Overview
- Unsealed detention hearing records released Wednesday show investigators obtained DNA from a second teenage boy who had sexual contact with Anna Kepner during the November cruise and compared it to swabs from her rape kit.
- Prosecutors told the court that FBI lab comparisons overwhelmingly favored 16‑year‑old Timothy Hudson as the male contributor to two vaginal swabs, citing a likelihood ratio of about 120 sextillion to one for the swab with sperm and 1.2 septillion to one for the other swab.
- Hudson’s defense questioned whether the DNA proves who inflicted the fatal neck injuries, pointing out an FBI agent said investigators did not establish whether DNA from intercourse was linked to the strangulation marks or the timing of death.
- The case was moved from juvenile to federal court in April, the records were unsealed, and Hudson remains on supervised pretrial release under GPS monitoring in his uncle’s care while his first‑degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse case heads to a September trial.
- Kepner’s family has protested the decision to keep Hudson on release and the trial will likely hinge on whether prosecutors can tie the DNA evidence to the killing using CCTV footage, phone‑location data and the cabin timeline.