A Louisiana woman nicknamed the “Bourbon Street Hustler” will spend the rest of her life behind bars after being convicted in connection with the death of a young television reporter who was covering the 2025 Super Bowl.
Danette Colbert, 49, was sentenced Wednesday, October 14, to life in prison plus an additional 75 years after a judge determined that her lengthy criminal history qualified her for enhanced punishment under Louisiana’s habitual offender law.
The sentence brings a major development in the case of Adan Manzano, a 27-year-old sports reporter for Telemundo Kansas City who was found dead inside a hotel room near New Orleans just days before Super Bowl LIX.
But the tragedy was especially heartbreaking because Manzano had already suffered an unimaginable family loss.
His wife, Ashleigh Boyd, died in a car accident in 2024, leaving the young couple’s daughter without her mother. Less than a year later, the little girl lost her father as well.
Manzano had traveled to Louisiana to cover the championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles when he encountered Colbert in New Orleans’ famous French Quarter.
According to prosecutors, Colbert was part of an organized criminal operation that targeted men visiting the city’s entertainment districts.
Members of the group would allegedly approach potential victims, accompany them to hotel rooms and secretly provide sedatives intended to leave them incapacitated.
While the men were unconscious, the group stole cash, credit cards, cellphones and other valuables.
Prosecutors said the operation had continued for years and that Manzano was its last known victim.
Surveillance footage obtained by the Daily Mail showed Manzano and Colbert entering the Comfort Suites hotel in Kenner, Louisiana, at approximately 3:46 a.m. on February 5, 2025.
The reporter was seen following Colbert through the hotel before the pair disappeared into his room.
Less than two hours later, at approximately 5:21 a.m., surveillance cameras recorded Colbert leaving.
Manzano was never seen alive again.
His colleagues became concerned when he failed to attend a scheduled afternoon meeting and could not be reached.
A welfare check was requested, and authorities discovered the reporter unresponsive inside his room.
Investigators later determined that Manzano had died after being given alprazolam, a prescription sedative commonly known by the brand name Xanax, while alcohol was also present in his system.
The Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office determined that the combination contributed to positional asphyxia, a condition in which a person’s body position interferes with normal breathing.
Prosecutors established that Colbert had provided the sedative and stolen property belonging to Manzano.
Evidence presented during the trial showed that she left the hotel with his cellphone and credit card.
She subsequently visited a convenience store, where she used his card to purchase a charger for the stolen phone.
Investigators also recovered videos Colbert had recorded inside the hotel room while Manzano was incapacitated.
In some recordings, prosecutors said, she examined information stored on his cellphone relating to his Super Bowl coverage, including details about where the competing teams were staying and practicing.
Assistant District Attorney Jenny Voss described the recordings during the trial as evidence of Colbert’s conduct while Manzano was dying or already dead.
The discovery helped investigators reconstruct the final hours of the reporter’s life.
As detectives examined Colbert’s background, they uncovered a lengthy history of criminal activity involving theft, fraud and robberies.
Court records revealed previous convictions for offenses including burglary, stolen property, access device fraud and illegal financial transactions.
Prosecutors alleged that Colbert and her associates had used similar tactics against numerous visitors to New Orleans.
Some victims reportedly lost thousands of dollars after being drugged and robbed during encounters arranged in the city’s tourist areas.
Authorities eventually charged Colbert and her alleged accomplice, Rickey White, in connection with the criminal operation.
During their trial, prosecutors presented evidence of the years-long scheme and the circumstances surrounding Manzano’s death.
On September 17, a Jefferson Parish jury convicted both defendants of racketeering.
Colbert was also found guilty of negligent homicide, a lesser offense than the manslaughter charge prosecutors had originally pursued.
White was acquitted of manslaughter but convicted of racketeering.
The verdict established Colbert’s criminal responsibility for Manzano’s death, although the jury did not convict her of intentionally murdering him.
On September 28, Judge Nancy Miller initially sentenced Colbert to 50 years for racketeering and 10 years for negligent homicide.
Those sentences were ordered to run consecutively, bringing the total to 60 years.
Colbert was also already serving a separate 25-year sentence for unrelated crimes committed in New Orleans.
But prosecutors were not finished.
They asked the court to consider Colbert’s extensive criminal history under Louisiana’s habitual offender law, which allows significantly enhanced penalties for defendants with qualifying previous felony convictions.
During Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutors presented evidence of multiple earlier convictions dating back more than a decade.
A fingerprint examiner helped establish that the defendant was the same person convicted in the previous cases.
Judge Miller concluded that Colbert qualified as at least a fourth-time felony offender.
“The court is going to find that Ms. Colbert is at least a fourth felony offender,” the judge announced.
Miller then vacated Colbert’s original 10-year negligent homicide sentence and replaced it with life imprisonment.
The life sentence was ordered to run consecutively to the 50-year racketeering sentence and the separate 25-year prison term she was already serving.
The result effectively ensures that Colbert will never be released from prison.
For Manzano’s family, the sentencing marks another chapter in an ordeal that began when the young journalist failed to return from what should have been one of the most exciting assignments of his career.
Manzano was remembered by colleagues as a hardworking and enthusiastic broadcaster with a passion for sports journalism.
He had covered Kansas City-area sports and traveled to New Orleans to report on one of America’s biggest sporting events.
His death devastated fellow journalists and left his young daughter facing the loss of both parents within a short period.
The case has also exposed the dangers of a criminal operation that authorities say preyed on visitors to one of the country’s busiest entertainment destinations.
Prosecutors maintained that Colbert’s history demonstrated a pattern of exploiting victims for financial gain.
And while the jury ultimately convicted her of negligent homicide rather than manslaughter, the judge’s latest ruling means her criminal past has resulted in the most severe punishment of her life.
More than a year after Adan Manzano was found dead inside a Louisiana hotel room, the woman convicted in connection with his death has been sentenced to spend the rest of her life in prison.
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