Anna Kepner Stepbro Makes BIG Move in Cruise Ship Case

A new twist in the case of the Florida teen accused of killing and sexually assaulting his stepsister aboard a Carnival cruise ship. Timothy Hudson is apparently weighing a major decision. We have the new ask from his defense as this case moves closer to trial, or will it even make it that far? We're on the case presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. If you're looking for a better way to save on electricity, both night and day, look no further than TXU Energy Free Nights and Cool Summer. It gives you free energy all night, every night, all year long, plus a 25% bonus toward your daytime use every summer. It's the only plan that lets you use free energy to get more savings. So while nights are always free, summer days are now always discounted. With savings like that, you'll never look at a free nights plan the same way again. Learn more at TXU.com, rep number 10004. Timothy Hudson could spend the rest of his life in an adult federal prison if he's found guilty of killing his stepsister, Anna Kepner. Now, Timothy Hudson was just 16 years old when all of this allegedly took place in November of last year, but he could be headed to prison and his life as a free man could be over as a teenager. Or could he be working something out that could limit the amount of time that he would spend behind bars? His defense just made a big ask of the court. He's been in prison for a long time. He's been the court. Right now, his trial is slated to begin just a couple of weeks from now on November 2nd, but all of that could change, which we'll explain in just a moment. Now, this story began back in November of last year when we saw a body being taken off of a Carnival cruise ship at port in Miami. Now, it's a site that was hard to comprehend because of the amount of joy typically on a cruise, especially when we learned that this body was that of an apparent homicide victim. Now, of course, Anna Kepner was not just a body, not just a homicide victim. She was an 18-year-old who was set to graduate high school in the spring. She was a friend to many people where she grew up, Titusville, Florida, about three hours north of Miami on the Space Coast. Her family said that she had plans to join the military after high school. One day, she wanted to work in law enforcement. She went on this cruise with her family, a blended family. Her dad married a woman named Chantelle, who was a member of the who had two sons. One of them was Timothy Hudson. This is Timothy arriving at court in Miami over the summer for a bond hearing. The 16-year-old has been in custody since June. He's charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse. Timothy Hudson was originally charged as a juvenile because of his age, but all of that changed in April when this case was moved to adult federal court. Now, as far as the evidence, at least the evidence that we know of at this point, it's incredibly damning, it seems, for Timothy Hudson. It seems like there's a lot of evidence as well, which makes the decision that, according to records, he's apparently mulling over very significant to how this case looks moving forward and what his punishment potentially could be. Well, let's talk about the evidence at this point and why it appears to be so damning against this teenager. So, Timothy Hudson was on this cruise with his stepsister, Anna Kepner. She was 18, and their families boarded it on November 2nd, 2025. They hit a couple spots in the Caribbean over the course of about a week. And on this cruise ship, the living arrangements have been a point of contention, I'll say, as this case has moved forward. Because you have Timothy Hudson, who's 16, Anna Kepner, his stepsister, she's 18. They are sharing this room together, as well as Anna Kepner's half-brother, who is 13 years old. Now, across the hall, you have Anna's dad, a man named Christopher Kepner. You have his wife, Chantel, who is Timothy's mom. And then you have two stepsisters of Anna Kepner. So, they're in the room across the hall. November 7th, documents state that crew members went to clean the room where Anna and Timothy and the half-brother were staying, room 8343 on this Carnival cruise ship. And that's when they made a terrible discovery. They allegedly found Anna wrapped in a blanket, stuffed under her bed. Quote, it appeared that someone had tried to hide her. The FBI, was called. They boarded the ship the next day. When it arrived back in port in Miami, they interviewed family members. They watched surveillance video of the ship. An agent spoke to that half-brother, the 13-year-old, who was sharing the room with Anna Kepner and Timothy Hudson. And he said that on the night that Anna died, she went back early from dinner. And then eventually, when he made it back to the room, which was around midnight, T, who we know as Timothy Hudson, opened the door to the stateroom, put his arm out to block the room entrance, and told the 13-year-old minor witness to stay outside and quote, wait, don't come inside. Now we'll get into the timeline a little bit more here in just a moment, according to the FBI. That 13-year-old said from what he could see inside the room, all of the lights were on, the doors were open to the bathroom and the closet. Timothy Hudson allegedly forced that 13-year-old to wait outside the stateroom. And then after a period of time, let him in. So the FBI has this timeline, based off what they saw from surveillance video. Think of a cruise ship. I mean, there are eyes and ears everywhere except for inside of the room. But this is what the surveillance video allegedly shows. At 7.35 p.m., documents claim that Timothy Hudson goes into the stateroom. Three minutes later at 7.38 is when Anna Kepner is seen going into that stateroom, and it is the last time that she is seen alive. At 7.51, we do see Anna's 13-year-old