A federal judge on Wednesday opted for now not to jail a Florida teenager accused of sexually assaulting and killing his stepsister aboard a cruise ship, saying he could remain in the custody of a family member while the judge deliberates.
Timothy Hudson, 16, has been free since his 18-year-old step-sister, Anna Kepner, was found dead under a bed aboard a Carnival cruise ship last year.
In April, he 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.
At the time of her death in November, 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.
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The indictment as an adult means while Hudson was not originally named by police when being charged as a juvenile, he has now been publicly named.
During his ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Edwin Torres said, “If it were a 20-year-old under the exact circumstances I probably would have detained,” NBC News reported.
“The presumption would be we were just not going to take that chance,” he continued. “This is a different animal.”
He also noted that detaining Hudson in Miami-Dade County — where he was charged — would make it hard for his family members, who live hundreds of miles away, to visit him, adding that he wanted to explore the option of holding Hudson closer to home.
The judge ended Wednesday morning’s hearing without making a final decision, saying he wanted to speak with the U.S. Marshals Service about the logistics of holding Hudson in Central Florida, closer to his family, rather than South Florida, where the trial is taking place, The Associated Press reported.
Minors are rarely prosecuted in federal court, but this case landed there because Kepner reportedly died in international waters, outside any state’s jurisdiction.
It is unknown when Torres will make his final decision.
According to court records, Hudson was travelling aboard Carnival Cruise Line’s Horizon 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 last month.
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office later determined the cause of death to be mechanical asphyxiation, it added.
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
Kepner, a recent high school graduate, was travelling with her family on the Carnival Horizon cruise from Miami to the Caribbean when she died. Her 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.
— with files from The Associated Press and Global News’ Katie Scott
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