FBI Says Victim’s Phone Tied Cruise Ship Murder Suspect to the Crime

Federal investigators say Anna Kepner’s cellphone became the key evidence in the killing of the 18-year-old aboard Carnival’s Horizon in 2025. According to the indictment, she was sexually assaulted and strangled in her suite while the ship was in international waters en route to Miami, Florida. The main suspect is her stepbrother, Timothy Hudson, who was 16 at the time and is now 17.

FBI agent Andrew Del Valle testified that Hudson tried to destroy and discard Kepner’s phone, but failed. Agents began looking for the device when the murder investigation opened on November 8, 2025. They initially could not find it, until they searched the ship’s lost-and-found and discovered it there.

Del Valle said a crew member found the phone in a trash bin with its screen shattered. Even so, forensic specialists were able to recover crucial 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 footage and identified Hudson in all four locations where the phone was detected before it was found in the trash. The testimony showed he spent 22 seconds near the same trash bin where the device was recovered. Hudson was first charged as a juvenile in February and later indicted as an adult. If convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault, he could face life in prison.