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A federal judge in Florida on Monday ordered the 16-year-old male accused of sexually assaulting and killing his stepsister aboard a cruise ship to be jailed before and during his trial.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Edwin Torres said Timothy Hudson, 16, could remain in the custody of a family member while awaiting trial in the killing of his stepsister, Anna Kepner.
Hudson surrendered to U.S. Marshals on Monday after Torres reversed his decision on pretrial release now that the teen is charged as an adult, according to The Associated Press.
Global News has reached out to the U.S. Marshals Service for further comment, but has not received a response.
Hudson has been free since his 18-year-old stepsister was found dead under a bed aboard a Carnival cruise ship last year.
Kepner, a recent high school graduate, was travelling with her family on the Carnival Horizon cruise from Miami to the Caribbean when she died.
Torres filed the order to revoke Hudson’s pretrial release last Wednesday, but the order was sealed until Monday afternoon, The Associated Press reports.
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The judge said that the issue of Hudson’s pretrial detention should be treated as if he were an adult, but Hudson will reportedly be held in an approved juvenile facility in Miami-Dade County.
“The Government has established, by clear and convincing evidence, that no condition or combination of conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of the community going forward,” Torres wrote in his order, according to The Associated Press.
In April, Hudson entered a not-guilty plea and waived his appearance at a hearing in Miami federal court on charges of murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Kepner’s death.
Hudson was indicted as an adult by a federal grand jury on April 13 in the death of Kepner, whose body was found under a bed in a Carnival Horizon room that she was sharing with him and another teen during a family trip in November 2025.
At the time of Kepner’s death, Hudson was arrested, charged as a juvenile and permitted to live with an uncle under electronic monitoring before being indicted as an adult by a grand jury in February, which raised the possibility of being held in jail until he goes on trial.
According to court records, Hudson was travelling with Kepner and other family members on or about Nov. 6-7, 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida said in a press release.
“During that time, while the ship was in international waters en route to Miami, T.H. allegedly sexually assaulted and intentionally killed Kepner. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office later determined the cause of death to be mechanical asphyxiation.”
Mechanical asphyxia is when an object or physical force stops someone from breathing.
Hudson faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Carnival Cruise Line previously confirmed Kepner’s death in a statement to Global News, saying, “Our focus is on supporting the family of our guest and cooperating with the FBI.”
“Since this is an ongoing matter under the jurisdiction of law enforcement, it is up to the FBI’s Miami public affairs office to provide further details. Our focus is on supporting the family of our guest,” it continued.
Kepner’s stepbrother was first identified as a suspect in her death in November 2025, according to court documents filed by his divorced parents over custody of their youngest child in Brevard County, along Florida’s Space Coast.
Hudson’s mother, Shauntel Kepner, was advised by the FBI and her lawyers that “a criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children of this instant action,” the legal document stated.
She asked that the proceedings be postponed until the “criminal investigation has concluded.”
In the emergency motion for temporary relief, viewed by Global News, one of the stated grounds is that a “sixteen year old child is now a suspect in the death of the step child during the cruise.”
Hudson’s trial is scheduled to begin in September.
—With files from The Associated Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
