Husband Who Beat Wife To Death On Alaska Cruise Is Found Dead In Prison

Husband Who Beat Wife To Death On Alaska Cruise Is Found Dead In Prison

A dad who beat his wife to death in front of their children has been found dead in his prison cell.

Kenneth Manzanares, 43, was serving a 30 year sentence for the murder of wife Kirsty, 39.

The brutal murder happened on the Emerald Princess cruise ship as they celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary in July 2017.

Manzanares, from Utah, was found unresponsive in his cell in Alaska on Wednesday last week, the Alaska Department of Corrections said in a statement.

Foul play is not suspected, and his death was not linked to Covid, the Daily Star reports.

During the trip, Manzanares snapped when Kristy laughed at him and told him she wanted to get a divorce.

His defence team argued that Manzanares suffered from undiagnosed bipolar disorder and had been mixing alcohol with his medication, asking for a more lenient sentence of seven and a half years behind bars.

But prosecutors argued he should be put away for life.

On the night of Kristy’s murder, cruise ship passengers had been expecting to take part in a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery event.

As the real murder of the mother-of-three unfolded, many passengers presumed it was all part of the act.

Passenger Natalie Beckstrom told St. George News that the murder mystery was interrupted when someone came over the intercom calling for medical and security staff.
“He sounded a little breathless as he was talking,” Beckstrom said.

“That’s kind of what everybody in the room was thinking was that it was just part of the play… So, you know, we all just kind of sat down and went on with the play.”

Beckstrom later saw a man who was covered in blood appear from the hallway speak to a woman who was next to a 13-year-old girl sheathed in a blanket.

She heard him say to the woman: “It doesn’t look good.”
Beckstrom recalled: “And so, at that point, the 13-year-old just lost it – she just started sobbing, ‘I want my mommy. I want my mommy.’”