Khaberni - American justice, on Monday, charged a teenager (16 years old) with the rape and then murder of his stepsister, Anna Kiebner (18 years old), aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship in Caribbean waters.
According to the indictment issued by a major federal grand jury, the accused—referred to by the initials "T.H." to protect his identity as a minor—is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, in addition to aggravated sexual assault, charges that could expose him to a life sentence if found guilty.
The case details indicate that Anna Kiebner, who was the cheerleading team captain at her school, was strangled to death by her stepbrother in November, before he hid her body under the bed in their shared cabin, wrapped in a blanket and covered with life jackets.
The crime was discovered on the morning of November 7, when a housekeeper found the body while cleaning the cabin, while the suspect was sleeping only a few meters away from where the body was hidden, unaware of anything.
Prosecution documents revealed that the motive behind the crime might be linked to an obsessive fixation the accused had for a high school student, which led him to force his sister to "engage in a sexual act" before disposing of her. It is noted that federal authorities had initially charged the accused with murder in February as a minor, before deciding later to try him as an adult given the seriousness of the charges against him, in a case that has shaken the maritime tourism community and sparked widespread debate on safety procedures aboard cruise ships.
