Free Republic

A Florida 16-year-old is being charged as an adult in the sexual abuse and murder of his stepsister on a Carnival cruise ship last year, authorities said Monday. The teen, T.H., of Titusville, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse in the killing of Anna Kepner, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said. Kepner, 18, was found dead, asphyxiated, on Nov. 7 under the bed in a cabin the siblings shared on the Carnival Horizon cruise ship while on vacation with Kepner’s family, records showed.

Several streets closed, building evacuated as police investigatedSeveral Miami streets were closed off and an office building evacuated after a suspicious package was found inside a parked van Tuesday. The driver of the van became suspicious of the package and alerted police. The bomb squad was called in after the package was located in the back of an Avianca Express delivery van shortly before noon in the area of Southwest 8th St. and 51st Ave. Several adjacent streets were closed and employees in the nearby Preferred Medical building were evacuated as police worked to determine if the suspicious package posed...