NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - The trio accused of drugging, robbing, and ultimately killing Kansas City reporter Adan Manzano during Super Bowl week may have had more victims, according to a crime watchdog group.
A 20-plus page indictment from the 24th Judicial District Court in Jefferson Parish details a decade-long scheme involving Danette Colbert, Rickey White, and Christian Anderson. Prosecutors allege the three lured victims from the French Quarter, brought them to hotel rooms, drugged and robbed them, then fled.
“You really see a coordinated effort that was perpetrated over 10 years,” said Michelle Foster, vice president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission.
According to court documents, the operation began in 2012. Colbert allegedly worked as a prostitute, White acted as her pimp, and Anderson, also a pimp, supplied Colbert with drugs.
The group is accused of stealing at least 15 cellphones, 29 credit and debit cards, and over $131,000 in cash through ATM withdrawals or electronic transfers.
“It really laid out the scheme for the investigators on how this took place and how they were able to continue perpetrating this scheme,” Foster said.
Evidence cited in the indictment includes text messages between the suspects. In one exchange from June 2019, Anderson told an unnamed associate he “throws tricks on people in the car and gives them Xanax water to put them to sleep.”
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Another message from August 2024 shows Anderson acknowledging the risks of their actions. When an associate texted, “She needs to learn something new,” Anderson replied, “Yes, she does before she kills someone on accident.”
That chilling warning became a reality in February 2025, when Manzano was found dead in a Kenner hotel room after a night out with Colbert. An autopsy later revealed Xanax in his system.
Following Manzano’s death, Anderson texted: “I feel bad for her to an extent, but I feel more bad for her family if anything... I also feel bad for the man.”
FOX 8 legal analyst Joe Raspanti says the text messages are a critical part of the state’s racketeering case.
“Every time you can link these people together to show a pattern or a criminal enterprise, you are proving up what you have to prove up to make the case, and those things help you do that,” Raspanti said.
The indictment also outlines additional crimes allegedly committed by Colbert outside the French Quarter, including using stolen credit cards to buy gift cards in Kenner, purchasing electronics at Best Buy in Slidell, and bringing victims to hotels and a residence in Metairie.
“When you have things that cross parish lines within the state, you’re allowed to connect them,” Raspanti explained. “It’s a little more difficult when you have something in a different state.”
While prosecutors listed 18 specific thefts in the New Orleans area, officials believe the number of victims could be much higher. Many of the victims were tourists or individuals reluctant to report crimes involving a prostitute.
“We may never know all of the victims that are a part of this scheme because people didn’t report it,” Foster said.
As of this week, Colbert and White’s original second-degree murder charges have been downgraded to manslaughter. Anderson, too, now faces a manslaughter count in connection with Manzano’s death.
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