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A husband has admitted murdering his wife on a cruise ship after she “wouldn’t stop laughing at him” and asked for a divorce.
Kenneth Manzanares, then 39, savagely beat mom-of-three Kristy Manzanares, 39, to death after flying into a rage on a family vacation to Alaska in 2017.
When asked what happened at the time, the Utah dad said “she would not stop laughing at me”, according to the FBI complaint.
And he has now dramatically changed his plea to admit second-degree murder.
Manzanares revealed he ended up in a furious argument with Kristy on the night of the killing, that ended with her telling him she wanted a divorce.
He told their adult daughter and an unidentified minor to leave the cabin, but they tried to get back in when they heard the mom’s screams.
From a balcony, they saw Manzanares on top of his wife hitting her, and the adult daughter went for help, according to the plea document.
When Kristy Manzanares’ brothers and father arrived, they saw Kenneth Manzanares pull his wife toward the balcony, the document states.
One of the brothers brought her back into the room.
Ship security and medics desperately battled to save her but she was pronounced dead.
Manzanares admitted hitting his wife “once with a closed fist, seeing blood and striking Kristy Manzanares another time, and stated he had no memory after that point,” according to the document.
An autopsy determined Kristy Manzanares was killed by blunt force trauma to her head and face.
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