A ‘career criminal’ who hustles men and often drugs them before stealing from them is how police describe the Louisiana woman charged in connection with the death of a Kansas City sports journalist who was covering Super Bowl 59.
Adan Manzano, 27, an anchor and sports reporter for Telemundo Kansas City, was found dead Wednesday morning in his room at a Comfort Suites hotel near New Orleans. He was there on assignment for the Spanish language network and Tico Sports.
Police arrested Danette Colbert, 48, of Slidell, Louisiana, on Thursday night in New Orleans after investigators saw video of her leaving Manzano’s hotel room early Wednesday morning, Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley said during a press conference Friday.
Here’s what we know so far about the suspect in the case.
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How police connected the suspect to the case
Investigators found Manzano’s cellphone and credit card in a search of Colbert’s home, Conley said. The credit card had been fraudulently used ‘at several stores in the New Orleans area,’ Conley said in a press release.
Colbert, who is being held at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna, Louisiana, has been charged with property crimes including fraud and theft-related offenses, but the ‘investigation is still ongoing,’ Conley said.
Police are awaiting a coroner’s report, which could take three to four weeks, Kenner Police Department deputy chief Mark McCormick told USA TODAY on Saturday via email.
A toxicology report will be important because Colbert has been arrested in the past for allegedly drugging men and stealing from them. Colbert’s criminal history includes ‘two instances where she drugged a victim and stole his access device and cards,’ Conley said.
Access device crimes can include illegal use of credit and debit cards, and unauthorized use of hotel room keys.
‘She plays a confidence game. She’s definitely a career criminal,’ Conley said. ‘All of her crimes are against persons, such as access device frauds (such as illegal use of credit and debit cards), simple robberies, thefts, things of that nature.’
Suspect had been previously charged in Las Vegas
Conley was arrested in July 2022 and charged with grand larceny of more than $25,000 and administering a drug to aid in the commission of a felony, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported at the time. Police said a man alleged that two women he met in a bar at the Encore hotel drugged him after he invited them to his room.
In the July 9, 2022 incident, the man told police the women forced a drink down his throat and he felt dizzy, police said. He forced the women to leave, but when he woke up the next day was missing a watch valued at $60,000, a credit card and $1,500 in casino chips. He told police his credit card showed several purchases he did not make. Colbert, who was seen on surveillance video, told police she had gone to the man’s room to dance for him in exchange for chips.
Colbert was also arrested and charged earlier that year in a similar incident on Jan. 17 theft at the Wynn Las Vegas, the Review-Journal reported. A man woke up in his hotel room with a bloody nose and found that $50,000 cash was missing; also gone, police said, a Rolex watch worth $30,000, his cellphone, $11,000 in casino chips and luggage.
Both cases were later dismissed because the victims did not want to testify in court, Daniel Lippmann, the attorney who represented Colbert, told The Associated Press. He had no comment on the new allegations.
Charges in both cases were dropped in October 2022 but it was unclear why, the Times-Picayune reported Friday.
Police: Suspect has ‘quite a record and rap sheet’
Long before being charged in Las Vegas, Colbert had become a familiar name to New Orleans police in that she ‘has quite a record and rap sheet for confidence games, access device fraud and robbery schemes,’ Conley said Friday.
‘She was stopped quite frequently in the French Quarter and she’s known for these fraud schemes,’ he said.
Colbert pleaded guilty to access device fraud in December 2019 after she and two other women were arrested in May 2018 involving a stolen credit card which a victim told police he lost while visiting a Bourbon Street strip club, The Times Picayune reported. The suspects bought gift cards and got cash back on purchases totaling about $3,000 and spent about $3,000 at a Sam’s Club, authorities told The Times-Picayune.
Court records show a district judge sentenced Colbert to five years in prison, the maximum possible, but suspended the sentence and ordered she serve five years of active probation, the outlet reported.
Prior to that, Colbert was arrested in December 2016 and accused of stealing credit cards from a man she met on Bourbon Street, The Times-Picayune reported at the time. She had used a man’s credit card to buy about $1,500 of gift cards, the New Orleans news outlet reported.
In May 2016, Colbert had pled guilty to theft of between $500 and $1,499 and theft of goods less than $750. She also got a 5-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to charges of bank fraud and second-degree battery, The Times-Picayune reported.
That case stemmed from an incident in November 2014 in which police said Colbert had been arrested for theft after leaving a New Orleans hotel with the watch, credit cards and cash from a man she met on Bourbon Street. Police said Colbert and three women attacked a store manager who notified police after seeing Colbert on a wanted poster police had dispensed over the incident, The Times-Picayune reported.
Colbert pleaded guilty in May 2015 to two counts of theft in that incident, The Times Picayune reported. Colbert was sentenced to five years of active probation and three years of inactive probation, according to The Times Picayune.
Prior to that arrest, Colbert had been arrested in October 2012 for simple robbery and pleaded guilty a year later to possession of stolen things. Her probation had been terminated in April 2014, the outlet reported.
Major events such as the Super Bowl attract ‘traveling criminals’ in search of targets, Conley said.
‘This brings to light that there are people out there that prey on other people and bring them into their confidence and victimize them,’ he said. ‘It’s something that people really need to be aware of.’
Who was Adan Manzano?
Manzano worked as both an anchor and reporter and died while on assignment to cover the Super Bowl for both the Spanish language network Telemundo Kansas City and Tico Sports, KGKC said Thursday.The outlet described Manzano as a ‘true professional and rising star who exemplified excellence in his work.’
Tico Sports released a statement to USA TODAY saying, ‘Adan was a devoted father to his young daughter, a helpful colleague, and loyal friend.’
His wife Ashleigh LeeAnn Boyd Manzano, who was a second-grade teacher, died in a car crash in Topeka, Kansas on April 11, 2024.
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