Nearly two years following the grim discovery of 5-year-old Cairo Jordan’s body concealed in a suitcase in the woods of southern Indiana, his mother, Dejuane L. Anderson, has been apprehended and charged with his murder. Anderson was arrested on Thursday and faces charges of murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and obstruction of justice, according to law enforcement officials.
The arrest was made possible by a tip from a citizen, which led authorities to locate Anderson in Arcadia, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. In collaboration with the U.S. Marshals Service in California, detectives apprehended Anderson as she attempted to board a public transit train. Detectives from the Indiana State Police Department’s Sellersburg post promptly traveled to California to further the investigation.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Carey Huls described the arrest as a “bitter-sweet” moment due to the horrific nature of the crime. While the arrest marks a significant step in the investigation, the sorrowful and somber nature of the case remains, Huls expressed during a news conference on Friday.
Anderson is currently detained at the Los Angeles Police Department detention site without bond. It remains unclear when she will be extradited back to Indiana to face her charges.
In a related development, Anderson’s friend, Dawn Elaine Coleman, pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to commit murder in connection with Cairo’s death. In November 2023, a judge sentenced her to 25 years in prison and an additional five years of probation. In exchange for her cooperation, prosecutors dropped additional charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, aiding or inducing murder, and obstruction of justice.
Cairo’s body was discovered by a mushroom hunter on April 26, 2022, concealed in a distinctive suitcase bearing the words “To Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada” in a heavily wooded area in South East Washington County. The child showed no apparent signs of trauma, and no family members, acquaintances, or witnesses came forward in connection with the case.
The investigation led to the identification of two suspects, Coleman and Anderson, based on crime scene evidence technologies that required outsourcing to federal agencies. In October 2022, the Washington County Circuit Court issued two felony arrest warrants for Anderson and Coleman on charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and obstruction of justice.
Court documents reveal that Coleman confessed to finding Anderson sitting on top of Cairo, who was lying facedown on a mattress. Coleman admitted to assisting Anderson in concealing Cairo’s body in the suitcase and disposing of it in the Indiana woods. Their fingerprints were found on the suitcase, and cellphone data placed them in the area where Cairo’s body was discovered.
In the days leading up to Cairo’s death, Anderson made a series of disturbing posts on social media, referring to her son as a “demon” and expressing a need to perform an exorcism.