OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
6:29 PM – Monday, June 15, 2026
The Florida teenager accused of sexually assaulting and strangling his 18-year-old stepsister aboard a Carnival Cruise ship has been taken into federal custody.
16-year-old Timothy Hudson surrendered to U.S. Marshals at a federal courthouse in Tampa following a ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres. The judge’s order, which reversed a previous decision allowing the teen to remain free on pre-trial release, was initially filed under seal before being made public.
While Hudson will be detained until his trial, Judge Torres dictated that he be held in an approved juvenile facility due to his age, despite his case being handled under adult legal standards.
The custody reversal follows a shift in the legal framework of the case, which was transferred from juvenile to adult court. Hudson was initially arrested as a minor in February and permitted to live under electronic GPS monitoring with an uncle in Hernando County. However, after a federal grand jury indicted him as an adult on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse, prosecutors petitioned for his immediate detention.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alejandra Lopez successfully argued that the extreme violence of the alleged offenses rendered Hudson a danger to the community, while the new prospect of a life sentence — replacing a juvenile penalty that would have guaranteed his release at age 21 — fundamentally increased his flight risk.
The grim timeline of the incident traces back to November 2025, when Hudson was traveling with his extended family, including his stepsister, Anna Kepner, aboard the Carnival Horizon. According to federal court documents and criminal complaints, Kepner’s body was discovered by a cabin steward, wrapped in a blanket and concealed under a bed in the stateroom she shared with Hudson and another sibling just before the ship docked back in Miami.
An autopsy later confirmed that Kepner had been pinned down, forcibly raped, and killed via mechanical asphyxia, with prosecutors noting the physical evidence indicated she was strangled for three to five minutes. Since the homicide occurred in international waters, outside the boundary of any individual state’s jurisdiction, the case fell into the rare category of a minor being prosecuted within the federal court system.
As the legal proceedings advance toward a scheduled jury trial, the family continues to navigate an incredibly traumatic reality. Hudson has entered a plea of not guilty, and his federal public defenders have declined to comment publicly on the ongoing litigation.
Kepner, who was a high school cheerleader at Temple Christian School in Titusville, Florida, was described by loved ones as a bright and beautiful soul, celebrated at her memorial service with vibrant colors rather than traditional black. Her father, Christopher Kepner, previously expressed the family’s immense grief, stating that they are placing their trust entirely in the integrity of the justice system to uncover the truth during what remains an unimaginably painful ordeal.
Based on the family details documented in the case, Anna Kepner’s father, Christopher Kepner, is married to the teenage boy’s mother, Shauntel Kepner, formerly Hudson. They were traveling together as a blended family — along with their respective children and half-siblings — at the time of the incident on the cruise ship.
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