Judge Rules Anna Kepner’s Stepbrother Will Not Be Jailed Ahead of Murder Trial

Timothy Hudson, the 16-year-old accused of raping and killing his stepsister, Anna Kepner, will not be jailed pending his upcoming trial in September, according to a ruling from a federal judge. Recently unsealed court filings give details of her death, with prosecutors citing evidence they say links Hudson to the alleged crime, and medical findings indicating Anna Kepner died from mechanical asphyxiation.

Anna Kepner’s Stepbrother Ruling

U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres reviewed motions on Wednesday regarding whether the teen stepbrother should be held in pretrial detention, given that the case is being processed in adult court. Federal prosecutors sought that the accused teen be remanded in pretrial detention as the case proceeds in federal court. Had Anna Kepner’s accused stepbrother killer been placed in custody, he could have been held in a contracted, state-run juvenile facility since there aren’t federal holding facilities for juveniles in Florida.

Originally, the trial was set to start next Monday, on June 1, but it was continued until this coming September. According to prosecutors, on Nov. 7, 2025, Anna Kepner was found deceased in the cabin she occupied with her stepbrother and her 10-year-old male sibling. Her stepbrother and biological relatives were staying in a different cabin just across the hall on the cruise ship. The teen pleaded not guilty after he was indicted as an adult on first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse in connection with her stepsister’s death.

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Anna Kepner Feared Stepbrother Months Before Her Murder

Allegedly, the victim had concerns about her stepbrother long before the tragic cruise murder. FBI Agent Andrew del Valle testified about an incident between Kepner and Hudson while investigating the homicide. Del Valle said there were multiple interviews with friends of Kepner, as well as her ex-boyfriend.

The ex-boyfriend alleged that he witnessed an uncomfortable moment between Kepner and Hudson. The ex-boyfriend and the victim were constantly in touch with one another when they were together. From the transcript of the hearing, obtained by People, Del Valle testified, “During one of those FaceTime conversations, he recalls that Anna had fallen asleep and he was doing some work in his garage or something, but he noticed, or he heard a noise coming from Anna’s phone.”

She added, “He looked, and he stated that he had seen Timothy trying to get into bed with Anna.” The ex-boyfriend “was kind of surprised and shocked by it, and he yelled at Timothy from the phone, at which point Timothy apparently ran out of the room.” Kepner was still able to sleep through the uncomfortable incident, but was hesitant in coming forward to the father, according to testimony from Del Valle.

According to the ex-boyfriend, Kepner had allegedly told him that she was a little afraid of Hudson, considering that she felt that Hudson was a little strange and had some knives. However, Hudson’s mother and Kepner’s stepmother, Shauntel Kepner, previously said that the step-siblings were “best friends.”

Anna Kepner’s Cause of Death

This came in the midst of an emergency custody hearing after her ex-husband, Thomas Hudson, sought the court to remove his youngest daughter from her mom’s home and grant him full custody. He had filed the petition after he found out that his son was under investigation by the FBI in Kepner’s death.

In a February hearing, Torres ruled to unseal a transcript that provides new information in the timeline of the girl’s death. According to the transcript, Kepner was bleeding under the skin around the side and back of her neck, which is indicative that she was strangled. The medical examiner ruled that mechanical asphyxiation was the cause of her death.

Her left ear had bruising, indicating that Kepner was held in a chokehold. Per USA Today, which has obtained the transcript, U.S. Attorney Alejandra L. López said during the hearing that the chokehold had “enough force that such bruising and blood were in the ear area.” Hudson was later arraigned in a federal courtroom in Florida in February on charges that include sexual abuse and murder.

He was released into the custody of a maternal relative and remains there; a judge on May 27 declined to tighten the conditions of his pretrial release even after prosecutors moved to try him as an adult. Court documents filed in Brevard County as part of an ongoing custody dispute reveal that Shauntel severed contact with Timothy the moment the cruise returned to port on Nov. 8 and hasn’t spoken to her son since then.

The filings paint a portrait of a mother who, according to the records, believes the relationship with her son cannot continue while the legal process unfolds. Regardless of how this case goes, there is nothing that will take away the heartache and pain that this tragedy has brought to the family. Anna Kepner can’t be brought back, and this case is unfortunately another incident in which a human life was brutally cut short.