The FBI arrested a man Thursday aboard a cruise ship for allegedly murdering his wife after telling witnesses, “She would not stop laughing at me.”
Kenneth Manzanares is accused of killing 39-year-old Kristy Manzanares aboard the Emerald Princess ship off the coast of southeast Alaska on Tuesday. The Manzanares of Utah were reportedly celebrating their wedding anniversary with their three daughters. The FBI took him into custody on Thursday after ordering all passengers on the ship to be held. The Utah couple was reportedly celebrating their anniversary.
One daughter reportedly ran out of the family’s cabin calling for help when the couple got into an argument. Witnesses say Kenneth then reached for his wife’s lifeless body, his hands and clothes already covered in her blood and began to drag her body out of the room and over to the balcony of the ship. “My life is over,” Kenneth said a security guard reaching to restrain him, a federal affidavit said.
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“We don't know what he intended to do once he got her out there,” U.S. Attorney Brian Sharber said. “I don't remember the last time we had a murder on a cruise ship in Alaska. I’ve been here for 12 years and I'm a retired coast guard officer and I don't think we’ve had one since I’ve been here.”
The couple’s three daughters were on board the ship at the time of Kristy’s death. While Kenneth is detained, the FBI said at a news conference their daughters are being looked after by family members. The FBI would not confirm whether the girls were in the room at the time of Kristy’s death, though witnesses say one of the daughters reported the argument, but the FBI did say there were eyewitnesses in the room at the time of the killing.
“In an incident like this, the FBI does deploy a victim specialist so we did deploy one from Anchorage and one from the Seattle office. In an instance like this, they would be working with and supporting the family members,” FBI Special Agent Marlin Ritzman said.
At the same time as the murder, vacationers were enjoying a pre-scheduled “murder mystery” themed dinner, CBS reported. When a crew member’s announced someone died over the loudspeaker, some passengers thought it was a hoax.
Emerald Princess passenger Charles Rowlen told KTVA he and his wife were in a room two floors above Kristy’s room. “It was evening for us, I had turned in and my wife was taking a shower and I heard terrible screaming, I mean you knew it wasn’t normal,” Rowlen said. “And it sounded like two or three ladies or girls, definitely women screaming.”
