Man jailed for 30 years for murdering wife on a cruise ship

A man from Utah has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after he beat his wife to death on a cruise ship, in what the officials described as a “chilling neglect for human life.”

Kenneth Manzanares, 43, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2020 for killing his 39-year-old wife, Kristy Manzanares, aboard the Emerald Princess cruise ship in 2017. The court announced his sentence on Thursday.

The couple and their three daughters were on a family trip to Alaska in July 2017, along with a few other relatives, during which the two had an argument. Court documents state that Kristy Manzanares asked for a divorce and told her husband to get off the ship and return to Utah, following which the violent incident took place.

The three daughters were with their relatives in an adjoining cabin when they heard their mother’s screams, federal prosecutors say. When they attempted to go into the cabin through an adjoining door, their father told them, “Don’t come in here.”

However, he could be seen hitting his wife in the head with closed fists through a connected balcony, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska said. He allegedly said, “she would not stop laughing at me,” according to the criminal complaint.

The woman died on the spot due to a severe head injury.

While one of the three children ran for help, a relative who entered the couple’s cabin before the ship’s security agents arrived, said he saw Kenneth Manzanares dragging his wife’s body to the balcony.

Acting US Attorney Bryan Wilson for the District of Alaska said the crime demonstrated a “chilling neglect for human life.”

“While today’s sentence will not bring Kristy back to her family and friends, we hope it provides a sense of justice for this heinous crime and brings some closure to those who knew and cared about her,” Mr Wilson said in his statement on Thursday.