News

Man charged with murdering wife on Alaska cruise

A man has been charged with murdering his wife on board a cruise ship in Alaska.

Federal authorities charged victim Kristy Manzanares’ husband Kenneth, both 39, with her murder.

A criminal complaint says that medical workers and security personnel were called to the couple’s cabin on Tuesday evening, where they found the mother of three suffering from a severe head wound. She was pronounced dead about 20 minutes later.

A witness who got to the cabin before the crew said said that Kenneth tried to “grab [Kristy’s] body and drag her toward the balcony,” according to local reports.

But the witness intervened – grabbing “the ankles of [Kristy’s] body” to pull her back into the cabin.

Passengers on board the Princess Cruises’ ship it was hosting a ‘murder mystery’ theme dinner on the night of the incident – and that they thought the incident was fake at first, Mail Online reported.

The cruise line said in a statement that Manzanares died Tuesday night on the Emerald Princess, which was carrying 3,400 passengers and 1,100 crew on a seven-night Alaska cruise that left from Seattle on Sunday.

She was believed to have been travelling with a large group, including her children, and was celebrating an anniversary.

Emerald Princess was diverted to Juneau in Alaska so that FBI investigators could board.

The ship arrived in Juneau early Wednesday, and passengers were kept on board for more than eight hours before they were allowed to disembark around 8:30pm.

The FBI said it is required to step in when such deaths occur in international or US waters.

Share article

View Comments

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.