Court papers and witnesses are shedding light on the case in which a domestic dispute turned into homicide aboard a Princess Cruises ship in Alaska.
Kenneth Manzanares is charged with murder for the killing of his wife, federal court documents reveal.
At around 9:00 p.m. on July 25, security and medical personnel aboard Emerald Princess responded to an accident in a cabin occupied by registered passengers Kenneth and Kristy Manzanares.
The cruise ship was en route and on the water about 7 miles away from Forrester Island. Kristy, mother of three children, who worked as a realtor in St George, Utah, was found with a head wound in a stateroom in which "blood was spread throughout... on multiple surfaces."
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene about 20 minutes later.
A security officer and witnesses noticed blood on Kenneth's clothing and hands. He was placed in handcuffs and taken into adjoining cabin in order to be secured.
According to one of the witnesses, after asking Kenneth what happened to his wife, he replied, "She would not stop laughing at me."
Then Kenneth grabbed the lifeless body of his wife and dragged it towards a balcony, pulling her back into cabin shortly afterwards.
Brian Eckstrom, a different witness, said he was with his family when the captain came on the intercom saying that security needed to go to a certain floor.
"I get to floor 9," he said, "I see this little girl sitting on - I assume - her grandma or somebody, sitting on her lap wrapped up in a blanket. And she's just sobbing.
"A man came walking out from the hallway where it happened, and he had, like, a white tank top on, and some jeans. His jeans were completely covered in blood and he came out saying, 'It's not good, it's not good."
That same night, at around 10:13 p.m., a special agent with the FBI received a phone call from Peter Brust of Holland America Group.
According to Brust there appeared to have been a homicide onboard Emerald Princess.
When being processed during the search by the FBI, Kenneth Manzanares "spontaneously stated, 'my life is over.'"