Jurors Weigh 2025 Reporter Death in Alleged Drug-and-Rob Scheme
Updated
Updated · NOLA.com · Sep 17
Jurors Weigh 2025 Reporter Death in Alleged Drug-and-Rob Scheme
1 articles · Updated · NOLA.com · Sep 17
Summary
Four days of testimony ended Thursday with jurors deliberating whether Danette Colbert, 49, and Rickey White, 35, are guilty of manslaughter and racketeering in reporter Adan Manzano’s 2025 death.
Prosecutors said the pair ran a years-long Bourbon Street scheme in which Colbert drugged affluent-looking victims with alprazolam and White helped drain their accounts after phones, cards and jewelry were stolen.
A timeline presented at trial showed Manzano leaving with Colbert around 3:30 a.m.; seven minutes later, prosecutors said, she texted White his PIN before Manzano died of positional asphyxia combined with alcohol and alprazolam.
David Butler’s account of blacking out after drinks in 2021 was used to show a pattern, while a cooperating co-defendant described Colbert and White as leaders working with multiple accomplices.
Defense lawyers attacked the co-defendant’s credibility, argued Manzano could have gotten alprazolam elsewhere, and said the evidence showed petty theft—not racketeering or proof the pair caused his death.