Sealed Evidence, a Detention Fight, and a September Trial. What Federal Prosecutors Are Building in the Anna Kepner Case.

Anna Kepner was 18 years old, a high school cheerleader from Titusville, Florida, when she was found dead inside a cabin aboard the Carnival Horizon on November 7, 2025 — the final day of a family cruise, as the ship sailed back toward Miami from Cozumel, Mexico. Her cause of death, the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner determined, was mechanical asphyxiation.

In April 2026, a federal grand jury indicted her 16-year-old stepbrother, Timothy Hudson, as an adult on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse. Hudson has pleaded not guilty. He is presumed innocent unless and until a jury convicts him. His trial is scheduled for September 2026 in U.S. District Court in Miami.

The case has taken a new turn: on June 8, 2026, federal prosecutors filed new evidence under seal in Miami federal court, citing “newly disclosed, supplemental information” involving the “performance of any examinations or tests.” Prosecutors are using the sealed filing to push for Hudson’s detention before trial — an effort a federal judge has so far declined.

• Nov. 7, 2025 — Anna Kepner, 18, found dead in cabin 8343 aboard the Carnival Horizon; cause of death determined to be mechanical asphyxiation · Source: Miami-Dade Medical Examiner / court filings
• April 13, 2026 — federal grand jury indicted Timothy Hudson as an adult on first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse charges · Source: NBC News / CBS Miami
• June 8, 2026 — federal prosecutors filed new sealed evidence — 'newly disclosed, supplemental information' from examinations or tests — to support their bid to revoke Hudson's release · Source: Fox News / Yahoo News
• September 2026 — trial date set; if convicted on both counts, the sentence would be determined by U.S. District Judge Edwin Torres · Source: NBC Miami
• life in prison — maximum penalty Hudson faces if convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse · Source: DOJ / federal indictment

The Kepner family boarded the Carnival Horizon in Miami on November 2, 2025, for a six-night cruise that would stop in Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Cozumel, Mexico. The group included Anna, her father Christopher Kepner, her grandparents, her stepmother Shauntel Hudson, a younger stepsister, and Timothy Hudson — Anna’s 16-year-old stepbrother, who shared a cabin with her.

According to prosecutors and court documents reviewed by news outlets, surveillance footage from the ship shows Hudson entering cabin 8343 at approximately 7:35 p.m. on the night of November 6. Kepner followed at 7:38 p.m. The footage, prosecutors allege, does not show her leaving. The two were alone together for roughly three hours. By morning, Anna Kepner was dead.

Her body was discovered on November 7 by cabin attendants, wrapped in bedding and partially concealed under the bed behind life vests. The ship docked in Miami as scheduled. Hudson was subsequently hospitalized for psychiatric observation. Because the vessel was sailing on the high seas — international waters — when the alleged crime occurred, federal jurisdiction applied.

Anna Kepner, known to friends as “Anna Banana,” had been a gymnast since age two and a high school cheerleader. She had dreams of cheering at the University of Georgia and plans to join the U.S. Navy to train as a K-9 police officer. She was 18.

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The federal investigation was conducted by the FBI. Agents determined that Kepner died from mechanical asphyxiation — specifically, according to a prosecutor’s account at a May 2026 detention hearing, because someone held an arm across her neck. According to reporting by WKMG News 6 ClickOrlando, a prosecutor told the court that Hudson “squeezed so hard her eardrum burst” during what investigators believe was a three-to-five minute chokehold. The autopsy found ruptured eardrums and bruising on her neck consistent with that account.

DNA evidence became central to the government’s case. According to court records and reporting by Fox News and NewsNation, FBI lab results found that DNA recovered from Kepner’s body matched samples provided by Hudson, with analysts concluding Hudson was approximately 120 sextillion times more likely to have produced the DNA than a random individual. Investigators also obtained and tested DNA from a second, unnamed juvenile male who had been in contact with Kepner during the cruise; that individual’s DNA was excluded as a contributor to the relevant evidence.

