Driver reportedly convicted in death of Kansas teacher whose husband was killed months later

Boyd’s father questions trial timing, Colbert’s probation

The crash occurred on April 11, 2024, when Boyd was in her sedan and Armstrong, driving on the wrong side of the road in a pickup truck, struck her head-on, according to investigators cited by the Topeka news station KSNT. Boyd, a teacher at Topeka’s Lowman Hill elementary school, was pronounced dead at the scene. Eleanor, then an infant passenger, was injured.

Judge Andrew Holmes found Armstrong guilty at a one-day bench trial on Monday, according to Hinck, Boyd’s father. Armstrong had pleaded not guilty and is tentatively scheduled for sentencing in November. Neither the office of the Topeka district attorney, Mike Kagay, nor Armstrong’s lawyer could immediately be reached for comment late on Monday. Hinck did not immediately describe a reaction to Armstrong’s guilty verdict.

Court records cited by KSNT alleged that investigators recovered evidence showing Armstrong’s truck had been parked for five hours at a casino in Kansas City, about an hour’s drive away, on the morning of the crash. Armstrong allegedly told authorities that either a blown tire or mechanical failure caused him to crash into Boyd, though investigators detected no obvious signs of such defects in his truck. A urine drug screen showed the presence of cocaine metabolites in Armstrong’s system, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal, but Armstrong’s attorney successfully argued that the drug screen result should be excluded from evidence during the trial.

Beforehand, Hinck had publicly discussed how much he loathed the idea of Armstrong’s trial happening so soon after the conclusion of the separate trial in the February 5, 2025 death of his son-in-law, Adan Manzano, in suburban New Orleans. Hinck also said it was bitterly disheartening for him to learn that Armstrong, 55, faced no more than one year in prison even if found guilty of vehicular homicide, because Kansas law classifies the offense as a misdemeanor.

The Kansas verdict came four days after a Louisiana jury reached its own verdict in Manzano’s death. Manzano, a 27-year-old native of Toluca, Mexico, worked as an anchor and reporter for the Spanish-language Telemundo affiliate in Kansas City. He had traveled to New Orleans to cover Super Bowl LIX and was found dead in his hotel room in the suburb of Kenner, days before one of the teams he covered — the Kansas City Chiefs — played in the game.

Investigators determined Manzano had been preyed on by a group who descended on victims in New Orleans’ French Quarter, knocked them unconscious by furtively drugging them, and stole their phones and bank cards to drain their financial accounts. An autopsy revealed Manzano had died lying face down on a pillow, having asphyxiated after ingesting a combination of alcohol and the pharmaceutical depressant Xanax.

After a four-day trial, a jury at a suburban New Orleans state courthouse found Colbert guilty of negligent homicide on Thursday. Colbert and White were also convicted of racketeering. Negligent homicide in Louisiana carries up to 10 years in prison, while racketeering carries up to 50.

A third defendant, 35-year-old Christian Anderson, ultimately testified against Colbert and White in exchange for a guilty plea to lesser charges of simple robbery and fraud and a six-year prison sentence. Sentencing for Colbert and White is tentatively scheduled for September 28.

Separately, after Manzano’s death but before her trial, Colbert received a 25-year prison sentence for violating her probation on a prior theft and fraud conviction and being classified as a habitual offender. Hinck said he was incredulous that the woman at whose hands Manzano died, according to the Louisiana jury, was on probation at the time of the crime — and that the cases strained his faith in parts of the US criminal justice system. Hinck said he and his wife, Nicole, are raising Eleanor following the deaths of both her parents 10 months apart.

“The disappointment in the justice system is at a peak level in our house,” Hinck had said.

Hinck also said he and his wife have tried to shield Eleanor from the legal fallout surrounding her parents’ deaths.

“We don’t talk about it with her,” Hinck said in reference to his granddaughter. “The only thing she knows is her mom and dad are in heaven, and she will see them one day.”