A woman dubbed the “Bourbon Street Hustler” has been convicted of negligent homicide in the death of a Telemundo reporter who traveled to Louisiana to cover the Super Bowl.
A Louisiana jury on Thursday also convicted Denette Colbert, 49, and her accomplice, Rickey White, 35, of racketeering in connection with the death of Adam Manzano, 27, at a hotel in Kenner, a New Orleans suburb, according to the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office.
Both defendants faced manslaughter charges, but after a little more than five hours of deliberations, jurors found only Colbert guilty of negligent homicide.
Under Louisiana law, negligent homicide carries a potential prison term of up to 40 years, while racketeering can result in a 50-year sentence, prosecutors said.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I wish I could tell you something different, but the truth is, there is nothing anybody in this room can do to bring Adan Manzano back to his family,” Assistant District Attorney Brendan Bowen told jurors during closing arguments Thursday as he urged them to convict the pair.
“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.”
Colbert was the last person recorded leaving Manzano’s hotel room before he was found dead there on Feb. 5, 2025.
Manzano, a Telemundo Kansas City reporter in the area to cover the Super Bowl, was found lying face down on a pillow. He was unable to breathe after ingesting alcohol and Xanax.
His death came one year after his wife was killed in a car crash. The couple left behind a toddler daughter.
Surveillance video showed Colbert and Manzano entering a Comfort Suites hotel at about 5 a.m. that morning. In the hours that followed, footage showed Colbert leaving the room, returning, then departing again.
Manzano never emerged and was found dead that night — with his phone and credit card missing from the hotel room.
The card was used for fraudulent charges in stores around New Orleans, Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley said at the time.
Cops arrested Colbert the next day, after a sweep of her house uncovered the credit card and phone, along with narcotics and a stolen firearm.
Colbert and White had spent years carrying out a criminal enterprise, luring victims in the French Quarter with sex, then drugging them and stealing their credit cards and phones.
Big Easy locals even referred to her as the “Bourbon Street Hustler,” the Daily Mail previously reported.
In court documents, prosecutors described Colbert as acting under the guise of a “prostitute or ‘party girl’” while White, known as “King Ricky,” acted as her “pimp”, providing security and searching for victims.
Prosecutors argued that Colbert, White, and Christian Anderson — another man who helped Colbert and White with their criminal scheme — targeted the reporter that night.
Court documents revealed extensive text messages between the trio showing that the victims discussed their plots to incapacitate and rob victims.
Anderson, 35, testified against Colbert and White in exchange for reduced charges of simple robbery and access device fraud. He pleaded guilty to both charges and received a six-year prison sentence.
Stavros Panagoulopoulos, Colbert’s attorney, told KLTV that he was disappointed in the racketeering conviction but considered the jury’s decision on the negligent homicide charge a small legal victory.
He plans to appeal her conviction, the outlet reported.
Colbert and White will be sentenced in late September, according to the district attorney’s office.
With Post Wires