MIAMI (Court TV) — A teenager accused of sexually assaulting and then killing his stepsister on a cruise ship is now behind bars and will remain in custody until his trial.
Timothy Hudson, center, leaves following a hearing at the James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Timothy Hudson, 16, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse in the death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, whose body was found stuffed beneath a bed in the room the two shared with Kepner’s brother on board the ship.
Hudson had been staying at his maternal uncle’s house since the cruise ship docked after Kepner’s body was found. He was initially charged as a juvenile; when the case was transferred to adult court, prosecutors requested that he be jailed.
In an order published Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres ordered Hudson to be taken into custody, citing dangerousness to the community. “A now-decreed adult defendant charged on probable cause with deliberately taking a human life, and sexually assaulting his victim in the course of doing so, presents a danger to himself and to others that no curfew, monitor, or custodial placement can be trusted to contain.”
The allegations of the crime are so severe, Torres found, that even if Hudson were only accused of one, it would be enough to keep him behind bars. While Hudson remains innocent until proven guilty, Torres said the charged conduct must still be considered in assessing a potential risk to the community. “Focusing just on the sexual assault charge, the Government’s case for a forcible rape is beyond clear and convincing. Indeed, it suggests a level of psychopathy and lack of remorse that by itself raises a serious concern that Defendant can snap at any time, despite the well-meaning and serious efforts of his caretakers to make sure that does not happen.”
Prosecutors say Hudson sexually assaulted and then killed his stepsister via manual asphyxiation. DNA from a rape kit performed on the victim matched the defendant, investigators said.
The order acknowledges that “the current custodians of the Defendant have fully complied with the conditions of the Court’s original release order and have managed and housed the Defendant as well as anyone could expect,” but said that the facts of the case as presented require Hudson to be in custody. The mere change of venue from juvenile to adult court warranted the change, with the defendant now facing a more serious penalty. “If convicted, he will be a felon, not an adjudicated delinquent, and may be sentenced as an adult without the age-21 ceiling that applies for juvenile disposition,” Torres said. “So the transfer to adult status has real consequences.”
Torres’ order requires Hudson to be held at the Citrus County Jail, in a facility approved to house juvenile inmates; it also requires Hudson to receive a mental health examination as well as access to visitation with his family. In July, Hudson will be transferred to a federal juvenile facility in Miami, where he will be held for the rest of the pendency of his case.
Hudson’s trial is currently scheduled to begin in September. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
