Teen Pleads Not Guilty in Stepsister's Cruise Ship Death

In Miami federal court, 16-year-old Timothy Hudson waived his appearance at an arraignment hearing scheduled for Wednesday, allowing his attorneys to enter a not guilty plea on his behalf in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister, Anna Kepner. Hudson faces charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse as an adult in the November 2025 incident aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship.

Kepner, a high school cheerleader from Titusville, Florida, was found dead in a cabin she shared with Hudson and her 14-year-old half-brother during a family vacation to the Caribbean. The ship was en route from Mexico to Florida when her body was discovered on November 7 by a cleaning crew, wrapped in a blanket and covered with life preservers under a bed. Authorities determined the cause of death as mechanical asphyxiation, indicating an external force prevented her from breathing. Prosecutors allege Hudson was the only person with Kepner at the time and that he sexually assaulted her before killing her.

The family had been traveling together, including Kepner's father, Christopher; her stepmother, Shauntel, who is Hudson's mother; and their grandparents. Kepner had retired early the...