A serial fraudster allegedly caught using a dead Super Bowl reporter’s credit cards faces decades in jail as prosecutors move to resentence her for an earlier crime.
But the man she drugged and robbed on a night out in New Orleans had a blunt message for authorities he warned she would eventually kill: ‘Too little, too late.’
Danette Colbert, 48, dubbed the ‘Bourbon Street Hustler’ by New Orleans locals, was the last person to see Super Bowl reporter Adan Manzano alive.
The pair were seen going into his room at the Comfort Suites in Kenner, Louisiana, at 3.46am on February 5, and her leaving alone at 5.21am.
Manzano’s lifeless body was found face-down on his bed 12 hours later after the KGKC Telemundo Kansas City reporter missed a meeting.
Three years before Manzano’s death, Colbert drugged and robbed David Butler, 52, of his life savings after meeting him in a bar in November 2021.
Despite her four other felony convictions in Louisiana alone, Judge Nandi Campbell gave her a 10-year suspended sentence and five years’ probation last November.
Louisiana Attorney-General Liz Murrill has directed Judge Campbell to resentence Colbert for that crime under the state’s habitual offender laws, which in theory allow her to be jailed for 20 years to life.
Danette Colbert, 48, is known as the ‘Bourbon Street Hustler’ was the last person to see Super Bowl reporter Adan Manzano alive
KGKC Telemundo Kansas City reporter Adan Manzano, 27, was found dead in his room at the Comfort Inn in Kenner, Louisiana, about 4pm on February 5
‘Our position is the original sentence was not eligible for probation,’ Murrill said when announcing her decision.
Butler said he warned the court and prosecutors last year that it was only a matter of time before Colbert killed someone if she was let out, but was ignored.
‘My initial reaction is – too little, too late,’ he told DailyMail.com after learning of the resentencing bill.
‘I repeatedly asked the District Attorney’s Office both prior to and during my trial to pursue enhanced charges against Danette Colbert due to her extensive criminal history. Unfortunately, those requests fell on deaf ears.’
‘In fact, the assistant district attorney essentially told me that the defendant would not face prison time because Judge Campbell is known to be very lenient toward criminals.
‘I’ve stated several times since 2022 that Danette Colbert was going to end up killing someone if she wasn’t held accountable. Unfortunately, it appears I may have been right.’
Police told the court last month that Manzano had Xanax in his system, a drug often used to aid in robberies, but couldn’t say yet how he died.
Charges against Colbert could be upgraded if the autopsy report, which is yet to be completed, found he died of an overdose from an intentional drugging.
Butler said if that was proven, Judge Campbell ‘bears some responsibility’ for Manzano’s death.
Three years before Manzano’s death, Colbert drugged and robbed David Butler, 52, (pictured) of his life savings after meeting him in a bar in November 2021
Hunting security footage released by police on Wednesday showed Colbert and Manzano outside Manzano’s room just before 4am on February 5
‘Her leniency in my case and others has shown a troubling pattern that puts public safety at risk,’ he said.
‘I sincerely hope when Colbert is sentenced for her multiple probation violations in my case, Judge Campbell will take her extensive criminal history in Orleans Parish, Las Vegas, and Nashville into account.’
Butler called for Judge Campbell to ‘be held accountable’ for her sentencing decisions, which stemmed from the more lenient judicial philosophy that she campaigned on for her election in 2020.
‘Her judicial philosophy has potentially cost lives and will likely continue to do so unless there’s meaningful intervention,’ he said.
‘Without clear consequences and structured sentencing, repeat offenders will continue to exploit the system – and more innocent lives will be lost.’
Murrill took over the case after Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams asked for help, due to Colbert’s numerous convictions across the state.
‘Given the multi-jurisdictional span of this defendant’s actions, I have requested the attorney general’s participation in the Orleans Parish cases,’ Williams said.
‘I’ve further encouraged them to lead the work to hold this offender accountable statewide, and to be the main point of contact for other investigations and prosecutions in other states.
‘I firmly believe this approach will ensure the most unified and focused prosecution of each of these serious cases.’
Despite her four other felony convictions in Louisiana alone, Judge Nandi Campbell (pictured) gave her a 10-year suspended sentence and five years’ probation last November
Manzano is a recent widower. His wife, Ashleigh, died in April 2024 in a car accident. They are pictured with their young daughter
Murrill said her office was discussing the best way forward with Williams, as Colbert’s ‘alleged conduct is very serious and involves multiple jurisdictions’.
Williams earlier petitioned the court to revoke Colbert’s probation. She is being held without bail after another judge branded her a ‘danger to society’.
Colbert claimed to police that Manzano’s credit cards must have ‘accidentally dropped in her car, and she accidentally used it instead of her own card’.
