18-year-old Anna Kepner was straight-A student who planned to join military after graduation
The FBI is investigating the death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, a Florida high school senior found dead aboard a Carnival cruise ship — just days after she posted a TikTok hinting at heartbreak and resilience.
In an Oct. 26 video, she shared a series of selfies and wrote that she would continue to “have a smile” on her face despite what sounds like a rough breakup.
“Even after every breakup, being disrespected, being lied to, being cheated on, being used, getting manipulated, getting played, I will always have a smile on my face and a kind heart,” reads the on-screen text in her video, reported earlier by the New York-based legal news site, Lawyer Herald.
“I don’t know why I’ve been through what I’ve been through, but I can promise you, I never deserved it,” the post continued. “Am I mad at those people for what they did to me? No. Am I upset? Yes.”
Her final post, on Oct. 30, was much shorter.
“You deserve to be happy, but if it ain’t with me then nvm,” it reads, using shorthand for “never mind.”
Around 11:15 a.m. on Nov. 7, she was found dead aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship.
Anna Marie Kepner was a senior and member of the varsity cheerleading squad at Temple Christian School, a private K-12 Baptist school in Titusville, Florida, about 40 miles east of Orlando, Fox News Digital reported previously.
According to an online obituary, she was an avid boater and got her boating license before she could drive a car. She often blasted music offshore and recorded TikToks in her bedroom mirror. Her family revealed she planned to join the Navy after graduation and hoped to one day become a police officer in a K-9 unit.
“At just 18 years old, she filled the world with laughter, love, and light that reached everyone around her,” the missive reads.
Her remains were returned to shore in Miami Saturday morning, and a cause and manner of death have not yet been released.
She was reportedly a straight-A student who planned to join the U.S. military after graduation, according to FOX 35 Orlando.
Kepner’s close friend, Gennavicia Guerrero, 18, told FOX 35 that Kepner was a positive influence on her friends and encouraged them to do well in school, too.
“This can’t be real,” she said.
Attempts to reach her family were unsuccessful Thursday.
Her father broke his silence in an interview Wednesday with the Daily Mail, explaining that the family went on a six-day cruise together and that she had died under unknown circumstances while the vessel was in international waters in the Gulf of America.
“We were there as a family,” he told the outlet. “Everybody was questioned. Everybody came off that ship. I don’t know who they are looking at or what their investigation is.”
He said he had not yet heard anything from the FBI.
