Florida teenager charged with sexually assaulting and killing stepsister on cruise ship

Anna Kepner’s body was found concealed under bed in a room she shared with two teens, including stepbrother Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the 6 November death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival cruise ship, the US justice department said Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on 10 March. But the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted Friday, weeks after US district judge Beth Bloom in Miami said he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner, Hudson’s stepsister, had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship with her family. Before the ship was scheduled to return to Florida, her body was found concealed under a bed in a room she was sharing with two other teens, including the younger stepbrother. The cause of Kepner’s death was determined to be mechanical asphyxia, which is when an object or physical force stops someone from breathing. Email and voicemail messages seeking comment from Hudson’s attorneys about the charges were not immediately returned Monday. Hudson,