Anna Kepner murder suspect’s stepbrother released to Brooksville under supervision
Anna Kepner’s stepbrother is back in Brooksville under GPS monitoring and strict limits on contact with minors as prosecutors seek to try him as an adult.
Brooksville is now the place where the 16-year-old stepbrother in Anna Kepner’s death is living under court supervision, while federal prosecutors push to strip away his release and move the case forward in Miami. Court records identify him as T.H. and say he was first charged as a juvenile before being released in February.
Those records required him to live with an uncle, stay on GPS monitoring and avoid being around anyone under 18 unless a supervising adult was present. Later court filings said he had followed those conditions for more than two months and had been living with an uncle in Hernando County, placing him back in the Brooksville area under watch rather than at large.
The case centers on the death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner aboard the Carnival Horizon in international waters on Nov. 6, 2025. A housekeeper found her body under a bed in the cabin she shared with two other teens on Nov. 7 or Nov. 8, 2025, a discovery that turned a family cruise into a federal murder case with ties to Hernando County.
On April 13, 2026, federal prosecutors said the teen would be prosecuted as an adult on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse. They also asked the court to revoke his release after the adult indictment, arguing the earlier juvenile release no longer fit the case as it moved into federal adult court.
The prosecution remains in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida because the ship returned to port in Miami, giving federal authorities there jurisdiction over the case. WESH reported that trial proceedings and jury selection were set to begin June 1 at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Courthouse in Miami.
That timeline leaves Brooksville residents watching a case that is no longer only about a cruise ship death at sea. The local question is whether the court restrictions are being enforced and whether the teen remains under active supervision in Hernando County as the murder and sexual abuse charges move toward trial.
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