A Louisiana judge has handed lengthy prison sentences to two people convicted of roles in a criminal enterprise that targeted New Orleans tourists led to the death of a reporter covering the 2025 Super Bowl there.
asserted
that → hand → Bowl
Nancy Miller, a state court judge, on Monday sentenced Danette Colbert, 49, to a total of 60 years in prison: fifty years for racketeering and a consecutive 10 years for negligent homicide in the death of Adan Manzano, a journalist for the Spanish-language news outlet Telemundo Kansas City.
asserted
Miller → sentence → outlet
Colbert’s accomplice, Rickey White, was sentenced to 45 years’ imprisonment for racketeering.
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accomplice → sentence → racketeering
The sentences come just days after a jury in the suburban New Orleans community of Jefferson parish, Louisiana, convicted both Colbert and White, 35, for their roles in the 5 February 2025 death of Manzano, 27.
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jury → come → Manzano
Manzano had traveled to the New Orleans area to cover the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl clash with the Philadelphia Eagles.
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Manzano → travel → Eagles
He was found dead in his hotel room in Kenner, Louisiana, the suburb where New Orleans’ international airport is, days before the Chiefs lost the big game to the Eagles.
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Chiefs → find → Eagles
The Jefferson parish coroner’s office, whose jurisdiction includes Kenner, said Manzano died from positional asphyxiation.
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Manzano → include → asphyxiation
An autopsy found Xanax and alcohol in his system.
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autopsy → find → system
Prosecutors said Manzano was among the victims of a yearslong operation in which Colbert, White and a co-defendant who testified against them – Christian Anderson – targeted unsuspecting tourists in the city’s French Quarter.
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who → say → Quarter
The group allegedly lured victims with the promise of sex before drugging and robbing them.
uncertain
group → lure → them
Prosecutors said the criminal enterprise dated back to 2012.
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enterprise → say → 2012
Manzano’s father addressed his son’s death at Monday’s sentencing via a videoconferencing platform.
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father → address → platform
According to a statement from Jefferson parish district attorney Paul Connick’s office, Manzano’s father called the sentencing “a say day for me and my family”.
uncertain
father → accord → me
“May the laws of this country lock up the people that destroyed my life,” he testified.
uncertain
he → lock → life
“I respectfully ask that you give them the sentencing they deserve.”
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they → ask → sentencing
According to local news channel WVUE, the father added: “They snatched his dreams, life and family as we were seeing him happy and successful.”
uncertain
him → accord → dreams
Manzano’s mother, meanwhile, said: “I don’t want to say anything to the people that committed this crime, because they are beings of darkness, beings that don’t have God in their lives.
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that → say → lives
“But I don’t think they should go on with life causing harm and killing people – because I still can’t accept that Adan is not here …
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Adan → think → people
This loss, I’ll never overcome it.
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I → overcome → it
I don’t wish this on anybody, on any family.”
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I → wish → family
A cousin of Manzano, Carlos Castillo, reportedly said: “I want to look you guys in the face and say that you should pay your entire life for this …
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you → say → this
Every time the cell opens and you cannot see the light, you think of my cousin.”
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you → open → cousin
Manzano’s wife, Ashleigh Boyd, was killed in an April 2024 car crash in Topeka, Kansas.
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wife → kill → Topeka
A Topeka judge found Todd W Armstrong guilty of vehicular homicide, speeding and driving on the wrong side of the road after a one-day trial on 21 September, four days after the jury verdict in Manzano’s death in Louisiana.
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Armstrong → find → Louisiana
Boyd and Manzano’s daughter – Eleanor, now three – is being raised by her maternal grandparents.
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Boyd → raise → grandparents
Months after Manzano’s death, Colbert received a 25-year prison sentence for being found to have violated her probation on a prior theft and fraud conviction and being classified a habitual offender.
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Colbert → receive → conviction
Miller on Monday told Colbert that her “behavior in this matter [is] quite alarming”, according to WVUE.
uncertain
behavior → tell → WVUE
“You were indifferent to the impact that your actions had,” Miller said.
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Miller → have → that
Apparently, you’ve been doing this for quite some time.
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you → do → time
It’s finally caught up to you with the death of one of your victims.”
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It → catch → victims
The Aporia
