A Louisiana woman accused in a string of druggings of men whom she defrauded was charged on Tuesday with second-degree murder in the death of Adan Manzano, a Telemundo reporter whose body was found in a New Orleans hotel room in February while he was in town to cover the Super Bowl, the New York Times reports. Danette Colbert, 48, was the last person to be seen with Manzano before his death on Feb. 5, security camera footage from his hotel showed. She was arrested the next day by the police in Kenner, La., and initially charged with the theft of his cellphone and one of his credit cards, which the authorities said she had used to make several purchases. Manzano, 27, died from the combined toxic effects of the prescription drug Xanax and alcohol, in addition to positional asphyxia, which occurs when someone’s physical position prevents them from breathing, according to the results of a preliminary autopsy released during a news conference on Tuesday. Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich, the Jefferson Parish coroner, said that Manzano, who had been slated to cover his third straight Super Bowl, had been found with his head face down in a pillow and that his blood-alcohol content was .232 percent, nearly four times the legal driving limit. Second-degree murder in Louisiana carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. “We don’t want Ms. Colbert to see the light of day again,” said Keith Conley, the Kenner police chief.
Investigators said that they had uncovered critical evidence linking Colbert to Manzano’s death, which they said suggested that she commonly used Xanax in druggings. They found Xanax at her home in Slidell, La., the day after Manzano died. Authorities also arrested an accomplice of Colbert in connection with Manzano’s death. The man, Rickey White, 34, whom the police described as a transient, was charged with simple robbery, access device fraud, illegal transmission of monetary funds, bank fraud and computer fraud. He was taken into custody in Hollywood, Fla., on Friday and was awaiting extradition to Louisiana. Colbert was on probation at the time of Manzano’s death and was serving a 10-year suspended sentence in connection with the 2021 drugging of another man. She was convicted of multiple felonies last October and was ordered to pay the man $50,000 in restitution for money that she stole from him. The decision not to impose a prison sentence on Colbert, who has a long criminal history, has been intensely criticized since Manzano’s death.
Comentários