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, went 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.
“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.