half-brother, enter the room, and then he leaves quickly after. Then at 10.13, so two and a half hours later or so, Timothy Hudson leaves that stateroom alone. And investigators say in the next hour, there is a good amount of movement in and out of the stateroom. Quote, upon entering the cabin door at 10.13, T, who we know as Timothy Hudson, is seen looking left and right down the hallway, appearing to check if there is anyone in the hallway. Still waiting in line? Again? That's time you'll never get back. Save time and money with Stamps.com. Over 4 million businesses have skipped the line with Stamps.com. Join them to save up to 90% off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail, and packages in seconds. Then schedule a pickup right from your home or office. For a limited time, go to Stamps.com and use code PODCAST for a free welcome gift. Taxes and fees apply. Then he walks outside of cabin 8343. This is the only time in which Hudson does that action when exiting the cabin door. Documents then show Hudson goes in and out of the cabin two more times between 10.12 and 10.49. Then at 10.53, he puts a privacy sign on the door. He then goes back to the cabin just after 11. Shortly later, at 11.21, the minor half-brother goes into the cabin and he told the FBI that he didn't see his sister there. He then leaves a couple minutes later at 11.23. Timothy Hudson, then goes in and out of the cabin at 11.44. Then just after midnight at 12.09, the 13-year-old is not allowed into the room. He then goes into the room and it is alleged that he sleeps there without knowing Anna Kepner's body is beneath the bed. Timothy Hudson has allegedly told family members that he does not remember what happened the night that Anna died. In an interview with a couple of media outlets, Christopher Kepner, who is. Anna's dad said that he or Chantel, his wife, Timothy's mom, they haven't spoken to Timothy Hudson since all of this allegedly happened. So let's go back to what happened around the time that Anna Kepner's body was found, the morning after. Documents show that at 11.27 a.m., and this is very suspicious, Timothy Hudson is seen walking by the stateroom where there was a commotion of crew trying to figure out what happened. And according to the FBI, he, quote, makes no effort to look and see what is happening inside, even though so many people are still inside the cabin with the door open. He looks straight ahead and walks away. Now, not only do you have this terrible tragedy, a young life that has been lost in the most horrific of ways, according to authorities, they're also alleging that Timothy Hudson tried to hide evidence. The FBI found Anna Kepner's cell phone in the lost and found, which seems very bizarre, considering the fact that Anna Kepner was found in the lost and found, which seems very bizarre, she did document so much of her life on TikTok, as people her age often do. I mean, the phone is like an extension of their arm. A crew member, though, found it in a trash bin, and it appeared to be damaged and smashed. Now, here's some more details we have about that. Surveillance videos showed Hudson allegedly leaving the cabin at 9.26 in the morning, the day after Kepner was killed, and then he returns at 9.48 in the morning. He leaves the cabin again at 9.50, and it appears that he has something in his hand. Authorities followed him on camera that at 9.52 in the morning, Hudson puts his hand in the same trash bin where Anna Kepner's cell phone is later found. On top of that, the FBI traced Kepner's phone and found it moving in the same direction and route that Hudson allegedly took to that trash bin, meaning the FBI believes he took the phone and he dumped it. The medical examiner conducted a rape kit on Anna Kepner as well, and a swab allegedly came back as a hit on Timothy Hudson's DNA. There was also a hit to someone authorities are calling minor witness to, who's a boy who lives out of state, who is said to have had intercourse with Anna Kepner on the cruise. It is unclear what the circumstances are surrounding that individual and whether it could raise doubt as to what happened. The video though of the night that Anna Kepner lost her life, it only shows Timothy Hudson and the 13-year-old half-brother and Anna Kepner going into that room. Now the half-brother has been ruled out as a DNA contributor. The medical examiner says that Timothy Hudson allegedly sexually assaulted Anna Kepner before she died. Now Hudson's trial has been delayed twice already. The most recent delay happened in August because the defense said it was having apparent issues with Anna Kepner's family. In a motion filed August 24th, Timothy's defense attorney says that they need more time to prepare for the possibility of what's called a Miller hearing. Now typically, someone who is found guilty of what Timothy Hudson is accused of in adult court, you'd be sentenced to life in prison. But since Hudson was just 16 when this crime happened, he has a right to a hearing where the court evaluates whether a juvenile is truly deserving of such a harsh sentence. In that motion, the defense wrote, quote, preparation for a Miller hearing often resembles the type of mitigation investigation involved in a capital prosecution. Unfortunately, however, defense counsel do not have the type of access to certain family members that would facilitate their investigation. It is unclear which family members attorneys have not been able to speak with, at least at that point in time. We know through interviews that Christopher Kepner has said that he and Chantel, who's Timothy's mom, have not spoken to her son since his arrest. The judge delayed the trial to November 2nd and also put a deadline for Timothy Hudson to make a decision on whether he would want to plead guilty. And that deadline is October 23rd. So that brings us to the most recent request for delay