SHOCK RULING: Accused Carnival Cruise Killer to Remain Free Ahead of Murder Trial | Crime Alert 05.28.26

Anna Kepner's step-brother to remain free while awaiting trial for her murder. Illinois teen behind bars for road-rage shooting targeting a family on their way home from a pre-natal check up. Former high school teacher previously arrested for allegedly having sex with a student on campus, now facing fresh charges including 5 additional victims. Sydney Silvagni reports. 

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Speaker 1: Crime Alart hourly update, breaking crime news Now. I'm Sidney Silvanni.

Speaker 1: A teenage stepbrother accused of a horrific crime on the

Speaker 1: high seas, will remain free while awaiting trial, a move

Speaker 1: that has sparked absolute outrage from the victim's family. Timothy

Speaker 1: Hudson is facing charges of first degree murder and aggravated

Speaker 1: sexual abuse in the death of his eighteen year old stepsister,

Speaker 1: Anna Kepner. The tragedy occurred back in November twenty twenty five,

Speaker 1: aboard a Carnival cruise ship heading to Miami. Yesterday, a

Speaker 1: federal judge ruled that Hudson can remain out of jail

Speaker 1: on bond with electronic monitoring while he awaits his September trial.

Speaker 1: Alongside this ruling, prosecutors unsealed a chilling, minute by minute

Speaker 1: timeline of what allegedly happened inside cabin eighty three forty

Speaker 1: three on the night of November sixth, Anna left dinner

Speaker 1: early because she was feeling unwell. CCTV footage shows Hudson

Speaker 1: entering her cabinet seven thirty five pm, followed by Anna

Speaker 1: three minutes later at seven fifty one. Anna's biological brother

Speaker 1: briefly enters the room, later telling investigators Anna was fine

Speaker 1: at that time. Prosecutors say she was never seen alive

Speaker 1: again for over three hours. Kepner and Hudson were alone.

Speaker 1: Later that night, Hudson was spotted checking the hallways, hanging

Speaker 1: a privacy sign, and even blocking Anna's thirteen year old

Speaker 1: brother from entering the room, claiming he was changing. The

Speaker 1: next morning, ship Wi Fi tracked Anna's missing phone, moving

Speaker 1: along the exact path as Hudson, eventually leading authorities to

Speaker 1: a trash bin where it was discarded. Shortly after cabin

Speaker 1: attendants made the grim discovery. Anna's body was wrapped in

Speaker 1: bedding and stuffed under the bed, hidden behind a box

Speaker 1: of life vests. The forensic evidence is staggering. FBI lab

Speaker 1: testing revealed male DNA and sperm inside the cabin. According

Speaker 1: to prosecutors, the DNA match is one hundred and twenty

Speaker 1: sextillion times more likely to belong to Hudson than any

Speaker 1: unrelated person. Despite the prosecution's fierce argument that Hudson poses

Speaker 1: a severe danger to the public, especially since he currently

Speaker 1: lives in a home with minors, US District Judge Edwin

Speaker 1: Torres denied the motion to detain him. The judge pointed

Speaker 1: to Hudson's age as the deciding factor. Quote, if it

Speaker 1: were a twenty year old under the exact circumstances, I

Speaker 1: probably would have detained. The presumption would be we were

Speaker 1: just not going to take that chance. This is a

Speaker 1: different animal. Because Hudson's family lives hundreds of miles away

Speaker 1: in Hernando County, the judge ruled that detaining him in

Speaker 1: Miami would make family visits too difficult. He will instead

Speaker 1: be electronically monitored in the Tampa area. Needless to say,

Speaker 1: Anna's family is devastated and furious. Her father, Christopher Kepner,

