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Kocontes is a "very smart, very educated'' attorney, but "he made a very critical mistake,'' Spitzer said, adding that the defendant picked the cruise ship because every room "had a direct drop'' to the water. "The FBI and local law enforcement were contacted and came on board the ship upon its arrival to Norfolk on Sunday morning to conduct an investigation," the Carnival Cruise Lines' statement reads. The passenger who stabbed the other was permanently banned from sailing on any other Carnival cruise ships in the future. According to the company's protocol, a security team member should have sat outside the room.
Man who beat wife to death on family cruise found dead in prison cell
There was no evidence that she had fallen overboard or committed suicide and there were no sightings of her. None of her belongings had been taken.There have been multiple reported sightings of Amy since she went missing, some in Curacao and more recently in Barbados. Amy remains to this day a missing person and there is hope that she is still alive somewhere. Federal court documents obtained by PEOPLE detail the gory scene authorities encountered aboard a cruise ship after a Utah woman was allegedly killed by her husband.
Is Cruise Ship Killers Real?
When his initial explanation failed, he offered another version of the tragedy. Kocontes became the target of a federal investigation in 2008 after he attempted to transfer $1 million between various bank accounts which belonged to his former wife. But Kocontes' fourth wife, Amy Nguyen — whom he had married and divorced prior to Kanesaki's murder — testified before a federal grand jury on his behalf and the case fizzled out, according to the Orange County Register. Kenneth Manzanares, 43, pleaded guilty in February 2020 to the second-degree murder of Kristy Manzanares while onboard the Emerald Princess cruise ship in the U.S. He was convicted of first-degree murder for financial gain and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The former couple were in their cabin on the second night of the family trip, when Kristy said she wanted a divorce and asked her husband to get off the ship in Juneau and go back home, prosecutors have said.
Trial Begins for Irvine Husband Accused of Strangling Ex-Wife on Cruise
While federal agents were looking into the death, Kocontes at some point talked Nguyen into removing a hard drive from one of his computers in his Irvine office, Price said. She lied to the federal grand jury because Kocontes threatened to kill her and make it look like an accident, Price alleged. Not everyone who dies while on a cruise dies of natural causes or illnesses. A handful of people die each year at the hands of another person or go missing under suspicious circumstances. The cruise was the Carnival Magic's last trip of the year for Norfolk. The cruise ship has one last trip to the Caribbean this year, after which it will not be back until 2025.
Hulu's new whodunnit series looks like Knives Out on a cruise ship - TechRadar
Hulu's new whodunnit series looks like Knives Out on a cruise ship.
Posted: Thu, 04 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Former Attorney Lures Ex-Wife onto Cruise, Then Throws Her Body Overboard
This was not a random act of violence but a chilling neglect for human life for which he will serve 30 years in federal prison, where there is no parole ever,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Bryan Wilson of the District of Alaska. A Utah man recently sentenced to 30 years behind bars for murdering his wife on a cruise ship was found dead in his Alaskan prison cell last week, authorities said. Some passengers on the cruise initially thought the loudspeaker announcement for security and medical personnel was make-believe and was part of a musical Sherlock Holmes-themed murder mystery trivia program, one passenger told PEOPLE. Soon after, the two made plans to go on a cruise, which was unusual because he seldom went on vacation and was known for his thriftiness, Price said. Before the trip, Kocontes asked his best friend, a private investigator and retired cop, about security on cruise ships, such as surveillance cameras, she said. He said the defendant strangled the victim before throwing her overboard, so there was no way for her lungs to fill up with water and the body floated instead of sinking, allowing it to be found.
What Happened? – Murder of Karen Roston
“Except for the fact that he strangled her to death before he threw her body overboard. Because she died before she hit the water her lungs were filled with air, not water. That miscalculation allowed us to convict him of murder,” Spitzer said.
He also observed him arguing with a woman on deck roughly 45 minutes before the incident. Federal authorities arrested Scott, then 36, in Long Beach on suspicion of murder and held without bail at the Terminal Island detention center. While in custody, Kocontes allegedly attempted to hire two fellow inmates to kill Nguyen in order to prevent her from testifying during his murder trial.
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Julie recalled how they used to go to the beach and swim together. While they had a fun-filled childhood, she recounted how they were in a household run on a shoestring budget. Hence, it was not surprising when Karen was attracted to the wealthy Dr. Scott Robin Roston.
Her Cause of Death Is Pending, but Authorities Say Kristy Suffered Head Wound
Princess Cruises will issue $150 onboard credit to each passenger because of the inconvenience. Another passenger, Jen Larson, told ABC News that she saw the Kristy’s young daughter distraught and screaming after the incident. They split up their assets due to the threatened litigation, but it never materialized, Gragg said. Kocontes continued to support Kanesaki from 2002 to 2005 even though he had "no legal obligation to do so,'' she said, telling jurors they would hear conflicting evidence about the cause of death. Kocontes' former best friend, Bill Price, told investigators that "nothing mattered more to (Kocontes) than money and sex,'' the prosecutor said.
The Carnival Magic ship was on an eight-day cruise to Canada and New England. In this post, we look at the truth behind the episodes and the real-life cases that match the circumstance of the murders mentioned on the show. Her husband got off the cruise in Nassau on March 1, and her remains were also removed, he said. Karen Waltz Roston grew up in Florida with her single mother, Roberta Waltz, and her sister, Julie Waltz Gerlach. Their father, Richard Waltz, had left the family when Karen was an infant, and Roberta worked incredibly hard to raise her two daughters alone.
Kristy was traveling with extended family members and her three daughters, ranging in age from 13 to 22, family spokeswoman Miranda Barnard told PEOPLE. The defendant was put up in a hotel in Naples, but he stayed just a day and returned home before his ex-wife's body was found, Price said. Instead of going to his home in Ladera Ranch, he went to Nguyen's house, where they resumed their intimate relationship, she said. Kocontes picked an unusual cruise vacation for Americans because it required a flight to Minnesota and then London before boarding the ship in Spain, Price said. The travel agent was concerned his client might not like it because it was a no-frills trip aboard a converted ferry, she said. A passenger on the ship, Ruby Plata, was with her husband aboard the ship when she heard an announcement over the intercom.
By the afternoon of May 27, 2008, Lonnie had already flown home when a scientific research boat discovered Micki’s body floating in the Mediterranean Sea. The crew on the boat were notified and searched the vessel but there was no sign of Micki anywhere. The Italian Coast Guard began to search the open water for any sign of the missing 52-year-old.
