Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Cruise Ship Murder Dies in Alaskan Prison

A Utah man sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his wife on a cruise ship was found dead in an Alaskan jail this week, state Corrections said.

Kenneth Manzanares, 43, was found unconscious in his cell at Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau around 7 a.m. Wednesday and could not be resuscitated, the Alaska Department of Corrections said.

He was sentenced on June 3 to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to the murder of his wife, Kristy Manzanares, during a 2017 family vacation aboard the Emerald Princess.

Corrections said foul play was not suspected in Kenneth Manzanares’ death.

Department spokeswoman Betsy Holley said the inmates’ medical conditions were confidential. Manzanares was held in the public facility until he was transferred to a federal prison, she said.

All prisoner deaths are reviewed by Alaska state soldiers and the state medical examiner’s office, the department said.

The medical examiner’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. A spokesperson for state soldiers said a preliminary investigation did not reveal any suspicious circumstances, but the medical examiner would determine the cause of death.

Manzanares killed his wife while the family were on vacation on the Emerald Princess after Kristy Manzanares told him in their cabin that she wanted a divorce and that she wanted him to get off the ship in Juneau.

Kenneth Manzanares told the others to leave the cabin, then punched his wife repeatedly with his fists, killing her, he admitted in a plea deal. He pleaded guilty last year to second degree murder.

Defense lawyers argued that Manzanares suffered from an undiagnosed brain injury and mood disorder and that a combination of prescription drugs and alcohol led to the violence. They said he didn’t remember most of the attack.

But prosecutors said the attack was deliberate and stressed that he told others to leave the cabin and locked the door before the assault.

Requests for comment from lawyers who represented Manzanares in the criminal case were not immediately returned on Friday.