Slaycation: True Crimes, Murders, and Twisted Vacations · Kim Davis, Adam "Tex" Davis, Jerry Kolber; True Crime Podcast

Keep Cruisin', Keep Losin'!

·1 hr 14 min·4 clips

Anna Kempner, 18, was found under a cruise ship bed, wrapped in a blanket and covered with life jackets.

1. Slaycation: True Crimes, Murders, and Twisted Vacations links a Carnival Horizon death in Florida and an MSC Virtuosa death out of Southampton. 2. Hosts Adam Tex Davis, Kim, and Jerry Kolber frame the cases, with Jerry presenting the research and Kim grounding the vacation details. 3. The episode asks what can happen when a family cruise or party cruise turns into a death investigation. 4. Anna Kempner is identified as an 18-year-old senior at Temple Christian School in Titusville, Florida. 5. The hosts describe her as a cheerleader, straight-A student, gymnast from age two, and a teenager planning Navy service and canine law enforcement. 6. Her grandmother called her “Anna Banana,” and friends said she was bubbly and always laughing. 7. Anna boards the Carnival Horizon with her father Christopher, stepmother Chantal, her 14-year-old brother, and her 16-year-old stepbrother. 8. The ship is described as a large 2018 cruise vessel with almost 4,000 passengers, 1,400 crew members, a Sky Ride, a water park, and Guy Fieri’s Pig & Smokehouse. 9. On the return toward Miami, Anna says she is not feeling well and goes back to her cabin early. 10. Around 11 a.m. on November 7, a housekeeper finds Anna’s body under the bed, wrapped in a blanket and covered with life jackets. 11. Early reports mention asphyxiation from a bar hold and bruising on the side of her neck. 12. The hosts note that the FBI opens an investigation because the death happened on international waters. 13. Court filings in a separate custody fight name the 16-year-old stepbrother, referred to as T.H., as a suspect. 14. Anna’s ex-boyfriend Joshua says he saw the stepbrother walk into her room during a 3 a.m. FaceTime call and climb on top of her while she slept. 15. Joshua’s father, Steven Weston, tells Inside Edition that the stepbrother was obsessed with Anna and would not stop pursuing her. 16. The hosts also mention allegations that Anna had a violent argument with the stepbrother on the ship, with chairs thrown. 17. Heather, Anna’s mother in Oklahoma, says she learned of her daughter’s death from a friend who saw the news. 18. Heather says she was not told by Christopher and was not allowed to attend the funeral. 19. The tone is conversational, reactive, and heavily interrupted, with Adam, Kim, and Jerry trading questions while updating one another in real time. 20. Listeners who follow cruise-ship crime, family conflict, and active investigations will get the most from this episode.

As heard by us

A cruise ship looks like a getaway until Slaycation makes it feel like a trap.

Slaycation turns a cruise terminal into a place where getaway fantasy and menace sit too close together. It works best on the specifics: the hangar-like scale of the port, the MSC Virtuosa looming over it, and the odd ease of imagining a mini holiday wrapped around murders,…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want cruise chaos, berry jokes, and a giant ship before the murders and mysteries fully land.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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