Atlanta boy identified as child inside suitcase in rural Indiana, 2 charged
After six months, the young boy finally has a name: Cairo Jordan. His mother, Dejaune Anderson, is one of the people charged in his death. She is still at large.
After a months long investigation, Indiana State Police now know the identity of a young boy whose body was found inside a suitcase earlier this year in a rural area of southern Indiana. ISP has also charged two people, including the boy's mother for his death.
In a press conference on Wednesday, ISP identified the 5-year-old boy as Cairo Jordan from Atlanta, Georgia. He would have turned six on Oct. 24.
Ongoing manhunt 'We need the public's help'
ISP Sgt. Carey Huls says on Oct. 14, two felony arrest warrants were issued for Dawn Coleman, 40, of Louisiana, and Dejaune Anderson, 37, of Georgia.
Both have been charged with obstruction of justice and neglect of a child resulting in a death. Anderson, the young boy's mother, also has a warrant out for murder in connection to her son's death.
Huls said the pair eventually traveled to California, where Coleman was arrested in San Francisco, however police weren't able to locate Anderson.
Authorities say she was last seen in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, California; however, she is known to travel and has recently been to San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Houston, Texas.
Police said Anderson is about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and 135 pounds. She had short, dark brown hair in her last known photo, but she is known to often wear wigs or hair extensions.
According to ISP, the photo above is the most accurate photo of Anderson, although not the most recent.
Police said Coleman will be extradited back to Indiana within the next 30 days.
"We have a suspect that's at large," Huls said. "We need the public's help. No matter where you live, anywhere in the United States, possibly out of the country, we could use help locating her for Cairo. Help us locate her for Cairo, so justice can be served for him."
Anyone who sees Anderson, or knows of her whereabouts at this time, is asked to contact their local police department with that information.
According to court documents, Anderson was identified as a suspect after forensic evidence found her fingerprints on two of the trash bags inside the suitcase. A second set of fingerprints matched Coleman's.
History of endangerment 'Living with a demonic child'
After Anderson and Coleman were connected to Cairo's death, police began investigating the pair's history and their social media accounts.
"No crime scene evidence technologies were spared," Huls said.
Court records show on March 12, 2022, Anderson was arrested in South Carolina for child endangerment, among several other charges.
Police say Anderson was going over 90 mph in a 60-mph zone. She then led police on a 30-mile chase before she ran out of gas.
Inside the vehicle was Dawn Coleman, who Anderson said was her sister, and her son, Cairo Jordan.
Officers had to breach the back driver's side window to make entry into the vehicle because neither woman would exit the vehicle.
Anderson spent time in the Colleton County Jail, while Coleman and Cairo were taken to a nearby hotel.
Later that same month, on March 31, Anderson was arrested in Louisville for shoplifting clothes at the Oxmoor Mall.
According to that police report, Anderson was stopped by mall security after she was caught concealing clothes inside a bag. She then punched the security officer in the face.
The court documents go on to detail messages posted on Facebook, where Anderson would make frequent posts about rituals, magic and "raising her frequency."
In many posts to social media, Anderson wrote about how a 100-year-old demon was living inside her son and how demons were using children as "avatars."
On March 18, 2022, the document says Anderson wrote:
"Can't wait to tell this story about the exorcism. A book about living with a demonic child and a podcast."
Coleman made a similar post on April 10, saying that "most of the children aren't even really children at that just in an avatar playing a character."
Anderson was released from the Louisville jail the following day on April 11. She wrote on Facebook: "Just got out of a jail mission. Yes had to do some healing and killing."
Investigators say phone records revealed both Anderson and Coleman's phones were in the area of Holder Road on April 14.
Video surveillance obtained by someone who lives on the road shows a vehicle stopping where the suitcase was found.
The next day, Anderson posted to Facebook saying that "this is a whole demon in a child body."
"Losing energy huh! 64 years old in a child body," Anderson wrote. "Was full of gifts and magickal rites stronger than many of you because your frequency not high enough."
The following day, April 16, Cairo's body would be found inside the suitcase and Anderson's vehicle would be spotted on a highway camera driving south on I-65 over the bridge from Jeffersonville to Louisville.
Authorities discovered photos and videos on Coleman's Facebook profile showing her with the same 'Las Vegas' suitcase Cairo's body was found in.
A 6-month long investigation Salem's unknown angel
On April 16, Jeff Meredith was out mushroom hunting in a rural, wooded area of Washington County. As he walked, he spotted something unusual.
About 80 feet off of Holder Road, near Pekin, Indiana, was a bright blue, yellow and red suitcase sitting in a place it didn’t belong.
Meredith said he saw the suitcase and immediately thought to call the police, but he hesitated. He thought if they came all the way out there and it turned out to just be a suitcase he'd feel like a fool.
So, he opened it.
Inside he found the body of a young Cairo Jordan.
“It bothers me,” Meredith, a grandfather of five children, said. “"But, it ain't about me. It's about that little boy that they threw away like he was a piece of trash. That's what bothers me more than anything in the world.”
ISP searched local missing children reports, even expanding the search nationally, but nothing ever turned up.
"Somebody knows something," Sgt. Huls said in May.
A month later, ISP would release the child’s autopsy report providing more details into how he died. According to the report, the boy died from an electrolyte imbalance, most likely due to dehydration. The toxicology report was negative.
Despite not knowing Cairo's identity, the Salem community came together in June to give the young boy a proper funeral.
"We never knew him in life, but he has drawn us together with love and kindness,” Washington County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant Matt Hein said.
