True Crime

Anna Kepner's aunt says the family is in "turmoil" as they are left with more questions than answers regarding the 18-year-old's murder aboard a Carnival cruise ship earlier this month.

Her aunt, Krystal Wright, told Fox 35 Orlando this week the family is "just sitting here waiting" for an update from authorities and described their frustration that further action against her stepbrother -- who is allegedly under investigation regarding her death -- has not been taken.

She implored ... "We don’t understand why, if the boy is a suspect, why has he not been charged yet? What’s happening there?"

The mother of Anna Kepner -- the 18-year-old who was murdered on a Carnival Cruise ship -- is questioning the sleeping arrangements her daughter was placed in leading up to her tragic death.

Heather Wright told Fox News she's been villainized in the situation, but it's Anna's dad, Christopher Kepner, who could be partly to blame.

Anna was reportedly sharing a cabin with two other teenagers -- one of whom is her stepbrother, who's now suspected in her death. Anna's grandmother told ABC News the teenagers chose the arrangement themselves ... but Anna's biological mom seems to think an adult should have vetoed it.

A California man ripped a page out of Jeffrey Dahmer's necrophilia handbook ... he was just found guilty of murdering his estranged wife, then digging up and raping her corpse.

Zarbab Ali was found guilty last Friday by a jury of fatally stabbing Rachel Castillo with a knife as the two were on the verge of finalizing their divorce in Simi Valley in November 2022. He faces a life sentence without parole and is slated to be sentenced January 12.

Before the trial, Ali told investigators he hid in Rachel’s apartment, ambushed her and butchered her body. Then he drove her corpse to a spot in a remote desert in Antelope Valley and buried her in a shallow grave. He returned the next morning and sexually assaulted her before burying her body again.

LAPD has come out officially to dispute TMZ's story -- that the body of Celeste Rivas was partially frozen when it was examined -- but one source has doubled down.

A source connected to the L.A. County Medical Examiner insists Celeste's body was partially frozen when it was discovered inside a car registered to singer D4vd. This is in square contradiction to what LAPD is saying on the record.

It's interesting ... in one document from the Medical Examiner, it reads, "The decedent was not live scanned due to waterlogged fingers." Translation ... the M.E. was unable to fingerprint Celeste's body.

9:23 AM PT -- TMZ has obtained bodycam footage showing the arrest of Geyser and Mecca in Posen, Illinois.

The "Slender Man" stabber escape has taken another turn ... Morgan Geyser -- the internet horror character-inspired killer -- ran away from a group home because she was reportedly going to be barred from seeing her transgender friend.

As you know, Geyser cut off her ankle bracelet Saturday night and slipped away from the group home in Madison, Wisconsin, where she was living under the authority of the Department of Corrections. Police launched a nationwide manhunt and recaptured Geyser the very next day ... and it's now reported Geyser was found with her transgender friend, Chad "Charly" Mecca, at a truck stop in Posen, Illinois, near Chicago.

Geyser, 23, was not hit with any local charges because it would only serve to prolong her extradition back to Wisconsin, police said. An extradition hearing is slated for today in Cook County.

"Golden State Killer" Joseph DeAngelo reportedly tried to blame his gruesome murders on having a split personality named Jerry, who "made" him commit crimes against his will ... the problem is that actually hurts your case in California.

This is according to a new book -- "The People vs. the Golden State Killer" -- by Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho.

Ho writes DeAngelo muttered to himself in interrogations, saying things like, “I did all that ... I didn’t have the strength to push him out. He made me. He went with me. It was like, in my head, I mean, he’s a part of me. I didn’t want to do those things. I pushed Jerry out and had a happy life. I did all those things. I’ve destroyed all their lives ... I raped. So now I gotta pay the price."

Jake Haro -- the man sentenced Monday to 25 years to life for murdering his 7-month-old son, Emmanuel -- just had his first state prison mug shot snapped, showing him looking as cold as the killer he is.

The 32-year-old is now locked up at California’s Wasco State Prison -- and he won’t see a parole board until December 2044.

Jake’s sentencing comes after he pled guilty to second-degree murder, child endangerment and filing a false police report.

Anna Kepner’s grandparents are shutting down any talk she was scared of her stepbrother -- the teen reportedly under investigation in her cruise-ship death -- making it clear they have faith in his innocence.

In an ABC News sit-down interview, Barbara and Jeffrey Kepner said 18-year-old Anna and her 16-year-old stepbrother were "two peas in a pod," and cared for each other "in the right way" -- a far cry from what Joshua Tew, Anna’s first love, claimed ... saying her other brother told him about a nasty blowout the pair allegedly had inside the cabin they were all sharing.

