FBI Says Victim’s Phone Helped Link Cruise Ship Murder Suspect to Crime

The FBI says Anna Kepner’s cellphone was the key evidence that helped tie her stepbrother, Timothy Hudson, to her murder aboard Carnival’s Horizon cruise ship in 2025. According to the indictment, the 18-year-old was sexually assaulted and strangled in her suite while the ship was in international waters on its way to Miami, Florida.

Court documents say FBI agent Andrew Del Vaye testified that Hudson, who was 16 at the time of the killing and is now 17, tried to destroy the phone and get rid of it. Investigators began searching for Kepner’s device as soon as the murder probe opened on November 8, 2025, but at first could not find it.

The phone was later discovered in the ship’s lost and found. Del Vaye said a crew member found it in a trash bin with its screen shattered, but forensic specialists were still able to recover important data. “We were able to download information from the device and reconstruct its movement from Kepner’s cabin to the trash can in the hours after the attack,” he testified.

Investigators also reviewed the ship’s security video and identified Hudson in all four areas where the phone had been detected before it was found. Del Vaye said Hudson was also seen spending 22 seconds near the same trash can where the phone was recovered. Hudson was first charged as a minor in February and later indicted as an adult. If convicted, he could face life in prison.