Kepner’s phone, tracked via the ship’s Wi-Fi system after her death, was located near a jogging track and a trash collection area on the morning of November 7 — a fact prosecutors cited as circumstantial evidence. Hudson, according to court records, told investigators he could not remember what had happened.

“If it were a 20-year-old under the exact circumstances I probably would have detained. This is a different animal.”

U.S. District Judge Edwin Torres · U.S. District Court, Miami · May 27, 2026

For months after Kepner’s death, Hudson was known publicly only as “T.H.” in sealed juvenile proceedings. On February 6, 2026, he appeared before a federal magistrate in a sealed proceeding. On April 13, 2026, a federal grand jury indicted him as an adult under his full name, Timothy Hudson, on two counts: first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse.

Hudson entered a plea of not guilty. His public defender has argued that he poses no danger if released and will appear for trial. The defense has also challenged elements of the forensic evidence. Hudson is presumed innocent of all charges unless and until a jury returns a guilty verdict following a fair trial.

The maximum statutory penalty for first-degree murder in federal court is life in prison. If convicted on both counts, the sentences would be served concurrently or consecutively at a judge’s discretion. His trial is currently scheduled for September 2026 before U.S. District Judge Edwin Torres in the Southern District of Florida.

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Since the indictment, prosecutors have made repeated efforts to have Hudson jailed pending trial rather than released on bond. Those efforts have so far been unsuccessful. On May 27, 2026, Judge Torres ruled that Hudson could remain free under strict conditions — GPS monitoring, restricted movement, and supervision by relatives in the Tampa area — while U.S. Marshals continue exploring juvenile detention placement options.

Judge Torres acknowledged the severity of the alleged conduct but drew a distinction based on Hudson’s age, stating: “If it were a 20-year-old under the exact circumstances I probably would have detained. This is a different animal.”

That ruling did not end the government’s push. On June 8, 2026, federal prosecutors filed a sealed submission in Miami federal court describing “newly disclosed, supplemental information” they want the court to consider as part of their renewed motion to revoke Hudson’s release. The filing references “the performance of any examinations or tests,” according to Fox News’s account of the filing. The specific content of the sealed evidence has not been made public.

Anna’s father, Christopher Kepner, has publicly criticized the arrangement. “He’s been able to do whatever he wants,” Christopher Kepner said, according to court reporting, “but the family’s been sitting here unable to do anything.”

The case is a federal matter precisely because of where the alleged crime occurred. When a crime takes place aboard a U.S.-flagged vessel on the high seas — in international waters, beyond any state’s jurisdiction — the federal government steps in. The Carnival Horizon was sailing back from Cozumel, Mexico when Kepner died, placing the alleged offense under federal maritime jurisdiction.

That jurisdiction also determined how Hudson was charged. Because the alleged federal offenses carry adult-level penalties, prosecutors moved to indict him as an adult despite his age of 16 at the time. The federal system’s Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act permits juvenile transfer to adult court under specific criteria — criteria prosecutors apparently met to the grand jury’s satisfaction in April 2026.

The Southern District of Florida — based in Miami, the ship’s home port — is handling the case. Both the prosecution and defense are expected to present expert forensic testimony at trial. The sealed-evidence filing suggests the government continues to build its case actively in the months before the September 2026 trial date.

The sealed evidence filing, the ongoing detention fight, and the September trial date are three parallel threads. The court will decide whether the sealed supplemental information is sufficient to change the pretrial detention calculus. Hudson’s defense team will continue challenging the government’s forensic case — they have already raised questions about the DNA evidence and contested elements of the prosecution’s timeline. And a jury will ultimately decide whether Timothy Hudson is guilty of the charges against him.

Anna Kepner’s father, Christopher, has said he does not plan to attend the trial because he cannot relive the trauma of what happened to his daughter. For the Kepner family, the process that began on November 7, 2025 continues in a Miami federal courtroom — with no verdict yet, and a trial still months away.

This page will be updated as the sealed evidence is unsealed, the court rules on the detention motion, and the September trial proceeds.

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