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More disturbing details have emerged from the investigation into the shocking death of 27-year-old reporter Adan Manzano. Manzano was in New Orleans for the Super Bowl, working for KGKC Telemundo Kansas City, when he mysteriously passed away in a hotel room in Kenner, Louisiana.
Last week, a 48-year-old woman named Danette Colbert was arrested after allegedly using the Adan Manzano’s credit card at several stores in the New Orleans area. His cellphone and credit card were found in her home following her arrest by the Kenner Police Department.
On Monday, the Kenner Police Department confirmed reports that Colbert has a history of drugging men and stealing from them. Security video seen by Kenner police investigators revealed that Colbert was seen arriving with Manzano at his hotel room at some point between 4 and 5 a.m. last Wednesday. Manzano was discovered dead in his room at about 4 p.m. later that day.
Danette Colbert, according to authorities, has a previous conviction in Jefferson and Orleans Parish for targeting tourists, using their credit cards and possessing stolen goods. She was also arrested and pleaded guilty in May 2015 to two counts of theft after she was accused of stealing a Rolex watch, cash and credit cards from another man she met on Bourbon Street. She also pleaded guilty to access device fraud in December 2019. Colbert was sentenced to three years in prison for her first offense, but only received probation for the latter crimes.
Court records in Nevada also show two cases in which Danette Colbert was charged in 2022 with grand larceny and administering a drug to aid in the commission of a felony. Both cases were dropped when the alleged victims refused to testify, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
One of Colbert’s alleged past victims, David Butler, 52, says he met her at a French Quarter bar in New Orleans in November 2021.
“Had the court acted decisively by incarcerating Ms. Colbert or enforcing stricter conditions for her release, it is possible Mr. Manzano would still be alive today,” Butler told NBC News.
Butler says he was at a French Quarter bar when Colbert and another woman approached him and asked whether he wanted a drink. He accepted and quickly began to feel disoriented. Hours later he woke up on a mattress on the floor of a home he was renovating with no idea how he got there.
His phone and wallet were gone, his credit cards had been used to charge thousands of dollars at stores like Best Buy and Walmart, and more than $80,000 that he had saved for retirement in a cryptocurrency account also vanished.
After being convicted for the crimes, Danette Colbert was ordered to pay Butler $50,000 in restitution. He has received none of that money and said in his victim impact statement that the ordeal “devastated” his life.
“The minimal fines and lack of meaningful incarceration for crimes that could have led to serious injury or loss of life are, quite frankly, an insult to public safety and the justice system,” Butler wrote in a message he gave to Orleans Criminal District Judge Nandi Campbell. “If someone dies due to her actions in the future, their blood will undeniably be on the hands of those who allowed her to escape real accountability today.”
The Kenner Police Department is awaiting the results of the coroner’s full autopsy on Adan Manzano as well as a toxicology test to determine if further charges will be pressed against Colbert. She currently stands charged with bank fraud, computer fraud, illegal transmission of monetary funds, access device fraud and purse snatching.