Danette Colbert, known as the ‘Bourbon Street Hustler’, has received a 25-year prison sentence in an unrelated case, even as she faces charges of second-degree murder for the death of a Super Bowl journalist.
Colbert, aged 48, was detained on February 7 following her visit to a New Orleans hotel room with Telemundo reporter Adam Manzano, 27, where he was later discovered deceased.
She had previously been given a suspended sentence by an Orleans Parish judge last year after being convicted of theft and fraud charges.
The Louisiana Attorney General, Liz Murrill, successfully convinced the court that Colbert’s history of multiple felony fraud convictions justified a more severe penalty as a habitual offender.
‘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,’ Murrill said in an emailed statement.
Colbert´s attorney Jerome Matthews did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stavros Panagoulopoulos, the lawyer representing Colbert in the second-degree murder case, declined to comment.
Colbert had been on probation when police arrested her for allegedly stealing the cellphone and bank cards of Manzano, a reporter and television anchor based in Kansas City, Missouri.
The ‘Bourbon Street Hustler’ Danette Colbert has been sentenced to 25 years in prison on an unrelated case while she faces second-degree murder charges for killing a Super Bowl reporter
Colbert had been on probation when police arrested her for allegedly stealing the cellphone and bank cards of Adan Manzano (pictured), a 27-year-old reporter and television anchor based in Kansas City, Missouri
He suffocated while lying face down on a pillow. Alcohol and the depressant Xanax were later found in his system.
She and another person still face second-degree murder charges in Jefferson Parish, bordering New Orleans.
Exclusive CCTV images obtained by DailyMail.com showed Colbert and Manzano arrive back at the Comfort Inn hotel in Kenner, Louisiana together before she left on her own.
Last month, a preliminary toxicology exam found Manzano’s system contained the depressant benzodiazepine, which includes the drug Alprazolam – commonly sold under the brand name Xanax.
Manzano was in New Orleans from Kansas City, Missouri to cover the Super Bowl between the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
Surveillance footage – exclusively obtained by Daily Mail – showed Manzano and Colbert entering the Comfort Inn in Kenner on February 5 at 3.46am.
He appeared coherent, following Colbert through the lobby, to his room. It remains unclear where the pair met.
Manzano was found unresponsive on February 5 at 3pm after colleagues called for a welfare check.
Telemundo reporter Adan Manzano is seen trailing behind the ‘Bourbon Street Hustler’, Danette Colbert, in what is the last photo of him alive, taken on February 5
The footage – exclusively obtained by Daily Mail – shows Manzano and Colbert entering the Comfort Suites in Kenner, Louisiana , on February 5 at 3.46am
The reporter – a recent widower whose wife died in April 2024 – had failed to show up for their afternoon meeting.
Colbert, on the other hand, left the room twice. She first emerged at 4.45am, leaving the room alone and returning 20 minutes later.
She then made two trips to reception, where it appeared she requested an extra key for the room.
She was then seen leaving the room at 5.21am for a final time.
Colbert was arrested days later after being caught using Manzano’s credit cards in stores across New Orleans.
Investigators later identified White as her alleged accomplice, before he was apprehended at the LA Quinta Inn & Suites in Hollywood, Florida by police.
White, who is now being held in a Fort Lauderdale jail, was arrested on multiple charges under Louisiana law; including simple robbery and bank fraud.
Manzano did not have a prescription for Xanax or other depressants based on his medical records and the drug is often used to facilitate theft by inducing amnesia, detectives have said.
Rickey White (pictured) has been named by police as Colbert’s alleged accomplice
Manzano’s wife, Ashleigh, died in 2024 in a car accident. They are pictured with their daughter
Police say they also recovered Xanax from Colbert’s residence.
Overdoses of the drug can lead to ‘extreme drowsiness’ and ‘possible death,’ according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Authorities have said Colbert later used Manzano’s credit card to make a purchase at a New Orleans gas station and several stores in the area.
Last year, a Louisiana jury found Colbert guilty of theft and fraud charges in an unrelated case.
In 2022, Colbert was twice arrested in Las Vegas on felony charges of grand larceny and administering a drug to aid in a felony crime, court records show.
In both cases she was accused of drugging men in their hotel rooms and stealing from them, but the charges were dismissed because the victims did not want to testify in court, Colbert’s attorney for those cases, Daniel Lippmann, said.
Manzano graduated from Kansas State University and joined the Chiefs’ beat at the beginning of the 2024 season as a sideline reporter.
He was covering his third straight Super Bowl, having also been in Arizona and Las Vegas before this month’s visit to New Orleans.
Manzano posted photos from the Super Bowl’s opening night at the Superdome, where he was on duty interviewing the players.
He was also a regular soccer reporter, covering Sporting Kansas City, and of Big 12 basketball and the Kansas Jayhawks.
His wife, Ashleigh Boyd, tragically died in a car accident last year. The couple’s young daughter is now without both of her parents.
