True Crime Society - Reporter Adan Manzano died while in New Orleans for the Super Bowl

On Wednesday February 5, 2025, Kansas City sports anchor Adan Manzano (27) was found dead in his New Orleans hotel room. He had been in the city to cover the Super Bowl which was scheduled for Sunday, February 9.

As some background into Adam, he worked for KGKC Telemundo Kansas City and Tico Sports.

He was originally from Mexico City. Adam had been living in Topeka, Kansas since 2018. He earned his degree from Kansas State University and joined Telemundo Kansas City (KGKC-TV) in 2021. Prior to that, he was a freelance writer with La Semana del Sur and sports commentator for Reyes Media Group, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Telemundo Kansas City General Manager Steve Downing spoke about Adan’s initial screening test.

“It was a one-shot take and he was good, perfect in my opinion. He didn’t stumble,” he said.

Adan’s Spanish language coverage was said to have helped connect new viewers to sport.

“People actually reach out to our company and appreciate that we actually speak in their language,” Adan once said.

Adan was very excited to be covering the 2025 Super Bowl. He first covered one of the events in 2023 and he said “I used to dream about this, but I never expected that it was going to come that soon.”

“I think his dream was to report from the sidelines a third time, and to also see a three-peat win for the Kansas City Chiefs. He wanted to celebrate with them,” said his colleague Ely Martinez, creative services director at Telemundo Kansas City.

“Adan was a wonderful person from the day I met him. He had a lot of passion and talent,” Ely said. “We will miss him, not just for his professional journalism but also for his ability to illuminate every room he walked into.”

Adan had previously been married to Ashleigh Boyd, and the couple had a daughter Eleanor together in 2022.

Ashleigh worked as an elementary school teacher.

In April 2024, Ashleigh and her daughter were involved in a car accident. The baby was seriously injured. Ashleigh was killed in the incident.

The accident happened after Ashleigh’s vehicle collided head-on with a Ford F-150 due to a mechanical issue.

Ashleigh was described as a “bright light” whose enthusiasm to start her teaching career at Lowman Hill “was felt by staff across the district,” Topeka USD 501 Superintendent Tiffany Anderson said.

“He wanted to be the best parent that he could be, especially under the circumstances of having to raise that daughter without her mom,” Adan’s boss told the media.

After Adan’s death, their child has been left without any parents.

Adan was staying at the Kenner’s Comfort Suites Airport in New Orleans. He was found dead on Wednesday, February 5. Initial reports said that he was found alone in his hotel room. There isn’t too much information about how he was found – by housekeeping or perhaps after a welfare check if he did not show up for work?

Police did not release any additional information at the time. His employer KGKC said they were cooperating with authorities in the investigation.

The coroner’s office told the media that Adan’s body showed no signs of trauma.

Very quickly, on Thursday February 6, police announced that a woman named Danette Colbert (48) had been arrested in connection to Adan’s death.

CCTV from the hotel showed Danette entering Adan’s hotel room with him at 4.35am on Wednesday.

No information about the time that she has left has been released.

When Adan’s body was found, police found that the credit card he had used to check into the hotel was missing. His room key and cell phone were also missing.

After checking bank records, authorities discovered that the card had been used at “several stores in the New Orleans area,” Kenner police said in a statement.

Danette was swiftly id’ed as the person who had used the card. We believe she was found so quickly as police tracked Adan’s cell phone and found that it was pinging about one-tenth of a mile from her address in Slidell, Louisiana. Police searched her house and found Adan’s cell phone and credit card. Police also found Xanax and a stolen gun. It is not believed that the firearm is related to Adan’s case though. Danette was arrested and “charged with property crimes, including fraud and theft-related offenses,” though “this investigation remains ongoing,” according to the police statement.

Kenner police chief Keith Conley spoke about the investigation into Adan’s death.

“She was stopped quite frequently in the French Quarter, and she’s known for these kind of fraud schemes,” Chief Conley said.

“You asked if this was a homicide, I don’t know where it’s going to end up. We’re going to let the evidence lead us to the end result and not speculate,” the chief said.

“As soon as the coroner finishes with his findings and they will classify it as either homicide or whatever death the evidence leads him to and then these charges could be upgraded.”

Danette has an arrest record “that includes allegations of drugging men, theft of currency, fraudulent use of credit and debit cards, and other financial crimes,” said Kenner police. They have asked that “anyone who may recognize Danette Colbert and has any information regarding her involvement in these crimes to call” investigators.

Danette was given five years of probation after she pleaded guilty in 2019 to fraudulently using a credit card that a man had lost at a New Orleans strip club.

In 2022 in Nevada, police said Danette was “charged with introducing a substance, a foreign substance” into a victim, Chief Conley said, “and the other one was in Jefferson Parish, I believe it was two years ago.”

Police have said they believe Danette acted alone. She was also described as a ‘career criminal.’

“Everybody should be aware of their surroundings,” Chief Conley said. “This brings to light that there are people out there that prey on other people and bring them into their confidence and victimize them.”

The Kenner Police Department held a press conference on Tuesday, March 18, 2025 regarding Adan’s cause of death.

The Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office shared that preliminary findings show his death was caused by the combined toxic effects of Alprazolam — an anti-anxiety drug often sold under the brand name Xanax — and alcohol.

“Positional asphyxia” was also named as a contributing factor. When Adan was found dead, he was face down in a pillow, the coroner said.

Adan’s blood-alcohol content at death was .232 — nearly three times the state’s legal limit of 0.08 to operate a motor vehicle — and his Xanax concentration (25 ng/ml) was “not an insignificant amount” in his system, the coroner said.

“These are central nervous system depressants,” he said. “They have a combined effect. … When you add them up, they’re really bad. They’re additive effects.”

But pathologists stopped short of determining that the manner of death was either a homicide or an accidental overdose.

“Given the uncertain circumstances of this case, we felt the most appropriate manner is ‘undetermined,’” the coroner said.

Danette has been charged with second-degree murder and an alleged accomplice, Rickey White, who was later found in Florida, is also under arrest.