MIAMI — Sixteen-year-old Timothy Hudson did not appear in Miami federal court on Wednesday to answer to charges that he raped and murdered his stepsister on a cruise bound for South Florida. Instead, he entered a written not guilty plea.
Hudson, of Titusville, is charged federally as an adult in the death of Anna Kepner, 18.
Her body was found under a bed in a Carnival Horizon room that she was sharing with him and another teen during a family trip in November. The ship was in international waters and bound for Miami.
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office determined the the cause of her Nov. 6 death to be mechanical asphyxia, which is when an object or force stops someone from breathing.
Hudson is charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse. He has been free in the care of an uncle since his arrest in February, though prosecutors now want a judge to lock him up while the case unfolds. That issue is unsettled.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alejandra Lopez said, “Sorry. No comment. You can call our public affairs officer,” when asked about the case.
Records and hearings in the case were closed to the public for weeks because Hudson was initially charged as a minor. But U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom granted the government’s request to have him prosecuted as an adult. The case was unsealed on April 10.
Hudson, as of Wednesday, was in the custody of his uncle. Prosecutors have said that they’d like to see him behind bars, but that matter was not addressed in court.
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