by the defense. This was just filed and the defense is now asking for Hudson's trial to be moved to January of 2027. It reads in part, quote, although the undersigned have since made progress towards attaining their goals, one pending issue still needs to be addressed before a final decision can be made concerning whether T.H., Timothy Hudson, should plead or proceed to trial. That issue cannot be resolved prior to the present trial setting. The filing does not explain what that issue is, and it's also unclear if Hudson is weighing a plea deal at this time. The defense says it has spoken to prosecutors and they do not oppose this move. Joining me now to talk more about this is former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, Nima Rahmani. Always great to have you. Observe the North American dad, 50s, great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, dang, that's a good offer. The highest form of approval. No haggling, no hassle. No one called him boss. He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website, to marketing, to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into. Sign up for your $1 per month, trial at Shopify.com/specialoffer. to have you on Law and Crime. What do you make of this request from Timothy Hudson's defense? Chris, thanks for having me as always. So it's an interesting case because I would have thought the defense would have really pushed for transfer, right? If you get into juvenile court, obviously the exposure is significantly less. He's looking at a potential life sentence now, now that he's in adult court. So that leads me to believe, one of two things is happening behind the scenes. Setting aside the issue of the continuance and the obviously now him being remanded into custody. A, they think that there was no chance of the case getting transferred, or B, they're working out some sort of plea deal, right? It's going to be a very tough case to defend on the merits. I'm sure we're going to talk about it, but obviously we don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but I would be very surprised if this case goes all the way to transfer. Chris: Yeah, it feels like it just based off the language in this motion. And then there was an October 23rd deadline that the judge had set the last time we talked about this case for any sort of plea deal to be worked out. But as of right now, trial's slated to begin November 2nd. The defense now asking for that to be pushed to January. And then here's the paragraph or at least a sentence from it that stood out to me where it says one pending issue still needs to be addressed before a final decision can be made. Chris: concerning whether Timothy Hudson should plead or proceed to trial. We don't know what that one pending issue is, but not to speculate too much, like typically in these types of situations is he's trying to figure out, you know, whether he should plead guilty or take this thing to trial. Like what are some of the things that attorneys could be talking about? Look, when you're deciding whether to try a case as a defense attorney, you're really looking at what are the chance of success, right? And I think you're looking at the two counts here. Obviously, the federal murder and the aggravated sexual abuse. I think the sexual abuse count, it's almost impossible because of the DNA and other evidence. Now, potentially, the defense could argue that the sexual contact happened at an earlier date. I don't think that's going to fly under any circumstances. Then you get to the murder. And whenever you have these sexual abuse kind of murder crossover cases, like you think about the David case. Right. For Celeste Rivas Hernandez, we've obviously talked a lot about that on Law and Crime. You know, does the defense there concede that the sexual abuse happened but deny the murder? I think that's what maybe you have to do in this case if you're going to try to in any way defend it. Maybe concede the sexual contact and say, listen, there's evidence that there's DNA, but there's insufficient evidence of the murder. I'm not saying that's going to work because of the surveillance, the cell phones. Obviously, you've got the potential motive here. I think this is probably a mitigation. I think this is probably a mitigation type case because of his young age, no criminal history. I'm not in any way saying that this was not anything less than a horrific, a violent and sexual crime. But I think what you're trying to do, if you're the defense here, is to get him out of something less than life. Obviously, there's no mandatory life sentences for juveniles. There's no death penalty under federal law. So you're really trying to mitigate this case and hopefully, you know, get him out maybe after, you know, 20, 30 years. That's probably going to be the best case scenario. I think if you're the defense. And you look at the evidence as we know it at this point, there's always something that could come out of trial that we don't see coming. But the evidence has laid out and it's pretty damning. I mean, it's just as you as you look at it. I mean, you can kind of see like they were the ones in the room. The 13 year old is not a suspect. His DNA was not, you know, associated with Anna Kepner. And then you have all the different activities of Timothy Hudson that's seen on surveillance video after. I mean, it just doesn't look. Good for him. What type of leverage does the defense have in a situation like this where if you're a prosecutor, you could say, like, we're just going to take this thing to trial and hold them to the fullest extent of the law? Yeah, you don't have a whole lot. So obviously, in a adult case, it's going to be a jury trial. You know, maybe you can hope you can pick off one or two jurors, raise some reasonable doubt. But it is a bit of a legal Hail Mary. If it were to go to juvenile court, which it's not, that