Butler earlier told DailyMail.com of how Colbert ‘almost killed him’ in eerily similar circumstances to what allegedly happened to Manzano.
‘My story is horrifying, and I fought tirelessly to bring her to justice.
‘When I heard about Mr Manzano’s tragic death, I was overcome with guilt and heartbreak. It’s impossible not to wonder if his death could have been prevented had stronger consequences been imposed in my case.’
Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley said Colbert could also be linked to a similar death.
John Jenkins, 55, was found dead on December 15 after traveling to New Orleans from his home in Gambrills, Maryland.
An autopsy found he died from cocaine and ethanol toxicity and his demise ruled accidental – but that is now being reevaluated.
‘We’ve gotten information about similar acts that are coincidental in nature, and we’re trying to determine if they are connected to Danette Colbert in any form or fashion,’ Conley said.
‘One of them was a fatality case that is of particular interest.’
Conley said evidence suggested Jenkins’ case could be related to Colbert and his officers were investigating with state police and Murrill’s office.
Conley said since Colbert’s arrest, several people contacted his office to report that they believed she drugged and robbed them too.
This was in addition to her sordid criminal history going back to at least 2012 across three states, many of her crimes having near-identical details.
Colbert in her previous crimes relentlessly targeted young men out on the town, three wearing Rolex watches that she stole, and seduced and/or drugged them.
Security footage from the Comfort Suites lobby obtained by DailyMail.com showed Manzano appear coherent, following Colbert through the lobby, to his room.
The video shows Manzano, a recent widower whose wife died in a car crash last April, entering the hotel and never emerging again.
Colbert, on the other hand, left the room twice. She first emerged at 4.45am, leaving the room alone and returning 20 minutes later.
Detectives released the image after DailyMail.com obtained footage of Manzano and Colbert entering the Comfort Suites in Kenner, Louisiana, at 3.46am
A sheepish Manzano trails behind Colbert, whose previous arrests including drugging men to steal from them
She then made two trips to reception, where it appeared she requested an extra key for the room.
She is then seen leaving the room at 5.21am for a final time.
Colbert was arrested days later after being caught using Manzano’s credit cards in stores across New Orleans.
She was charged with credit card fraud, but police are still working to tie her to Manzano’s death.
Her first known conviction was from a simple robbery in New Orleans in 2012. She skipped several court dates before eventually pleading guilty to possession of stolen goods, and given two years probation on October 1, 2013.
Then on November 4, 2014, she talked her way into a tourist’s hotel room and left with $100 cash, his credit cards, and a $4,000 Rolex watch.
Colbert met the 35-year-old man on Bourbon Street at 4am and ‘inquired if he wanted to party with her’ – to which he agreed.
He took her to a convenience store to withdraw cash and eventually to his hotel room, only to wake up at 10am to find his property gone.
The plot thickened after police laid a trap at a Winn Dixie grocery store she where had used her victim’s credit card 20 times.
Manzano was found unresponsive in his room around 12 hours after he was seen entering the hotel for a final time. Colbert was filmed leaving the hotel at 5.21am – two hours after arriving with Manzano
Police are now pursuing the theory that Colbert drugged Manzano and left him for dead. She was arrested after using his credit cards in a number of stores after his death
Detectives gave the manager a wanted poster with CCTV images of her wearing a blonde wig in the hotel, and he called them when she arrived on November 16.
But police were too slow to catch her, and she returned three hours later with two accomplices to take revenge.
‘You called the police,’ she yelled at the manager while he was serving another customer, then the trio beat him in the head with a blunt object.
Colbert was finally arrested, with charges of second-degree battery and witness intimidation added. All together, she racked up $3,584.86 on the stolen cards.
She received a sentence of eight years of probation and a five-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty in May 2015.
Colbert didn’t stay out of trouble for long. Next, she approached a man who was drinking at a bar with friend on Bourbon Street on November 30, 2016.
This time assisted by two other women, she again propositioned the man who woke up in his hotel room missing his phone, two credit cards, and Rolex watch.
She was again undone by an observant manager, who saw her buy $1,500 worth of gift cards at a Walmart Neighborhood Market in Kenner.
Another $105.45 was swindled when she bought paper towels and got a cash back.
Colbert was caught in 2014 when detectives gave the manager a wanted poster with CCTV images of her wearing a blonde wig in the hotel, and he called them when she arrived
This time Colbert was jailed for three years in May 2017, but was out of jail in time to run up another tab on a credit card that wasn’t hers in May 2018.
Her crime was much easier that time, as she simply found a lost credit card at a Bourbon Street strip club and charged $3,000 at a Sam’s Club.
