Man Who Killed Wife Aboard Cruise Ship After She Demanded Divorce Gets 30 Years In Prison

A man from Utah was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison Thursday for beating his wife to death aboard a cruise ship in Alaska.

Kenneth Manzanares, 43, pleaded guilty in February last year to second-degree murder for killing his wife, Kristy Manzanares, in July 2017 during a family vacation aboard the Emerald Princess. He will serve 30 years with no chance at parole and an additional five years of supervised release.

Acting U.S. Attorney Bryan Wilson for the District of Alaska said in a statement that 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,” he continued.

Kenneth and his wife boarded the ship for the Alaskan cruise with their three daughters and Kristy's extended family members a day before the killing. According to court documents, the couple had an argument inside their cabin over Kenneth’s behavior on the night of July 25, 2017.

During the course of the argument, Kristy told her husband she wanted to get a divorce and that she wanted him to get off the ship while it was in Juneau and head back to Utah, according to the admissions made in connection with the plea. Kenneth told their two daughters who had been in the cabin with them to leave the room and join their relatives in an adjoining cabin.

The two kids then heard their mother screaming and tried to re-enter the cabin, federal prosecutors said. Kenneth ordered them not to come in so the two rushed to a balcony to see what was going on. The children saw their father striking their mother in the head with closed fists.

Manzanares allegedly said "she would not stop laughing at me," according to a criminal complaint.

Upon arriving at the scene, one of Kristy's brothers saw Manzanares dragging her body toward the balcony and managed to grab her ankles and bring her back into the cabin.

Medical personnel attended to Kristy when they arrived and attempted to perform life-saving measures but were not successful. Kristy's cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and face.

Kenneth was arrested the next day and has since remained in federal custody.

"No excuse can justify the savagery committed by this man, who will now spend the next three decades behind bars," Robert Britt, special agent in charge of the FBI Anchorage field office, said in the press release.

He continued, “While justice has now been served, the lasting impact and trauma this man inflicted on Kristy’s family can never be erased. Our thoughts are with Kristy’s family and her home community.”