would be a bench trial. So the judge would. Decide. But, yeah, I mean, look, the leverage you have is to potentially not put the family through this, through the trial, through the appeal. Right. Give them some sort of closure. I mean, this is a horrific case. I mean, they're losing two of their children. Right. Obviously, Anna is deceased and one is going to go to prison for a long period of time. So I think if you're the defense, you really implore upon the prosecution to potentially consider arguing the sentence at sentencing. So I'm going to plea. You're going to argue for this amount. I'm going to argue for this. We'll leave it up to the judge. Or you try to work out some sort of agreed upon recommendation. Now, in federal court, obviously, it's up to the judge. She or she doesn't have to accept that recommendation. But, yeah, I don't get the sense that this is the case that's going to trial. The defense is saying that they need to interview some witnesses, family members. I don't necessarily think that that's the reason the case is being delayed. And obviously, it's a murder case. So whenever the defense says we need more time. The judge usually gives them more time. Because if they don't give the time, then you're just creating an unnecessary issue on appeal. trial is slated to begin at this point. In the motion that the defense wrote, they say that they've communicated with the prosecutors, and the prosecutors don't oppose this motion. What does that tell you? Yeah, that leads me to believe that they're probably working out some sort of deal. And typically, the prosecution won't oppose these types of motions. Now, obviously, look, if a trial is continued out for years, I mean, justice delayed is justice denied. Witness memories can fade. Evidence can disappear. It's not what you want. But, you know, you also don't want to oppose something because it really is the defendant's right to a speedy trial. Shipping, billing, admin, payroll, marketing. You're managing all the things. So why waste time sending important documents the old-fashioned way? Mail and ship when you want, how you want, with Stamps.com. Print postage on demand 24-7 and schedule pickups from your office or home. Save up to 90% with automated rate shopping. 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You really want to give the defense the time they need within reason to prepare their case. You know, and you look at, I mean, what Timothy Hudson's accused of is horrific. And if he was a 45-year-old man, I don't think there'd be any question that if he was found guilty, this would be life in prison without the possibility of ever getting out. And I mean, even the death penalty, in some cases, could be on the table because this is just that horrific. But he's a 16-year-old kid, though he's being tried as an adult. What might the plea negotiations look like right now? If you, as a prosecutor, are going to say, okay, he doesn't have to stay in prison for the rest of his life. But like, what is, I don't want to say like a fair outcome in this case, but like as a prosecutor, like what are you looking for in a deal? Yeah, it's hard when you're talking about juveniles, right? Because really a criminal justice system for juveniles is intended to rehabilitate and not punish. Now, obviously, juveniles can be charged as adults. They can't be punished as adults. They can't be prosecuted as adults. But it's some of the challenges we talked about, even at the beginning of this case, Chris, I remember you and I talking like, where do you even put a 16-year-old, right? In terms of housing them, you're not going to put him with adults, right? That's just potentially dangerous for him. So obviously, you have to look at all the factors in fashioning a fair and just sentence. You want to think about the victim, the nature and circumstances of the offense, his criminal history, his physical and mental health, right? I mean, obviously, someone that does something like this, sexually assaults and murders his stepsister, you know, there's probably something in his past that would lead to this type of, you know, criminal behavior. And I mean, these are all things that are argued at sentencing. You have the psychs and the mental health experts, everything that the defense brings out to really sort of put on a mitigation package. But that's what you want to do. This isn't really a defensible case. It's just, you know, you're not going to put a 16-year-old, right? You're not going to put a 16-year-old, right? This is just a mitigation case. And you're going to rely on his age, his lack of experience, lack of criminal history. Obviously, anything in his psychiatric history, none of that really came out because there was no transfer hearing, right? That's when you would expect all that to be discussed and the judge to say, well, he should be tried as an adult, he should be tried as a juvenile. Since it didn't come out, expect it to come out at sentencing. How much power as a prosecutor do you have in, if you're negotiating a deal, like determining, you know, what prison he would go to and like what, you know, some of the day-to-day would be like for him in a prison? Not a whole lot, believe it or not. Even the judge doesn't really control where the placement is after someone is convicted or they plead guilty. It's up to the Bureau of Prisons. So, you know, the parties can make recommendations, obviously try to keep individuals close to their home. But when you have someone like this who's young and is convicted of a very serious crime, the BOP can't really ship them anywhere. And it's based on space. It's based on risk to other inmates, risk to that inmate. And they have a lot of discretion and there's not a whole lot that the Department of Justice or even a district judge can do. Knowing that he's, I think he's like 17 now. I mean, he's still very young. I