Kenneth Manzanares, the Utah manwho was recently sentencedto 30 years in federal prison for the brutalmurder of his wifeduring a 2017 cruise to Alaska, was found dead last week in his prison cell, PEOPLE confirms.
At this point, authorities are not saying how the 43-year-old died.
Moments later, he was pronounced dead.
Foul play is not suspected in his death. The statement also says Manzanares did not have COVID-19.
Manzanares had been in custodysince July 26, 2017 — when he was charged with killing his 39-year-old wife, Kristy Manzanares.
Back in February, Kenneth Manzanarespleaded guiltyto second-degree murder, a killing that occurred when the couple was on the Emerald Princess cruise ship, celebrating their wedding anniversary with their three daughters and extended family on a cruise from Seattle to Alaska.
Kristy and Kenneth Manzanares.Facebook
Under the terms of the plea deal he accepted, Kenneth had to detail what happened on the evening of Kristy’s death, when he attacked the woman who’d once been his high school sweetheart.
That evening, the couple got into an argument, Kenneth said in the plea, after Kristy told him she wanted a divorce and asked him to leave the cruise ship and travel back home to Utah.
As the argument intensified, Kenneth asked two of his daughters who were in the room to leave. Kenneth then hit Kristy with a closed fist twice.
“Both [daughters] heard Kristy scream and attempted to reenter the cabin using the adjoining door when Kenneth told them ‘don’t come in here,'” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement in February. “They both went to the connected balcony and saw Kenneth straddling Kristy on the bed striking her in the head with closed fists.”
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Kristy’s cousin Kasey Hunttold PEOPLEin 2017 that she “had a glow to her, and filled a room with life,” adding, “She was so damn nice to everyone, she was amazing.”
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
