MIAMI – The U.S. Department of Justice is asking a federal magistrate judge to detain a Titusville teenager accused of sexually abusing and murdering his 18-year-old stepsister aboard a Carnival cruise ship.
Timothy Hudson, 16, is charged with the murder of Anna Kepner, whose body was found on the Carnival Horizon in November.
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Kepner’s body was discovered stuffed under a bed in the stateroom she shared with Hudson the day before the ship was set to return to Miami, according to family members. She had been asphyxiated.
Federal investigators suspected Hudson from the beginning. The government originally charged him with delinquency because of his age, and a judge allowed him to remain free and live with a relative while the case was handled as a juvenile matter.
Earlier this year, however, the government announced it would prosecute Hudson as an adult after a grand jury indicted him for his stepsister’s murder.
Prosecutors are now asking a judge to detain Hudson or, at minimum, require him to pay a bond — consistent with how other adults facing sexual abuse and murder charges are treated.
“(The) defendant is a danger to others and should be held in pretrial detention,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alejandra L. Lopez wrote in a motion seeking revocation of Hudson’s prior release order.
Unlike juvenile delinquents, who must be released from custody by the time they turn 21, Hudson now faces life in prison if convicted.
“(The) Defendant’s exposure to punishment has changed substantially,” Lopez said.
Hudson’s public defender has not filed court papers responding to the government’s request.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled to occur in a Miami federal courtroom on Wednesday morning.