Danette Colbert

Introduction

Danette Colbert, a 49-year-old reportedly known around the French Quarter as the “Bourbon Street Hustler,” was convicted by a Jefferson Parish jury on September 17, 2026, of negligent homicide and racketeering in the death of Adan Manzano, a 27-year-old Telemundo Kansas City reporter and anchor who died in his hotel room while in town to cover Super Bowl LIX in February 2025. Prosecutors said Colbert and her accomplice Rickey White spent years operating a drugging-and-robbing scheme that targeted tourists in the French Quarter, luring victims with the promise of sex before incapacitating them and stealing their credit cards and phones — and that Manzano became one of their targets on the night he died. The case drew national attention both because of the victim’s profession and because of Colbert’s arrest record, which included earlier allegations of drugging men and theft.

Background Information

Colbert’s biography before the Manzano case is largely a court file: reports describe her arrest record as including allegations of drugging men and theft, though those earlier cases were never adjudicated. In court documents, prosecutors described Colbert as acting “under the guise of a prostitute or ‘party girl’” while working with White — reportedly known as “King Ricky” or “King Rickey” — who was described as her “pimp,” providing security and helping find and rob victims. The “Bourbon Street Hustler” nickname was reportedly attached to her by locals, and coverage of her conviction noted prior reporting on a criminal history stretching back years.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Colbert’s convictions on negligent homicide and racketeering were returned by a Jefferson Parish jury on September 17, 2026, after a five-plus-hour deliberation and are a matter of court record. Co-defendant Rickey White was found not guilty of manslaughter, so the conduct charged under that count was not proven against him; statements about the pair’s scheme that came from a cooperating witness’s plea and testimony were part of the trial record the jury weighed.

Surveillance footage showed Colbert and Manzano meeting on Bourbon Street and then entering a Comfort Suites hotel in Kenner, a New Orleans suburb, together around 5 a.m., and footage recorded her leaving his room, coming back, and leaving again. Colbert was the last person seen leaving Manzano’s room before he was found dead there on February 5, 2025, with his phone and credit card missing. An autopsy revealed that Manzano died lying face down on a pillow, unable to breathe, after ingesting a combination of alcohol and the depressant Xanax. Police arrested Colbert the next day after a sweep of her Slidell, Louisiana, home uncovered Manzano’s credit card and phone, along with narcotics and a stolen firearm; she later used his card at a New Orleans gas station and other stores, according to reports.

At trial, prosecutors argued the death was the culmination of a years-long criminal enterprise: they said Colbert, White and a third participant, Christian Anderson, targeted victims in the French Quarter, luring them with the promise of sex, drugging them, and stealing their credit cards and phones after they fell asleep — and that the three targeted Manzano that night. Anderson, 35, testified against Colbert and White in exchange for reduced charges of simple robbery and access device fraud; he pleaded guilty to both and received a six-year prison sentence. Prosecutors also revealed extensive text messages dating back years among Colbert, White and Anderson discussing using drugs to incapacitate and rob victims. “The most dangerous thing that Adan Manzano did was meeting Danette Colbert, and now he’s dead,” Jefferson Parish Assistant District Attorney Jenny Voss said in closing statements. The defense countered that Manzano may have been drinking and taking drugs before he ever encountered Colbert on Bourbon Street.

Public Reaction and Consequences

After just over five hours of deliberation, the jury found Colbert guilty of negligent homicide — which prosecutors said carries up to 10 years — and of racketeering, while convicting White, 35, of racketeering but finding him not guilty of manslaughter, a charge that had carried up to 40 years. Voss told reporters she was pleased with the verdict, saying, “We knew that this was a difficult case going in,” and that the jury had carefully weighed the evidence. The case had drawn broad attention since her February 2025 arrest, when numerous reports of her previous alleged crimes resurfaced after Kenner police released her booking photo. Manzano’s loved ones were not present for the verdict; fox8 reported they had been in contact with prosecutors throughout the trial but were unable to attend, and Manzano — who died just a year after his wife was killed in a car accident — was survived by a toddler daughter. Colbert’s attorney, Stavros Panagoulopoulos, said he was disappointed in the racketeering conviction but considered the jury’s decision on the negligent homicide charge a small legal victory, arguing negligent homicide is “a far cry from manslaughter” and that jurors’ questions suggested “a compromise verdict.”

Current Status

Colbert and White are scheduled to be sentenced in late September 2026, according to the Jefferson Parish district attorney’s office. Colbert’s negligent homicide conviction carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, and the racketeering count carries a maximum of 50 years, according to statements by prosecutors. Her attorney said he plans to appeal the conviction. Prosecutors framed the outcome as accountability for Manzano’s family: Assistant District Attorney Brendan Bowen had urged jurors in closing arguments, “What you can do is make his death mean something. Let Adan Manzano be the last victim that Rickey White and Danette Colbert ever get to target.”

Impact on Their Career/Life

Colbert, already in her late 40s with a record of arrests stretching back years, now faces a combined maximum of 60 years when she is sentenced in late September 2026. The “Bourbon Street Hustler” moniker that once circulated as French Quarter lore is now attached in national coverage — from the New York Post to the Guardian to CBS News — to a woman a jury convicted of negligent homicide and racketeering, ending whatever anonymity she retained. For New Orleans, the case entered the public record of French Quarter crime during the Super Bowl LIX period, the verdict confirming prosecutors’ account of an organized crew that used the district’s party reputation to find victims. For Manzano’s family and Telemundo Kansas City colleagues, the conviction delivered accountability in a case that had already taken a wife from a toddler daughter and a rising broadcaster from the city’s sports community.