Anna Kepner: Why Didn’t Her Phone End Up In The Ocean?

The Anna Kepner case has a lot of strange details, and there’s discussion about new evidence regarding suspect Timothy Hudson. It revolves around a phone.

The Ditched Phone

On Friday, on NewsNation’s Jesse Weber Live, he and Angenette Levy puzzled over why Timothy allegedly ditched Anna’s phone in a trash can.

After all, it might have made better sense to throw it overboard into the ocean.

Hudson Is A Juvenile

If you don’t know, Hudson,16, faces charges of murder as an adult. The murder happened on a Carnival cruise ship in November last year.

Arrested in February, he currently remains out of jail, a point of contention with true crime followers. But the case goes ahead, and agents started giving evidence.

Federal Testimony

According to recently released federal testimony, FBI Agent Andrew Delvige said Kepner’s phone went missing after her body was discovered.

Agents found it in the ship’s lost and found. The screen was smashed. A crew member said someone found it in a garbage can first.

An Odd Fact

Here’s  the weird part. The phone ended up a good distance from the cabin Anna Kepner shared with Timothy and another sibling.

Agent Delvige testified that investigators used Wi-Fi logs to track its movement. Then they checked surveillance footage.

“The cameras don’t capture Timothy putting the phone into the trash can,” Angenette Levy clarified. “But they capture him and his route that he took from that cabin that morning all the way to the area of that trash can.”

Why Not Toss It Overboard?

One YouTube commenter wondered, “When [you’re] in the middle of the ocean but you throw the phone in the garbage[?]”

Another said, “Why not dispose of a cellphone into the ocean if one wants to get rid of it?”

A third commenter felt relieved they found it, saying, “I’m so glad he didn’t.”

Data Can Be Recovered

Some observers speculated that the phone was damaged in an attempt to prevent data recovery.

That was a mistake. Forensic experts say physical damage rarely stops data recovery.

“It doesn´t matter what you do to a computer, a phone,” Levy said, recalling what an electronics expert once told her. “Unless you literally break, smash, burn it. He’s like, I can get stuff off of it.”

Hudson apparently didn’t know that. If he smashed it and disposed of it, there’s a good chance he just wanted the phone gone.

A Panic Reaction

One possible explanation is panic. Investigators have not disclosed a motive, but experts frequently note that people under stress don’t always make logical decisions.

Hudson was a kid. A 16-year-old doesn’t think like a seasoned criminal.

So presumably, he looked for the closest hiding spot. A trash can.

But there’s another angle true crime followers can consider. Cruise ships have cameras everywhere.

Tossing something off a railing is a highly visible act. You have to walk to the deck. You have to lean over. You have to hope nobody sees you.

Dumping something in a trash can feels more normal. It blends in. But here’s the problem for Hudson. The trash can plan didn’t work.

Damaging Actions

A crew member found the phone. And the FBI pulled everything off it. Levy pointed out that smashing the phone actually hurts his case.

“It shows somebody who´s maybe panicking,” she said. “It shows somebody who is inexperienced in crime because smashing a phone, breaking the screen, is going to do nothing.”

Other Theories

One YouTube commenter offered a different idea: “They said she met a guy on the ship. Maybe he smashed the phone after looking at their correspondence.”

That’s possible, but motive hasn’t yet been established.

Nevertheless, the surveillance footage puts Hudson near that trash can for 22 seconds.

The Wi-Fi logs put his phone there too. Prosecutors may view that combination of evidence as important.

A Simple Reason?

The truth is probably simpler than people want to admit. Kids in panic mode make stupid choices.

Perhaps Timothy Hudson smashed Anna Kepner’s phone because he believed it would kill any contents.

Possibly, he tossed it in a trash can because it was convenient.

The answer may be less complicated than many true crime followers assume. People under pressure don’t always make rational decisions. Whether that’s what happened here remains for the court to decide.

Your thoughts? Let us know in the discussion below and come back often for more true crime news and updates.