By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-06-12 16:00:54 | Updated at 2026-06-12 18:30:13
2 hours ago
The step-grandmother of Anna Kepner's accused murderer Timothy Hudson has called for the teen's father to also be charged as she said he created a 'recipe for disaster' on the cruise ship where she was killed.
Sonya Ziske slated Hudson's step-father Christopher Kepner in a scathing CBS News interview, saying she blames the father for allowing Kepner and Hudson to drink and share the same room on the cruise.
She said she '100 percent' believes that alcohol and 'missing meds' played a role in the tragedy, which Hudson has claimed he has no memory of.
Anna Kepner was found dead and wrapped in a blanket under her bed on a Caribbean Carnival Cruise in November, inside a cabin she and Hudson had been sharing on the week-long vacation.
Ziske called for Hudson's stepfather Christopher and mother Shauntel Kepner to face charges for 'lack of parental supervision' on the cruise, which she described as a 'floating city that is usually like Sin City.'
She said Christopher Kepner created a 'recipe for disaster' on the vessel before the alleged murder.
'Not giving medication, or making sure you have the medication before you leave, and the drinking and putting three teenagers — two boys and a girl — in a room together that were not raised together,' she said.
Hudson is facing murder charges and is being prosecuted as an adult, with authorities alleging that the 16-year-old sexually assaulted his step-sister in a violent attack.
Anna Kepner (pictured) was found dead and wrapped in a blanket under her bed on a Caribbean Carnival Cruise in November, inside a cabin she and her stepbrother had been sharing on the week-long vacation
Kepner's stepbrother Timothy Hudson, 16, is accused of raping and murdering his stepsister aboard a Carnival cruise last November
In a new interview, Hudson's step-grandmother called for Kepner's step-father and mother, Christopher and Shauntel Kepner (above) to face charges
Ziske is Shauntel Kepner's stepmother, and said she helped raise the alleged killer.
She told CBS that despite reports about Timothy Hudson and Anna Kepner being close as children, she said he was not 'raised to think of (her) as a sister.'
Ziske said she believes Timothy's claims that he has no memory of what happened, and said she 'absolutely' believes the alleged murder was a result of a alcohol and a lack of his medication.
'He truly does not remember,' she said.
'Timothy has said that they were drinking. I believe 100% those kids were drinking on the ship.'