She and two other women then tried to buy gift cards plus a $3,000 cash back at a Walmart in Gretna, Louisiana, and arrested on the spot.
For that crime, she got five years probation – despite repeatedly breaking earlier probations.
Her next arrest was in May 2022 over a crime earlier that year on January 17.
Colbert picked up a man who thought he was about to have a threesome with her and another woman at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas.
Instead, he woke up with a bloody nose missing $50,000 cash, a $30,000 Rolex watch, $11,000 in casino chips, his iPhone 11, a Louis Vuitton luggage bag worth $5,000 and a satchel valued at $2,000.
He told police he made drinks for the women in his room, but gave one of them $200 to leave because she was rude.
The last thing he remembered was walking the woman to the door, and told police he believed he was drugged. CCTV showed Colbert leave minutes after the first woman.
Colbert was arrested for speeding down Las Vegas Boulevard on August 12, 2022, at 97mph in a 25mph school zone
Colbert was arrested in May 2022 after robbing a man in his hotel room at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas
‘Colbert is seen leaving [the victim’s] room alone carrying a large black bag,’ police said at the time.
Wynn spotted the women at the casino again on January 29 and called police, leading to her being interrogated, and eventually charged.
While on bail for this crime, Colbert drugged and robbed yet another man in Sin City – this time at the Encore casino on July 9.
Yet again, a man invited her and another woman back to his hotel room and they started drinking.
‘While sitting on the couch, one of the females grabbed [his] head, forced it back, while the other female poured an unidentified liquid down his throat,’ police said.
‘[He] described the liquid to smell like tequila but was unsure.’
Soon he became dizzy and realized he had been drugged, and the women took advantage of the situation to demand money.
Through his stupor, he refused – so they attacked him until he was able to force them out of his room.
Next morning he woke up and found his Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watch worth $60,000, $1,500 in casino chips and his credit card were missing.
He checked his credit card statement and saw they already racked up a bill.
Police arrested both women days later when they returned to the Las Vegas strip, and Colbert claimed the man gave her $1,100 in chips to dance for him.
Danette Colbert, 48, is known as the ‘Bourbon Street Hustler’ by New Orleans locals and has a sordid criminal history going back to at least 2012
‘These are the same casino chips [the victim] reported stolen after being drugged,’ police said.
‘Surveillance video shows Colbert cashing the chips at the cashier’s cage of the casino.’
Again, she was let out on bail in time to speed down Las Vegas Boulevard on August 12, 2022, at 97mph in a 25mph school zone.
‘When the lights are flashing for a school zone to reduce your speed, it’s not a suggestion!’ police wrote on Twitter with a photo of her black Mustang being towed.
‘If YOU choose to drive 97MPH in a 25MPH school zone, YOU choose to take a ride to Clark County Detention Center!’
Despite being seen weaving in and out of traffic, Colbert insisted to police that she did nothing wrong when they pulled her over.
The police report showed Colbert told the officer he would have to prove she was speeding, and that he only pulled her over because she was black.
New Orleans locals were stunned that the notorious Colbert was arrested in Las Vegas instead of being in jail.
‘How is she out on bail… Holy shit… In New Orleans they call her the Bourbon street Hustler,’ one wrote online in 2022 after seeing a police report.
Manzano (seen this week in New Orleans) was described by his employers as a ‘rising star’
Finally, record from last year showed Colbert’s crimes spread to a third state – her home jurisdiction of Tennessee.
Colbert was arrested after police saw her attacking a man outside the Downtown Nashville Moxy last June.
As the officers approached, they saw her follow the man while yelling and pushing him until they we able to intervene.
Police said Colbert was visibly drunk and stank of alcohol. She told them she met the man while bar hopping on Broadway.
She was booked for disorderly conduct and public intoxication and released on a $1,000 bond.
Colbert is so far only being charged the same kind of property crimes as her previous arrests in the Manzano case, Kenner deputy police chief Mark McCormick said.
They include bank fraud, computer fraud, illegal transmission of monetary funds, access device fraud, and purse snatching.
‘Obviously, there are allegations in [Colbert’s] past criminal history that make us consider that. But we don’t have anything at this point,’ McCormick said.
Manzano graduated from Kansas State University and joined the Chiefs’ beat at the beginning of the 2024 season as a sideline reporter.
He was covering his third straight Super Bowl, having also been in Arizona and Las Vegas before this month’s visit to New Orleans.
Manzano posted photos from the Super Bowl’s opening night at the Superdome, where he was on duty interviewing the players.
He was also a regular soccer reporter, covering Sporting Kansas City, and of Big 12 basketball and the Kansas Jayhawks.
His wife, Ashleigh Boyd, died in a car accident last year. The couple’s young daughter is now without both of her parents.
