Anna Kepner’s dad has accepted her high school diploma on her behalf after her stepbrother was charged with her November murder on a cruise ship.
Christopher Kepner accepted the diploma at Temple Christian School in Titusville, Florida, Sunday as her classmates remembered the 18-year-old as someone who could light up any room.
Kepner’s dad, who got a standing ovation at the ceremony, told ABC News that it was “very hard” to step in for his “wonderful” daughter, but that his family is “a little bit happier for it.”
Kepner’s 16-year-old stepbrother has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse after Kepner was found dead on a family trip aboard Carnival Cruise Line’s Horizon ship.
“My dear friend, Anna,” the school’s valedictorian, Josiah Ray El Aouar, said at the ceremony, according to ABC News. “I’m so heartbroken and distraught that I cannot say these words while looking into your eyes.”
“I miss your smile, your sassiness and your ability to light up a room with your gentle and infectious laugh,” the valedictorian said.
The cruise ship was heading back to Miami in early November when Kepner’s stepbrother “allegedly sexually assaulted and intentionally killed” her, according to the Justice Department.
Kepner’s body was found wrapped in a blanket and covered with life vests under a bed, a security source previously told ABC News.
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office said she died from mechanical asphyxiation, which is when an object or physical force cuts off someone’s breathing.
Christopher Kepner recently told ABC News that he and his wife, Shauntel Kepner, who is the 16-year-old suspect’s mother, received a copy of Kepner’s yearbook that all her classmates signed.
“We’re looking forward to reading what they wrote,” he said.
Kepner had dreams of being a cheerleader for the University of Georgia, a servicemember in the Navy and a K9 police officer, according to her obituary.
Her stepbrother faces the maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted of the charges against him. His trial, which was initially set to begin in June, was pushed back to September, according to reports.
