It’ll be another three to four weeks before the autopsy report comes back on the 27-year-old Telemundo reporter found dead in his New Orleans hotel room, police said Saturday — the day after a woman with a history of drugging and robbing men was busted in connection to his mysterious death.
Career criminal Danette Colbert, 48, of nearby Slidell, was arrested after she was captured in surveillance video leaving Adan Manzano’s hotel room before allegedly using his credit card at stores around the Big Easy, where the journalist was covering the Super Bowl, police in Kenner, La., said.
They are waiting for toxicology reports from the coroner, Deputy Chief Mark McCormick told The Post Saturday.
“Everything hinges on that one point,” he said. “Until we get that information there won’t be any basis for more enhanced charges involving Danette Colbert.”
She has so far only been charged with property crimes, including bank fraud and theft — but she has previously been accused of drugging at least two men and swiping their credit cards, Kenner police said.
The Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office is conducting toxicology testing to determine if Manzano was drugged. His body showed no obvious signs of trauma, police said.
Colbert, who has been called “the Hustler of Bourbon Street,” was seen in the footage leaving Manzano’s hotel room in the suburb of Kenner before going on the alleged shopping spree, according to police.
The security footage indicated that Colbert arrived with Manzano at the hotel room in Kenner around 4 a.m. Wednesday, then left alone a few moments later, McCormick said earlier this week.
Manzano, of Topeka, Kan., was found dead about 12 hours later when hotel staff performed a wellness check after he missed a morning appointment, McCormick said.
In a tragic twist, Manzano’s 24-year-old wife, Ashleigh Boyd, was killed in a Topeka car crash in April — and his death leaves their toddler daughter without parents.
McCormick said he did not have any information about the child and neither Manzano’s mother or Ashley Boyd’s mother returned calls from The Post on Saturday.
Colbert’s cousin, Kenneth Colbert of Memphis, described her as a “loving mother and grandmother” when reached by The Post — adding he “couldn’t say anything bad about her” before declining to answer any specific questions about her past.
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