A 16-year-old from Florida is charged with sexually assaulting and killing stepsister on a cruise ship | CNN

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Justice Department said Monday. The teen, identified by the government as T.H., was initially charged as a juvenile on Feb. 2, but the case was sealed until U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of prosecutors. Court records show his defense lawyers did not object. An email and voicemail seeking comment from T.H.’s attorneys about the indictment were not immediately returned. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November with her family. Before the ship was scheduled to return to Florida, her body was found concealed under a bed in a room she was sharing with two other teens, including the younger stepbrother. The cause of Kepner’s Nov. 6 death was determined to be mechanical asphyxia, which is when an object or physical force stops someone from breathing. “Our hearts go out to the victim’s family during this unimaginable loss,” US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones said in a written statement. “A federal grand jury has returned an ind