New questions raised over Anna Kepner’s Carnival cruise murder after DNA from unknown male minor found
Anna Kepner, 18, allegedly had sex with an unknown male juvenile aboard a Carnival cruise ship shortly before her shocking death, federal prosecutors revealed.
Kepner was strangled to death inside a cabin she shared with her stepbrother, Timothy Hudson, and her 13-year-old brother. Hudson, who was 16 at the time, faces charges for her alleged sexual assault and murder.
But a recently unsealed 145-page detention hearing transcript obtained by Fox News painstakingly detailed the results of Kepner’s post-mortem rape kit, including disclosing that she had sexual intercourse with an unidentified out-of-state minor at some point during the six-day cruise, according to prosecutors.
Timothy Hudson — accused of killing his stepsister, Anna Kepner — leaves Miami Federal Court on May 27, 2026.Romain Maurice for NY Post
Federal investigators have obtained a DNA sample from a mystery juvenile male who allegedly had sex with 18-year-old Kepner aboard a Carnival cruise ship shortly before her death.Instagram/@anna.kepner16A rape kit test produced male DNA from two vaginal swabs, including one that tested positive for sperm, prosecutors said.
Investigators eventually obtained DNA from Hudson and the out-of-state minor to compare with the rape kit results.
The minor was excluded as a contributor, meaning none of his genetic material was found on Kepner after her gruesome death.
Anna Kepner is pictured with her stepbrother, Timothy Hudson.Instagram/Shauntel Kepner
Prosecutors concluded that the vaginal swab DNA instead indicated that Hudson was the most likely male contributor.
Even so, his defense has indicated that they could use Kepner’s alleged hookup to their advantage in court proceedings.
During the detention hearing, Hudson’s attorney insisted that prosecutors were making assumptions about the rape kit evidence, including whether the sexual contact, alleged sexual assault and homicide were all part of the same event.
The defense pressed an FBI agent on whether the medical examiner could determine how long after intercourse Kepner died, or whether the other person involved was the suspect who killed her.
The Carnival Horizon cruise ship sits docked in the Caribbean Sea at the Aruba Cruise Terminal on Nov. 11, 2025, in Oranjestad, Aruba. Getty Images
The agent responded that he didn’t “think they made that determination.”
Prosecutors argued that the bulk of the evidence, including the DNA, all indicated that Hudson was the perpetrator.
He reportedly had a twisted obsession with his high school senior stepsister and forced Kepner to “engage in a sexual act” and penetrated her, the superseding indictment alleges.
Kepner died from mechanical asphyxiation after her stepbrother held her in a bar hold, officials ruled.
Timothy Hudson and family arrive at Miami Federal Court on May 27, 2026.Romain Maurice for NY Post
Kepner’s younger brother ended up sleeping just feet away from his sister’s lifeless body.
She was found the morning of Nov. 7, 2025, wrapped in a blanket, covered by life jackets, and shoved under a bed. A maid discovered her battered corpse while cleaning the cabin near the tail-end of the Caribbean cruise.
Hudson’s case is expected to head to trial in September.
SOURE: https://nypost.com/2026/06/03/us-news/dna-from-unknown-male-minor-raises-questions-in-anna-kepner-murder-case-against-teen-stepbrother/
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