(NewsNation) — The birth mother of a Florida teenager who died on a cruise ship earlier this month learned of her death online, while her stepbrother faces suspicion.
Anna Kepner, 18, was found dead on the Carnival Horizon cruise ship on Nov. 7. Officials have not yet confirmed a cause of death.
“I found out through Google. I ended up Googling it, because the only information I had was that my daughter was on a cruise,” Heather Wright, Kepner’s estranged biological mother, told local news outlet WESH.
Wright lives in Oklahoma and last saw her daughter a few years ago, the outlet reported.
“She always wanted to make people laugh. She loved the water; we were constantly going to the lake here where I live so she could go swimming,” Wright said.
On Thursday night, a celebration of life was held for Kepner in Titusville, Florida, about 40 miles east of Orlando.
Court documents in a custody battle involving Kepner’s stepmother first revealed one of her stepsiblings could be a suspect. At an emergency custody hearing Thursday, a lawyer said Kepner’s 16-year-old stepbrother was a suspect in the case.
“The older child, who was approximately 16 years of age, is a suspect in the death of a stepchild, an 18-year-old daughter that was in the same room,” said Scott Smith, a lawyer for the boy’s father. “Because the cruise was in international waters, the young child, not the 9-year-old but the 16-year-old, was allowed to drink. The teenagers were given their own room.”
NewsNation affiliate WFLA reported a lawyer for the stepmother said cameras on board showed the teenagers did not drink alcohol.
Kepner was reportedly staying in the same room as her stepbrother and another stepsibling during their family vacation to the Caribbean. Her stepmother, father and another stepsibling joined the trip.
CBS News reported a housekeeper found Kepner’s body under the bed in the room in which she was staying. The cruise ship docked the next day, on Nov. 8, in Miami.