The grandparents say authorities told them the stepbrother is considered a suspect in the case. They admit they’ve got no clue what actually went down inside that cabin -- they’re waiting on answers just like everyone else -- but pointing the finger at the stepbrother? They’re nowhere near ready to go there.

The woman known as the notorious "Slender Man" stabber is back in custody after she led police on a frantic nationwide manhunt, police said Sunday.

A rep for the Madison PD confirmed Morgan Geyser was captured in Illinois Sunday evening after she sliced off her ankle monitor bracelet and hightailed it out of a group home, where she was living under the authority of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

It's unclear how cops tracked her down or where she's currently being held.

Anna Kepner was mysteriously found dead on a Carnival Cruise ship two weeks ago -- and we're now learning her stepbrother allegedly had a strange infatuation with the teen cheerleader ... even climbing on top of her in bed one time, according to a new report.

"Inside Edition" interviewed Steven Westin -- the father of Kepner's ex-boyfriend -- for an episode that aired Thursday ... and Westin made several shocking claims based on discussions he says he had with his 18-year-old son about Kepner's stepbrother.

As you know, Kepner, also 18, was on the Carnival Cruise with her stepbrother and other family members returning to Miami on November 7 ... when she was tragically found dead on board.

Federal authorities are continuing their investigation into the sudden death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner aboard a Carnival cruise ship -- and now they're zeroing in on a minor for possible criminal charges, according to a new filing.

The new development comes after Kepner's stepmom, Shauntel Hudson, recently filed a request to delay her court hearing in a custody case unrelated to the FBI probe into Anna's death, according to court documents.

In the family court filing ... Hudson states she's been informed by FBI investigators and her attorneys that a "criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children of this instant action."

Karen Read -- the Boston woman acquitted of killing her police officer boyfriend this year -- is suing several of the witnesses in the high-profile trial.

Read filed suit Monday against eight people who testified against her -- including the lead investigator, his two former supervisors, and five people who were present at the 2022 party that ended with John O'Keefe's death.

Read was twice tried for murder in the death of O'Keefe -- her Boston cop boyfriend ... she was accused of striking him with her SUV on the night of a snowstorm ... his body was found in a snowbank in the front yard of a house where the couple and others had been drinking hours earlier. She was ultimately acquitted of the murder and manslaughter charges ... but was found guilty of operating a vehicle under the influence.

Brian Walshe -- the man accused of brutally murdering and dismembering his wife in Massachusetts -- has changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on 2 charges, TMZ has learned.

Released video of the trial shows Walshe has pleaded guilty to misleading a police investigation and unlawfully conveying a body. He's pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge. Jury selection in the murder trial was set to begin today.

If you don't remember the details of this case, it's gruesome ... The Norfolk District Attorney alleges Walshe killed his wife 39-year-old Ana early on New Year's Day 2023 and chopped up her body before disposing of it. Police recovered a bloody knife from the basement of their home, but her body has never been found.

Bryan Kohberger is getting hit with funeral costs for some of his victims while serving a life sentence for his savage murders -- and a judge says he's gotta cough up the cash for 2 urns.

An Idaho judge ruled Thursday Kohberger is on the hook for $3,007.79 to pay for the urns of 2 of his victims -- Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen. Kohberger was also ordered to pay $31,964.67 in restitution to the families of his other 2 victims -- Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.

In July, Kohberger was sentenced to 4 life terms with no parole for butchering the four University of Idaho students in an off-campus house on Nov. 13, 2022.

Luigi Mangione's team says they've yet to see any evidence of a statement his mom, Kathleen Mangione, allegedly made to cops that the murder of a healthcare executive was something "she could see him doing."

In legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Mangione's lawyers -- namely Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan -- cite a December 2024 press conference where NYPD detectives referenced information they received from the FBI ... including info from a San Francisco Police Department sergeant who'd spoken to Mangione's mother after the shooting in connection with a missing-person report.

In the press conference, the NYPD's Chief of Detectives referenced the SFPD officer, explaining Kathleen "didn't indicate that it was her son in the photograph, but she said it might be something that she could see him doing."

"The Golden State Killer" was brought to justice in part because of a distinctive micro-penis ... and a new book about his capture details just how small his penis is ... smaller than a pinky finger.

TMZ obtained a copy of Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho's new book, "The People vs. the Golden State Killer" ... and there's a big focus on Joseph DeAngelo's small penis.

Ho is writing about law enforcement obtaining circumstantial evidence to corroborate victim testimony about DeAngelo's micro-penis and he recalls how a police photographer was instructed to take photos of DeAngelo's penis from multiple angles.