mean, you see him in pictures and you can tell we're just talking about a very, very young person here, though he's accused of doing something terrible for like day-to-day life in prison. Because I assume like they're not going to put him in, like, would he be in like general population with, you know, people who have been convicted of these terrible crimes? Or is there like, even that's adult prison, like, is there a place where like there are other, you know, I hate to say the word kids, but, you know, people under the age of 18 that he can, that he would like be around? Like what does life typically look like, you know, for, you know, how the Bureau of Prisons handles people who are so young when they have to go away like this? Look, it's very rare. I can tell you that I personally put more than a thousand people in federal prison. I'm trying to think, and it's been a while since I left the department, how many of them were juveniles. It would certainly be on one hand, maybe even one or two fingers. It is very, very rare for there to be a federal juvenile prosecution. Most of these cases, they're adjudicated in the state court. Obviously, you have a murder on a cruise ship. So there's a lot of cases where you have a murder on a cruise ship. So there's a lot of federal jurisdiction there. And the reason that we're in federal court, but you're right, the federal criminal justice system and the Bureau of Prisons, these facilities, they're not meant to house kids under the age of 18. And I understand that he's legally being treated as an adult, but I think you have to certainly keep them isolated from the general population, both because of his age and the nature of these crimes, them being sex and very violent crimes. Yeah, it's, it's, you know, and listen, Anna Kepner lost her life in a, in a terrible way. And, and Timothy Hudson is, he's pleaded not guilty to it. And we'll see what happens. Like, as far as if this were to get to trial, and I don't know how likely that is at this point, just based off of like what, what we're seeing in some of these motions, but we're no one else. It appears other than Timothy Hudson and Anna Kepner were in that room. Now you don't need a camera in the room to be able to get a conviction of Timothy Hudson based on all the other evidence we're talking about. And it's like another case I think of is like Caleb Flynn, which we just wrapped. Still waiting in line again. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail and packages in seconds. For a limited time, go to stamps.com and use code podcast. For a free welcome gift, taxes and fees apply. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business from designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond. Shopify can help with everything you need. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com. They don't have the gun. It's not like there was video of him shooting his wife, but there was a ton of evidence, you know, pointing to Caleb Flynn. And that's the way the jury saw it in Ohio state court. Um, this is a federal case, but still with that said, uh, how damning, you know, cause I think of the surveillance video and just his body language. Um, I don't know how you defend that if you had to go there. Um, and I know he tried to argue, I think he stole family members. And of course that's alleged that like, you know, he's not going to be able to do that. So, um, I don't think he's going to be able to do that. So, I think he's going to be able to do that. So, he doesn't remember anything. I just don't know, like, if this is something you can't reach a deal, how do you then turn around as a defense attorney and get ready to try and defend him in hopes that maybe you can get a juror who sees some sympathy or would say, well, I wasn't in the room, so I can't tell what happened. Sure. You know, Flynn was a strong case. I think this is even stronger. Flynn at least had this sort of home invasion argument, even though I think that the text messages were beyond damning. In this particular case, there really is no defense. I mean, generally, when I think of murder cases, they really fall into one of four categories, the ones that actually go to trial in terms of the defense. The first is it wasn't me, right? Someone else did it, the Caleb Flynn defense, right? The second, you see a lot of self-defense. Well, that's certainly not going to apply here, right? There's no self-defense argument, especially when there's a sexual assault. You know, sometimes what you see is attacking the intent. So you might say, you know, this wasn't first degree murder. This wasn't premeditated. This is second degree murder. Maybe even argue manslaughter, right? Kind of heat of passion. very tough uh to argue here first of all you have a sexual assault so if a sexual assault if a murder is committed during the commission of a sexual assault that's felony murder right that's felony murder rule potentially you can argue kind of heat of passion again i don't see how it really applies here but um it's a shot and the last is you know insanity um very difficult um but i know spent a lot of time talking about lindsey clancy i think folks are very familiar with the legal insanity but those are the arguments so i think you would have to go in and either attack the intent or attack his legal sanity if you're really trying to defend this case um those are the only possibilities that i can see chris yeah and it seems like it would be an uphill battle to say the least based on at least what's been alleged to this point but we'll see if this actually ends up going to trial nima romani former federal prosecutor president of west coast trial lawyers always great to have you on law and crime thanks for doing this of course thanks for having me as always now we'll do it for on the case presented by law and crime i'm chris stewart we'll see you next time