The woman accused of luring a sports reporter to his death at a H๏τel near New Orleans faces a murder charge and may have worked with an accomplice to hatch her ᴅᴇᴀᴅly scheme, police announced Tuesday.
Serial fraudster Danette Colbert allegedly lured 27-year-old Adan Manzano – a Telemundo correspondent covering the Super Bowl – into a Kenner, Louisiana, H๏τel room where he was later found ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.
Now, Kenner police have booked Colbert on a second-degree murder charge, and they have arrested Ricky White, a “transient” accused of working “hand-in-hand” with Colbert to steal the reporter’s idenтιтy and rack up charges around New Orleans.
Cops picked up Colbert after security camera footage showed her entering a Comfort Inn Suites with Manzano, then leaving by herself, re-entering, and leaving again on the day he was found ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.
On Friday, cops nabbed her alleged accomplice in Hollywood, Florida. He is awaiting extradition from Fort Lauderdale.
Authorities have not determined the exact cause of Manzano’s death, but a toxicology report found high levels of Benzodiazepine – or Xanax – in Manzano’s system, authorities said.
Xanax mixed with alcohol makes a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly “blackout cocktail,” according to the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Manzano was also found face-down on a pillow, suggesting he may have asphyxiated, Jefferson Parish Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich told reporters.
Manzano was found without his cell phone or credit card, and police say Colbert and White racked up charges on Manzano’s credit card at stores around New Orleans.
“We found correspondence and information where [Colbert and White] were going back and forth. We think they were working hand-in-hand, in concert,” Kenner police chief Keith Conley told reporters.
Colbert already had a long history of fraud and theft, including two schemes that involved drugging and men, earning her the nickname “Bourbon Street Hustler.”
“She’s a career criminal … Ms. Colbert has quite a record and rap sheet for confidence games, access device fraud, and robbery schemes,” Conley told reporters after her arrest last month.
