{"id":825973,"date":"2026-05-27T17:28:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/825973\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T17:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:28:19","slug":"teen-charged-with-killing-stepsister-on-carnival-cruise-ship-remains-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/825973\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen charged with killing stepsister on Carnival Cruise ship remains free"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI (AP) \u2014 A federal judge on Wednesday allowed a teenager charged with sexually assaulting and killing his 18-year-old stepsister<\/a> on a Carnival Cruise ship to remain free for now as the judge considers arguments following a hearing in Miami.<\/p>\n

Timothy Hudson was initially arrested and charged as a juvenile, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres ruled in February that the 16-year-old could live with an uncle and be electronically monitored. But after the case was transferred to adult court, prosecutors wanted Hudson in custody.<\/p>\n

Minors are rarely prosecuted in federal court, and this case landed there because Kepner apparently died in international waters, outside any state\u2019s jurisdiction. <\/p>\n

The judge ended Wednesday morning\u2019s hearing without making a final decision, saying he wanted to speak with the U.S. Marshals Service about the logistics of detaining Hudson in central Florida, closer to his family, rather than South Florida, where the trial is taking place. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s unknown when Torres will announce his decision. In the meantime, Hudson walked out of the courthouse after the hearing, rather than being immediately taken into custody.<\/p>\n

Hudson has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse. His federal public defenders have declined to comment on the charges.<\/p>\n

Hudson\u2019s stepsister, Anna Kepner, had been traveling<\/a> on the Carnival Horizon ship in November with her family, including Hudson. Before the ship was scheduled to return to Florida, her body was found concealed under a bed in a room she was sharing with Hudson and another teen, a criminal complaint said.<\/p>\n

The cause of Kepner\u2019s Nov. 6 death was determined to be mechanical asphyxia, which is when an object or physical force stops someone from breathing.<\/p>\n

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alejandra Lopez argued Wednesday that the crimes Hudson is accused of are so serious that the court shouldn\u2019t risk another violet attack. An autopsy determined that Kepner had been pinned down and violently raped, the prosecutors said. She also noted that it likely took 3-5 minutes for Hudson to strangle Kepner until she was dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe there is clear and convincing evidence that this defendant is a danger to the community,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor also argued that Hudson was a much greater flight risk because he now faces a possible life sentence if convicted of the adult charges. As a juvenile, he would have been released at age 21, regardless of what counts he was found delinquent on.<\/p>\n

Evan Kuhl, with the Federal Public Defender\u2019s office, told the judge that Hudson has abided by the conditions of his release for months without issue. <\/p>\n

The judge acknowledged that an adult facing these charges would almost certainly be detained until trial, but he still needed to consider the reality of Hudson\u2019s age, despite the adult charges. While the judge said he agreed with the defense that Hudson was a low flight risk, he still hadn\u2019t decided whether the teen posed a threat to the community if certain pre-trial restrictions remained in place.<\/p>\n

Kepner\u2019s father, Christopher Kepner, previously released a statement, saying the family was placing \u201ctrust in the justice system to pursue the truth with care and integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation is deeply painful and complex for the entire family,\u201d Kepner said.<\/p>\n

Anna Kepner was a high school cheerleader at Temple Christian School in Titusville, Florida, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Orlando. At her memorial service in November, family members encouraged people to wear bright colors instead of the traditional black \u201cin honor of Anna\u2019s bright and beautiful soul.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI (AP) \u2014 A federal judge on Wednesday allowed a teenager charged with sexually assaulting and killing his…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":825974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[339206,187050,10762,339207,356,339208,339209,6064,723,57,4228,380,50,10410,10409,3981,339205,61,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-825973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","category-us","tag-alejandra-lopez","tag-anna-kepner","tag-assault","tag-christopher-kepner","tag-courts","tag-edwin-torres","tag-evan-kuhl","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-general-news","tag-indictments","tag-miami","tag-news","tag-sexual-abuse","tag-sexual-assault","tag-teens","tag-timothy-hudson","tag-u-s-news","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116647723569776251","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}