New Orleans-area suspect in KC reporter’s Super Bowl death rejects plea deal
A suspect in the February death of Kansas City sports reporter Adan Manzano during Super Bowl week rejected a plea Monday, while two other suspects have upcoming plea hearings.
Danette Colbert, 49, rejected a plea in a Jefferson Parish, Louisiana courtroom, according to court records. Colbert was arrested the day after Manzano’s death after security footage allegedly showed her with Manzano at his hotel between 4:30 and 5 a.m.
Colbert, Christian Anderson and Rickey White face manslaughter and racketeering charges in connection with Manzano’s death.
Anderson and White have a plea status hearing on Jan. 26. All three have a motion hearing on Jan. 29 and remain in custody in Jefferson Parish prison.
Manzano, 27, was on assignment in New Orleans, covering Super Bowl LIX for Telemundo and Tico Sports, a multimedia production company that broadcasts Kansas City Chiefs games in Spanish.
Manzano was discovered unresponsive in his Comfort Suites hotel room in Kenner, Louisiana, on Feb. 5. Officials said Manzano was found face down on a pillow and ruled his cause of death was the combined toxic effects of Xanax and alcohol, as well as “positional asphyxia.”
On the morning of his death, Colbert could be seen leaving Manzano’s hotel alone, according to the district attorney.
The district attorney’s office said the suspects and other unknown parties have run a scheme to drug and rob men dating to 2012. Authorities cited nearly 20 incidents since 2012 where the suspects allegedly stole from victims in the French Quarter, at strip clubs, hotels and grocery stores.
Colbert allegedly lured victims to hotels and other private residences acting as a prostitute or “party girl,” promising sexual relations, according to the district attorney. White was her pimp, records say, finding men and providing Colbert with security while assisting in theft from victims.
Anderson allegedly acted as a prostitute and administrator who provided support and obtained drugs that Colbert used on her victims, according to the district attorney’s office.
In March, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office took over all pending charges against Colbert from district courts in multiple parishes across Louisiana. Murrill’s office also invoked the habitual offenders statute, where criminal defendants can be tagged as habitual offenders after a fourth felony charge, according to Louisiana law, and face longer prison sentences.
Colbert was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Orleans Parish in May, after a judge revoked her probation in a similar but unrelated case.
