MIAMI (AP) — A pivotal decision is anticipated from a federal judge regarding the fate of a teenager accused of sexually assaulting and murdering his 18-year-old stepsister aboard a Carnival Cruise ship. The hearing is slated for Wednesday morning in Miami, where it will be determined if the teen will remain free while awaiting trial.

In February, U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres permitted 16-year-old Timothy Hudson, initially charged as a juvenile, to reside with an uncle under electronic monitoring. However, following the case’s escalation to adult court, prosecutors have urged that Hudson be detained for the duration of the legal proceedings.

Hudson has entered a plea of not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse. Cases involving minors in federal court are uncommon, and Hudson’s federal public defenders have chosen not to comment on the allegations.

The tragic incident involved Hudson’s stepsister, Anna Kepner, who was on the Carnival Horizon cruise in November with her family, including Hudson. As the ship was nearing its return to Florida, Kepner’s body was discovered hidden beneath a bed in a cabin she shared with Hudson and another teenager, according to a criminal complaint.

The medical examination concluded that Kepner died from mechanical asphyxia, indicating her breathing was obstructed by an object or physical pressure.

Kepner’s father, Christopher Kepner, previously released a statement, saying the family was placing “trust in the justice system to pursue the truth with care and integrity.”

“The situation is deeply painful and complex for the entire family,” Kepner said.

Anna Kepner was a high school cheerleader at Temple Christian School in Titusville, Florida, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Orlando. At her memorial service in November, family members encouraged people to wear bright colors instead of the traditional black “in honor of Anna’s bright and beautiful soul.”

Travis Kelce has taken a significant step into the world of sports ownership by acquiring a minority interest in the Cleveland Guardians, the Major League Baseball team he has cherished since childhood.

As reported by ESPN, the celebrated Kansas City Chiefs player has officially become part of the Guardians’ ownership ensemble, a franchise he fondly followed growing up.

The Cleveland Guardians are currently valued at approximately $1.7 billion, having seen a substantial increase of $700 million since David Blitzer assumed a minority ownership role in 2022.

Blitzer, who also holds ownership stakes in the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, welcomed Kelce into the Guardians’ fold. Notably, Blitzer has the option to become the team’s majority owner after the conclusion of the 2027 season.

Expressing his enthusiasm, Kelce shared with ESPN, “I have so much love for this city. I often say I’m just a kid from the Heights living the dream. Everything good in my life stems from Cleveland, where I was instilled with its values, people, and work ethic.”

‘Cleveland Heights is such a diverse and dynamic place. Every friend, neighbor, teacher and teammate – they all made me the man I am today. It just fueled such a deep appreciation for life and community and service. That mentality of Cleveland against the world runs deep.

Travis Kelce has bought a minority stake in the Cleveland Guardians, his boyhood MLB team

Kelce was a standout young baseball player in Cleveland and grew up a huge Guardians fan

‘I’ve been lucky enough to have a front-row seat to good ownership in my career, and I know the best teams prioritize culture. 

‘Everyone is there to play their role, and right now, I’m here to observe and learn and really to support the team and the city when and where I can.’

It comes at a busy time for Kelce, who is preparing to marry fiancee Taylor Swift in early July and also start offseason activities with the Chiefs ahead of the new NFL season.

Last week, Kelce and Swift sat courtside as they watched his beloved Cleveland Cavaliers lose to the New York Knicks in the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals. 

Kelce joins a growing list of elite sports stars to invest their money into MLB teams.

LeBron James owns a stake in the Boston Red Sox, Giannis Antetokounmpo is a minority owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, while Kelce’s best friend and Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes became a minority owner with the Kansas City Royals in 2020.

Kelce is a self-proclaimed Guardians ‘diehard’ and watched them during the team’s impressive run during the 1990s. 

Then known as the Cleveland Indians, a young Kelce watched on with father Ed as they won five American League Central division titles in a row. 

Kelce and Taylor Swift kiss at an NBA game last week as they prepare to get married soon

Kelce will return for a 14th NFL season after signing a new one-year, $12m deal with the Chiefs

Before he committed to pursuing a career in the NFL and was recruited by the University of Cincinnati, Kelce was a standout baseball talent in the Cleveland area. As a senior in 2008, he hit .588 with six home runs.

‘I think I had always felt most confident on the diamond,’ he added. ‘I was playing every sport growing up, but baseball was actually the only one I had early interest from scouts, so I really did think it was a viable option for me. The football thing chose me at the end of the day, and when I moved to tight end it really took off for me.

‘I mean, it’s hard to find a better feeling in sports than hitting a home run. But the best part about playing baseball growing up for me was enjoying it with the fellas and their families I played with.

‘I was lucky enough to be on some great teams growing up on the east side of Cleveland.’

Kelce is growing a business empire away from football as he continues to wind down his NFL career. After speculation he may retire this summer, Kelce signed a new one-year contract with the Chiefs worth $12m for a 14th season.

He also owns part of the Alpine Formula One team, while he also has stakes in an amusement park company, a mattress company, a beer company, a restaurant and his New Heights podcast with his older brother, Jason.

According to information acquired by Fox News Digital, the signal from Brian Hooker’s sailboat ceased on the night his wife, Lynette Hooker, disappeared while they were in the Bahamas.

