‘Real’ twist in ‘murder mystery’ dinner theater

The Utah mom killed aboard a cruise ship was slain as a murdermystery dinner was taking place aboard the massive vessel, according to a report Friday.

Kristy Manzanares, 39, was found lying in a pool of blood with a bashed-in skull near a cabin balcony — as the whodunit performance played out nearby, an eyewitness told CBS News.

“Some of the people that were in the murder mystery thought they were just playing a hoax on them with all the emergency calls,” said Tom Stites, a passenger aboard the 3,500-passenger Emerald Princess.

Passengers were baffled as announcements requesting urgent medical help blasted over speakers in the middle of the performance. “Because they were doing a murder-mystery theater about a death on a cruise ship, most people thought it was just part of the dramatic effect of what they were doing,” passenger Vic Simpson told “Inside Edition.”

A witness told federal authorities he saw Manzanares’ husband dragging her body by the ankles back to cabin D726, according to court papers filed Thursday.

Kenneth Manzanares, 39, said he killed his wife because “she would not stop laughing at me,” according to the court papers. He faces murder charges. The couple (pictured together at left) were on the ship celebrating their 18th anniversary with their three teen daughters. More than 3,500 passengers were stranded for eight hours at the port of Juneau, Alaska, as the FBI investigated.

Manzanares has no criminal history, according to online Utah court records, CBS News reported. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 10 in Juneau.