Speaker 1: spoke out against the justice system's handling of the case. Quote,

Speaker 1: we're upset that he's still out six months in and

Speaker 1: he should have already been arrested, and yet he's free

Speaker 1: to do whatever he wants right now. He does not

Speaker 1: need to be free. If convicted, Hudson faces a maximum

Speaker 1: penalty of life in prison. More crime and justice news

Speaker 1: after this. In Saint Louis, Missouri, a nineteen year old

Speaker 1: is facing severe consequences, but this time the suspect is

Speaker 1: behind bars without bond. Anthony Lee Armstrong has been hit

Speaker 1: with a slew of felony charges, including first degree assault

Speaker 1: and armed criminal action. Following a terrifying road raid shooting

Speaker 1: on May seventeen, police say a family driving home from

Speaker 1: a pre natal appointment was nearly hit by two speeding

Speaker 1: sedans After a brief confrontation in a parking lot. The

Speaker 1: two vehicles pursued the family, weaving through oncoming traffic to

Speaker 1: keep pace. When the victims attempted to make a U

Speaker 1: turn to escape, shots were fired directly into their car.

Speaker 1: A woman who was eleven weeks pregnant was struck in

Speaker 1: the upper back. Her male partner sustained shrapnel wounds to

Speaker 1: his chin and shoulder, all while a young child sat

Speaker 1: in the back seat. Investigators used surveillance video and a

Speaker 1: license plate reader to track down Lee Armstrong's Volkswagen. The

Speaker 1: pregnant victim later identified him in a lineup, telling police

Speaker 1: he hurled racist slurs of them during the attack. Lee

Speaker 1: Armstrong remains jailed without bond. Both victims retreated at a

Speaker 1: local hospital. In our recovering we now turned to a

Speaker 1: disturbing investigation out of Douglas County, Georgia, where a former

Speaker 1: high school teacher is facing an onslaught of new criminal allegations.

Speaker 1: Twenty five year old Maris Nichols, a former teacher in

Speaker 1: Alexander High School, was hit with multiple additional charges on Thursday,

Speaker 1: including grooming of a minor, sexual assault, and child molestation,

Speaker 1: following her initial arrest earlier this month. According to local

Speaker 1: arrest records, Nichols is now accused of engaging in egregious

Speaker 1: and proper sexual conduct involving a total of six student victims.

Speaker 1: Her bond was set at seventy four thousand dollars, and

Speaker 1: records indicate she successfully bonded out of custody by Friday.

Speaker 1: The details emerging from the investigation paint a devastating picture

Speaker 1: of a predator exploiting her position of authority. Investigators revealed

Speaker 1: that Nichols allegedly transmitted nude photographs and explicit videos of

Speaker 1: herself to students, even engaging in a live video chat

Speaker 1: session with at least two victims during which she masterbated

Speaker 1: with a sex toy. Nichols was first accused of having

Speaker 1: sex with one student on two occasions in a school

Speaker 1: closet in the student's vehicle parked in the driveway of

Speaker 1: their home. Now, court documents detailed text messages sent by

Speaker 1: Nichols to two male students explicitly describing graphic sex acts

Speaker 1: she desired them to perform on her. In another instance,

Speaker 1: she allegedly sent nude photos to a female student and

Speaker 1: encouraged the juvenile to watch the sexually explicit movie Fifty

Speaker 1: Shades of Gray. Perhaps most shocking of all arrest, records

Speaker 1: alleged that Nichols engaged in physical sexual intercourse with a

Speaker 1: student in the back of his pickup truck parked at

Speaker 1: a local golf club. In an official letter distributed to parents,

Speaker 1: the Douglas County School System and expressed that the administration

Speaker 1: was deeply troubled by the horrific allegations. The district's statement read,

Speaker 1: upon learning of the alleged misconduct, the district immediately launched

Speaker 1: an investigation. The Douglas County School System will continue to

Speaker 1: cooperate fully with state and local law enforcement. The district

Speaker 1: cannot provide additional information regarding the allegations. Any further inquiry

Speaker 1: should be directed to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. For

Speaker 1: the latest crime and justice breaking news, be sure to

Speaker 1: tune in tomorrow on your favorite podcast app with this

Speaker 1: crime alert. I'm Sydney Silvanie