A woman known as the “Bourbon Street Hustler” has been charged with murder in the death of Telemundo sports reporter Adan Manzano, who was found dead in his Louisiana hotel room on Feb. 5.
Manzano, a reporter based in Kansas City, was in the New Orleans area covering Super Bowl LIX when he was found unresponsive in his room at the Comfort Inn & Suites in the suburb of Kenner. The 27-year-old showed no obvious signs of trauma, however detectives discovered his cellphone and the credit card he’d used to check into the hotel were missing.
Adan Manzano, pictured, was working with local Telemundo affiliate KGKC and covering the Super Bowl for the third straight year when he was killed, police said. (Telemundo)
Danette Colbert, 48, was arrested in New Orleans the following day on fraud and theft-related charges after she allegedly used his credit card in multiple stores around the city. A subsequent search of her home also turned up the five cellphones — including the one belonging to Manzano — as well as a stash of narcotics and other drugs, according to police.
At the time of her arrest, authorities said Colbert had been charged in the past for drugging and robbing at least two men she met in the French Quarter, which reportedly earned the “career criminal” her “Bourbon Street Hustler” nickname.
Authorities also released surveillance video of Manzano and Colbert entering his hotel room in the early morning of Feb. 5, hours before he was found dead. Detectives at the time said they were still waiting on toxicology results to determine if Manzano had also been drugged.
The charges against Colbert were upgraded on Tuesday to include second-degree murder after the toxicology report found Xanax in Manzano’s system. He did not have a prescription for the medication, which was among the drugs found in Colbert’s home, according to police.
Manzano’s blood alcohol content was also found to be .232, nearly three times the legal limit. During a press conference on Tuesday, Kenner police said he died from the combined effects of the alcohol and drug, as well as “positional asphyxia.” Manzano was found face-down in a pillow on the bed.
Detectives “believe Colbert intentionally drugged Manzano to render him unconscious before robbing him, following a pattern seen in her prior offenses,” police said.
An alleged accomplice, 34-year-old Rickey White, has also been arrested in Florida and charged with the same financial crimes Colbert is facing. He’s awaiting extradition to Louisiana.
Colbert is being held without bond at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center.
She’s also being investigated in connection with the death of John Jenkins, a 55-year-old Maryland man who was found dead from cocaine and ethanol toxicity in a French Quarter hotel on Dec. 15, according to NOLA.com.