The 27-year-old television reporter from Kansas City, Missouri, who died while in New Orleans to cover the Super Bowl strived to be the best single father he could be to his toddler daughter and was deeply passionate about sports and keeping his community informed, his colleagues told NBC News.
Adan Manzano, an anchor and sports reporter for Telemundo Kansas City, was a dutiful father and rising talent who came to the U.S. from Mexico to study and fulfill his dream of sports reporting, Ely Martinez, the station’s creative services director, told NBC News in Spanish. Manzano was thrilled that he was sent to New Orleans to cover his third Super Bowl in a row.
The first time he covered the Super Bowl, “it was a dream come true” for Manzano, Martinez said, adding the young journalist had been grateful about this third reporting trip for the event and what it could mean for his career.
His death has been like “losing my little brother,” for Martinez and others in the newsroom, where Manzano was a vibrant and beloved presence, Martinez said.
Manzano “was always asking, ‘What can I do to be a better father, to do the best I can for her?’” said Martinez, who knew the sports reporter for 3 1/2 years. “It was very important to him to be a good dad.”
After personal tragedy, working ‘harder for his daughter’
Manzano was found dead in a hotel room in New Orleans last week. Police have since charged a Louisiana woman, Danette Colbert, with fraud and other theft-related crimes in connection with Manzano’s death.
More than three years ago, a man visiting the city accused Colbert of drugging him, robbing his savings and leaving him for dead, NBC News exclusively reported. She was convicted in October of computer fraud, theft and illegal transmission of monetary funds.
Police in Kenner, Louisiana, have said they have uncovered additional evidence and the case remains ongoing. They have not said how Manzano died.
Manzano worked to balance his growing career as a sports reporter at the station with being a newly single father: His wife, second grade teacher Ashleigh Boyd, died in a car crash in April in Topeka, Kansas, when their daughter was 1.
The tragic death of Boyd, who was always supportive of Manzano in his career, left the sports reporter “determined to work harder for his daughter,” according to Martinez.
Samuel Rivera, a reporter with the station and father of three, said Manzano would come to him for advice on how to become the best father he could be, what the best way to educate children was and how to make sure they’re successful in the future.
“He talked about and asked a lot of questions about things that fathers at his age don’t always ask,” Rivera said.
Rivera said Manzano was “super talented from the beginning” and stood out for his deep, well-rounded knowledge across sports.
Gustavo Jaimes, the station’s news director, said Manzano was a strong reporter and journalist who was “passionate in his work covering all sports, and it showed.”
He always did his job “really well,” Jaimes said in Spanish, adding that “he was proud to be covering such an important event as the Super Bowl.”
According to Rivera, Manzano was as dedicated to covering major events like the Super Bowl as he was to covering local and college sports.
Manzano had sent him a text message last week asking for Rivera to “give me a blessing” to cover the Super Bowl, as Rivera was a much more experienced journalist on the small, tight-knit team.
“It will turn out spectacular, my brother,” Rivera wrote back. “You have talent and wisdom to spare. You are the expert of Kansas.”