Brian Hooker informed officials that Lynette was swept off their dinghy by turbulent waters after they departed from Hope Town in the Bahamas around 7:30 p.m. on April 4. He eventually reached Marsh Harbour at approximately 4 a.m. on April 5, authorities reported.

The couple was making their way back to their sailboat, the Soulmate, which they had made their permanent home since retiring. They often explored the U.S. and Caribbean in their sailing adventures, as documented on their social media profiles.

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

Family members noted that Brian and Lynette Hooker had been married for about 25 years. (The Sailing Hookers on YouTube and Instagram)

Fox News Digital accessed data via the marine tracking service VesselFinder, revealing that the Soulmate’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) went offline at 9:29 p.m. on April 4. This system, which transmits a vessel’s identity, speed, and location, remained inactive until 8:40 a.m. the next day, resulting in a communication gap exceeding 11 hours.

AMERICAN WOMAN MISSING AFTER HUSBAND SAYS SHE FELL OVERBOARD, SWEPT TO SEA DURING BAHAMAS BOAT TRIP: POLICE

Soulmate stopped transmitting AIS data for over 11 hours, according to data from Vesselfinder. (Fox News)

Blaine Stevenson, a friend of Brian Hooker’s, previously told Fox News Digital that after spending about three or four hours searching with rescue officials on April 5, Brian returned to his sailboat and stayed there for roughly 24 hours.

SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

Kenneth Engerrand, an adjunct professor of maritime law at the University of Houston Law Center and shareholder in the Brown Sims law firm, told Fox News Digital the timing of the AIS going dark is “highly unusual.”

“There are ways that it can stop transmitting. Catastrophic power failure, things like that. The mechanism in a collision goes to the bottom of the ocean, something like that, or it’s turned off. It doesn’t just go off and then come back on,” Engerrand said.

SEND US A TIP HERE

Brian Hooker leaves Central Police Station in Freeport, The Bahamas, on April 13, 2026, after being released from custody. He was questioned about the disappearance of his wife, Lynette Hooker, who he says fell overboard from their dinghy earlier this month. (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)

“If [the AIS] had stopped altogether and never came back on, then you would assume there was some sort of catastrophic failure on the system. But when it went off and then came back on some hours later, that’s an action whereby the system was turned off or disabled,” he added.

Notably, there were three more instances from April 10 to 13 where the AIS wasn’t transmitting data.

LISTEN TO THE NEW ‘CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ PODCAST

U.S. Coast Guard investigators search the boat Soulmate docked at their station in Fort Pierce, Fla., on May 13, 2026. The vessel belongs to Brian Hooker and his missing wife Lynette Hooker and was brought back to the U.S. from The Bahamas by the Coast Guard. (Fox News Digital)

Brian Hooker hasn’t been charged with a crime. He was detained for five days by Bahamian police after his wife disappeared, but wasn’t charged.

COAST GUARD RELEASES NEW PHOTOS OF SAILBOAT SEIZED IN MISSING AMERICAN’S BAHAMAS DISAPPEARANCE CASE

Sometime between May 8 and 10, Brian and Lynette Hooker’s sailboat, Soulmate, was seized, a source familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital. Soulmate was seized 40 nautical miles off the coast of Melbourne, Florida, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? FIND MORE ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB

In a news release, the Coast Guard said the seizure was part of a “complex surveillance and interdiction operation.” The sailboat was taken to Coast Guard Station Fort Pierce, where it is being processed for potential evidence.

Brian Hooker’s Michigan-based attorney previously asked Americans to give him the benefit of the doubt in an interview with ABC News.

“I would ask those watching to treat him the way you would want to be treated, to give him the benefit of the doubt, and to consider that not all of us, nor you, considering your own relationships, the way you speak to one another, we all handle things in different ways,” Crystal Marie Hauser said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Hauser for comment.

In a dramatic turn of events, five villagers who disappeared in a flooded cave in Laos have been discovered alive by elite divers on Wednesday. Now, rescue teams are in a race against time to extract them and locate two others who are still unaccounted for.

The organization Rescue Volunteer for People announced online, “We’ve found five people alive and all safe. There are still two people we are searching for.”

The group was located in an underground chamber in Xaisomboun province, situated roughly 50 miles north of the Laotian capital, Vientiane, according to a report by CNN.

Although the five have been found, the floodwaters continue to trap them, prompting officials to devise a safe extraction strategy.

To aid in this challenging mission, a contingent of 15 divers, known for their role in the dramatic rescue of a Thai youth soccer team in June 2018, has been deployed. These divers are navigating through treacherous narrow tunnels and unstable conditions to ensure the villagers’ safe return.

The villages went into the cave in the Southeast Asian nation to look for gold — but became trapped when heavy rains suddenly flooded the entrance.

The five survivors are “all healthy and in good spirits, but the extraction is still ahead and it ain’t going to be easy,” Finnish diver Mikko Paasi, who helped rescue the soccer players, wrote on social media.

Rescuers had to carry out a steep 2.5 mile walk just to reach the cave entrance before making their way inside through muddy passageways and narrow tunnels.

Passageways were so tight so rescuers could only go through in a single file.