Jefferson Parish jury reaches verdict in trial connected to death of Super Bowl reporter

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GRETNA, La. (WVUE) - A jury has reached a verdict in the trial of Danette Colbert, 49, and Rickey White, 35, connected to the death of Adan Manzano, a sports reporter who was in New Orleans to cover Super Bowl LIX in 2025.

Colbert was found guilty of racketeering and guilty of negligent homicide. White was found guilty of racketeering and not guilty of negligent homicide.

Manzano, 27, of Kansas City, came to New Orleans to cover the Kansas City Chiefs as they took on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. He was found dead in his Kenner hotel room on Feb. 5, 2025.

According to Jefferson Parish prosecutors, Colbert, White and another defendant, Christian Anderson, allegedly drugged victims, made their way back to hotels and then robbed the victims after they fell asleep. Prosecutors say that scheme went on for years and also targeted Manzano.

The defense and prosecution both presented closing arguments Thursday (Sept. 17) before the jury was sent to deliberate.

“The most dangerous thing that Adan Manzano did was meeting Danette Colbert, and now he’s dead,” said the Jefferson Parish assistant district attorney.

Regarding the racketeering charge, prosecutors said Colbert “has been doing this for years, and she has not been doing this alone.”

“There was an enterprise. They weren’t just pals, they were partners,” they said.

However, Leo Caillier, White’s defense attorney, said the relationship between White and Colbert does not fall under racketeering.

“Rickey White is a pimp, and Ms. Colbert is, shall we call, a prostitute,” Caillier said. “It does not fall in the category of a criminal enterprise. These individuals did not share a common purpose.”

Stavros Panagoulopoulos, the defense attorney for Colbert, said there was no evidence of manslaughter.

“There was never any evidence of anything being administered to Mr. Manzano,” Panagoulopoulos said.

On the witness stand Wednesday, another alleged victim testified that after meeting Colbert on Bourbon Street in 2021, she eventually stole more than $130,000 in money and property from him.

David Butler testified he was a victim of Colbert and had drinks with her at a Bourbon Street bar. After having one drink with Colbert, Butler testified he began to feel uneasy.

“Suddenly, I had this feeling the world was going dark. The best way I could describe it was going under anesthesia,” Butler testified.

Butler said he conducted his own digital investigation to identify Colbert and handed over his findings to the New Orleans Police Department, which he said corroborated the evidence. Butler said he had long tried to identify Colbert.

“I searched her name every day because I thought someone would end up dead,” said Butler.

A pathologist testified Manzano’s high blood alcohol content and the presence of a generic form of Xanax in his system contributed to his death by positional asphyxia.

During testimony Wednesday from the former Kenner Police Department lead detective in the case, the prosecution played a video of investigators questioning Colbert after Manzano’s body was discovered.

In the video, Colbert told detectives the two had been drinking that night in New Orleans and returned to his hotel room. Colbert told authorities she eventually left after Manzano said he was tired. When asked if she had taken anything from the room, Colbert said she took “nothing”. Colbert also denied drugging Manzano, adding that she was “no killer”.

Investigators in the video then told her they had found Manzano’s cellphone and debit card at her home and in her car in Slidell.

Other prosecution witnesses Wednesday included digital forensic experts who testified about their examinations of the defendants’ cellphones and other evidence. They read to the jury years’ worth of text messages between Colbert and White in which they discussed targeting victims, the use of “knockout drugs”, and what was taken from those victims.

The third defendant, Christian Anderson, previously testified that he agreed to a deal with prosecutors and will plead guilty to lesser charges.

Following the cross-examination of the former lead detective, during which Colbert’s defense attorney raised the possibility that Manzano consumed drugs and alcohol before he encountered Colbert, both the prosecution and defense rested their respective cases.

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