A Spanish-language television sports journalist named Adan Manzano was found dead in a hotel room near New Orleans while covering Super Bowl LIX. It was determined that a sedative was present in his system, a drug which he did not have a prescription for. The sedative, a benzodiazepine known as alprazolam (also sold as Xanax), was also discovered at the home of Danette Colbert, a 48-year-old woman who has been accused of robbing Manzano. Local police detective Jeffrey Fitzmorris testified at a criminal court hearing that Manzano had this drug in his body when he died on February 5 in the suburb of Kenner, a few days before the Super Bowl. كولБерт still faces various criminal counts connected to Manzano’s death, including charges that she drugged him before robbing him, as well as having alprazolam without a prescription at her home in Slidell, Louisiana.
Two government officials from Jefferson parish, where Kenner is located, confirmed the details of Fitzmorris’s testimony. Hospitals arrested Colbert after surveillance footage showed her entering Manzano’s hotel room with him the last time he was seen alive, and she was later found with his cellphone and a credit card. Yet she has not been directly charged in connection to Manzano’s death, and it currently remains unclassified until complete toxicology tests are done.
Manzano, who was a reporter for Telemundo Kansas City and a father of a toddler, had flown to Kenner to report on the Kansas City football team’s preparation for the Super Bowl. Hotel staff found his body after he missed a work meeting. It is believed that Colbert, who has been previously accused of similar crimes, may have drugged Manzano for robbery.
Moreover, a case is being pursued against Aurora Phelps in Las Vegas, who is accused of luring and robbing men she met through online dating apps, three of whom died. Meanwhile, Manzano is remembered not only for his reporting but as a dedicated family man. A funeral service for him was held in Topeka on February 20.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/27/adan-manzano-journalist-drug
