On Tuesday, a man named Kenneth Manzanares was charged with murder after he was caught trying to drag the body of his wife, 39-year-old Kristy Manzanares, to the balcony of their cabin on an Alaskan cruise ship near Juneau.
CBS News reports that the couple was traveling with other people on the Emerald Princess to celebrate their anniversary, and had their children with them on board. One passenger told reporters that a little girl ran out the room calling for help, saying her “parents had been in a fight.” Other passengers from several floors away said they heard “two or three ladies or girls, definitely women screaming.”
Witnesses discovered Kenneth Manzanares in the cabin with blood on his hands and clothes and around the room. Kristy Manzanares was reportedly dead from a severe head wound:
One witness told the officer he saw the woman lying on the floor covered in blood, and when he asked Kenneth Manzanares what had happened, Manzanares replied, “She would not stop laughing at me.”
The witness said Kenneth Manzanares then grabbed the victim’s body and dragged her towards the cabin’s balcony, the affidavit says. The witness then grabbed then[SIC] victim’s ankles and pulled her back inside the cabin.
In a strange twist, a murder mystery theme dinner had begun shortly before violence erupted in the Manzaneres cabin, which initially confused both crew and other passengers. Alaska Dispatch News reports that Kenneth Manzaneres was arrested by onboard security, and the cruise ship was diverted to Juneau. Passengers were kept on board as the FBI conducted an investigation. As Manzaneres was being examined by the FBI, he told agents, “My life is over.”
