Adan Manzano: New update in case of Super Bowl reporter who was found dead as police say drug was in his system

Manzano was found dead in his hotel room on Wednesday February 5 while covering a match between Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans for both Telemundo Kansas City and Tico Sports.

Danette Colbert, aged 48, has since been under investigation for her potential involvement in Manzano’s death. She is accused of stealing his mobile phone and bank cards after she was seen on security video footage entering his hotel room with him. Authorities have been working to confirm whether she fatally drugged the journalist.

Police have now revealed that a preliminary toxicology exam found Manzano's system contained the depressant benzodiazepine, which includes the drug commonly sold under the brand name Xanax, at the time of his sudden and untimely death.

Kenner Police Detective Jeffrey Fitzmorris gave the information when he testified in Jefferson Parish magistrate court on Tuesday (February 25), as reported by CBS News. Manzano did not have a prescription for Xanax or other depressants, based on his medical records, and the drug is often used to facilitate theft by inducing amnesia, the detective added.

Police also said that they recovered Xanax from Colbert's residence. Overdoses of the drug can lead to "extreme drowsiness" and "possible death," according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The toxicology report did not specify when the substance could have entered Manzano’s system.

Colbert faces multiple felony charges related to theft and fraud as police await a final autopsy and toxicology report, Kenner Police Department Deputy Chief Mark McCormick told The Associated Press. He added that Colbert may face upgraded charges once these tests are finalised in the coming weeks. She is being held without bond at the Orleans Parish Justice Centre after she also appeared in court on Tuesday and was deemed a flight risk based on her criminal history, McCormick said.

Surveillance camera images released by police showed Manzano and Colbert together on Bourbon Street before they walked into his room at a hotel near New Orleans’s airport in Kenner, Louisiana, during the early morning of February 5.

Colbert eventually left alone. Hotel staff then found Manzano, who was a widowed father of a toddler, dead after he missed a meeting about his work. Investigators later arrested Colbert on allegations that she had stolen the credit card Manzano had used to check in to his hotel along with his mobile phone. They also thought that Colbert may have drugged Manzano before his death because of news stories documenting allegations that she had drugged and robbed men in Las Vegas.

A woman who survived being drugged and robbed of more than $134,000 (around £106,000) by Colbert has spoken out. 52-year-old David Butler said he warned both the public and the authorities that she might “end up killing someone” if she was left unchecked.

Manzano's death follows that of his wife, Ashleigh LeeAnn Boyd Manzano-Aguilar, in April. KCTV5 sister station, WIBW, said that the reporter's partner had died less than a year ago in Topeka, following a car crash.