bit warmer with Britbox. Watch with a free trial@britbox.com.
- [54:54]
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