Why Anna Kepner’s Stepmom Went to Court Over the Cruise Ship Murder

Shauntel Hudson just filed a child support petition against her ex-husband Thomas Hudson — the father of Timothy Hudson, who is in a federal cell awaiting trial for the alleged murder of Anna Kepner aboard the Carnival Horizon. According to court documents, she claims Thomas didn’t pay for several months and wants the support amounts increased. Thomas denied her claims.

The petition asks for money per child. One of those children is in federal detention. The other is a nine-year-old girl living in a home with her stepfather — whose biological daughter was allegedly killed by her biological brother. Shauntel testified at an earlier hearing that all the children in her household had been unenrolled from school because of the media attention.

Thomas has been fighting for custody of that nine-year-old since November 2025. His emergency petition argued the child shouldn’t be in a household where her brother is accused of killing the stepfather’s daughter. He’s also supporting Timothy’s criminal defense — shouldering the cost of a federal murder case while his ex-wife tells a judge he owes her money.

The custody filings document a family that fractured within weeks of Anna’s death. Text exchanges entered into the record show Shauntel went from telling Thomas she loved their son to allegedly saying she couldn’t jeopardize her marriage to help him. She invoked the Fifth at a custody hearing rather than testify. And now she wants more money from the father who’s paying for their son’s defense.

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