Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill on Thursday announced a 25-year prison sentence for the woman charged in a Kansas City-based sports reporter’s murder in February.
Adan Manzano, a 27-year-old Telemundo sports reporter, traveled to New Orleans on assignment to cover the Super Bowl in February and was found dead in his room at the Comfort Suites hotel in Kenner with Xanax in his system.
“This is a testament to the hard work and cooperation between my prosecutors in New Orleans and State Police’s Troop NOLA,” Murrill said in a Thursday statement. “I’d like to thank my New Orleans Section Chief Daniel Smart for his hard work and dedication on this case. I’d also like to thank District Attorney Jason Williams for his cooperation in this cross-jurisdictional matter. The evidence was overwhelming that this woman was a serial fraudster and took advantage of multiple tourists and innocent people over many years in the French Quarter.”
A New Orleans judge this week sided with the Attorney General’s office in finding murder suspect Danette Colbert, 45, to be a habitual offender with five prior felony convictions involving fraud, on top of her pending charges in Jefferson Parish for second-degree murder.
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In 2024, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office found Colbert guilty of theft, computer fraud, and illegal transmission of monetary funds, and a judge sentenced her to a 10-year suspended sentence, meaning imprisonment can be delayed.
On Thursday, prosecutors argued that the sentence was illegal due to her prior felonies, but Orleans Criminal District Court Judge Nandi F. Campbell denied their motion to correct Colbert’s prior sentence.
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The AG’s office also filed a habitual offender bill, and Campbell agreed that Colbert was a repeat offender and sentenced her to 25 years without benefits.
“I wish we could have saved the life of Adan Manzano,” Murrill said. “His family and co-workers remain in my thoughts and prayers. I’m hopeful and confident justice will be served in Jefferson Parish as well, where Colbert is also facing charges of second-degree murder for Manzano’s death.”
Colbert was nicknamed the “Bourbon Street Hustler” on social media due to her lengthy past targeting men in the French Quarter and stealing their money. She is accused of similar crimes in Las Vegas. Authorities believe she and an accomplice drugged Manzano and then stole his credit cards before authorities found him dead.
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“We don’t want Ms. Colbert to see the light of day again,” Kenner Police Department Chief Keith Conley said during a March news conference.
U.S. Marshals and Hollywood police also arrested her alleged accomplice, Ricky White, in Florida. He is facing various charges, including simple robbery and multiple counts of fraud. He was later charged with murder in connection with Manzano’s death.
Colbert and Manzano “met in the French Quarter, probably in the wee hours of the morning,” Conley previously told Fox News Digital.
“They came back to the hotel that was in the city of Kenner about 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 5, at which time we do have surveillance video from the lobby of the hotel showing them going into [Manzano’s] room around that time,” Conley said. “Then [Colbert] came out, ran to the store, came back about 30 minutes later, and within 10 or 15 minutes, she left the room. And he was never seen again on any video other than when he went into the room. So, she was the last one to be with him,” the police chief said.
Detectives found that one of Manzano’s credit cards was missing while processing his hotel room, Conley told reporters during a news conference on Feb. 8. Authorities then obtained a search warrant allowing them to track the locations where the credit card was used after Manzano was found, which led them to Colbert.
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The suspect is tied to other alleged drugging and robbery cases in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and Conley believes she may be involved in another man’s death in New Orleans.
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“The men become incapacitated by some manner, at which time they lose all their money, their property. By the time they wake up or come to regain consciousness, they are out of a lot of money. Their credit cards have been used at various places, and they find themselves in an awful fix,” the police chief explained.
Police are asking anyone with information about Colbert to come forward. Some victims, Conley said, do not speak up due to the sensitive nature of the suspect’s alleged crimes.
Authorities executed a search warrant at Colbert’s address after identifying her as a potential suspect in connection with Manzano’s death and located a stolen gun that did not appear to be related to Manzano’s death and narcotics.
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