Bond denied for pair accused in robbery of dead Super Bowl reporter Adan Manzano

GRETNA, La. (WVUE) - Two people accused in an alleged robbery scheme that police say led to the death of Kansas City reporter Adan Manzano in February were denied bond Wednesday (April 16) by a Jefferson Parish magistrate commissioner.

Commissioner David Wolff presided over a preliminary hearing and found probable cause to keep Danette Colbert and Rickey White jailed on counts connected to the robbery and death of Manzano.

Colbert has been booked with second-degree murder, simple robbery, bank fraud and other counts related to the alleged use of the dead reporter’s credit cards and accounts.

White has been accused as a principal to the robbery and fraud counts, but has not been booked with a murder allegation.

Neither has been charged with second-degree murder, as that requires a grand jury indictment that has not yet been secured by Jefferson Parish prosecutors.

Kenner Police detective Jeffrey Fitzmorris testified Wednesday that White and Colbert often texted about “knockouts” or “KOs,” allegedly referring to drugs used to make victims pass out before being robbed.

Fitzmorris said Colbert and White communicated 30 times the day of Manzano’s death. He also testified that their texts show a pattern of behavior where Colbert and others ask for “knockouts,” then sent phone and bank account information to White.

“The text messages they referred to involved things that happened months and months ago,” argued White’s defense attorney Kevin Boshea.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Morales said White and Colbert have conspired for years on a drug-and-robbery scheme victimizing men across southeast Louisiana and Las Vegas. Morales conceded there is no direct evidence in the Manzano case, but said his office has “loads of circumstantial evidence.”

“For a case to move forward on circumstantial evidence alone, it must exclude every possibility of innocence. And as we demonstrated in court, there are questions in regard to that,” Colbert’s defense attorney Stavros Panagoulopoulos said.

Manzano, a 27-year-old sports anchor for KGKC Telemundo Kansas City and Tico Sports, was found dead in his Kenner hotel room on Feb. 5, with his credit cards and cellphone missing. Kenner Police said the stolen items later were found in the possession of Colbert, who was seen on surveillance cameras entering the hotel with Manzano and leaving alone.

Jefferson Parish Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich determined the reporter died from “positional asphyxia,” indicating he choked or smothered to death after ingesting a lethal combination of alcohol and Alprazolam (Xanax) that rendered him unconscious. Authorities said Manzano had not been prescribed the drug.

Colbert, 48, was arrested Feb. 6, after investigators say they found evidence of her using a credit card belonging to the victim. Police also recovered surveillance camera footage showing her with Manzano in the French Quarter before they returned to his hotel room together, and another video allegedly showing Colbert leaving Manzano’s room alone.

White, 34, has been described by authorities as her accomplice in a scheme to drug and rob men targeted during visits to the French Quarter.

“We found correspondence and information where they were going back and forth,” Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley said earlier this month. “We think they were working in concert.”

During Fitzmorris testimony, he said he believes Manzano’s death was unintentional.

White was arrested March 14 near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., by US Marshals, a US Secret Service task force and Kenner PD detectives. St. Tammany Parish court records showed White and Colbert previously lived at the same address in Slidell.

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