Dawn Elaine Coleman and Cairo Jordan (Indiana State Police)
A 41-year-old woman from Louisiana has admitted to her role in the death of a 5-year-old boy from southern Indiana who was found abandoned in the woods inside of a suitcase last year. Dawn Elaine Coleman on Friday formally pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the tragic death of young Cairo Jordan, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a report from Louisville, Kentucky, ABC affiliate WHAS, Coleman reached a deal with the Washington County Prosecutor’s Office in which she agreed to plead guilty to the conspiracy charge and to testify against Cairo’s mother, 38-year-old mother Dejuane Ludie Anderson, in any future criminal proceedings relating to Cairo’s death. 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.
Dejuane Ludie Anderson (Indiana State Police)
As previously reported by Law&Crime, a mushroom hunter on April 26, 2022, discovered Cairo’s body in “a very distinctive suitcase” with the words “To Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada” that had been discarded in a heavily wooded area off of Holder Road in South East Washington County.
Police at the time said they had discovered an “approximately a 5-year-old Black male child” dead. He exhibited no apparent signs of trauma, they said. No witnesses, family members, or acquaintances came forward in connection with the dead child, and he didn’t match the description of any child who had been reported missing.
In attempting to identify the child, the department spared no expense and utilized every means available, including using crime scene evidence technologies that required outsourcing to federal agencies and eventually narrowed it down to two suspects, Coleman and Anderson.
On Oct. 14, 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. Detectives traveled to California where they took Coleman into custody with the assistance of the San Francisco Police Department, but were unable to locate Anderson. She has remained on the lam as investigators continue the search for the accused killer, authorities said.
In court documents obtained by WHAS, Coleman told investigators that she walked into a bedroom in the home she shared with Cairo and Anderson to find the mother sitting on top of her son, who was lying face-down on the mattress. She claimed that by the time she entered the room “it was already done,” meaning that Cairo was dead.
Coleman reportedly confirmed that she then assisted Anderson in stuffing Cairo’s body into the hard-shell Las Vegas suitcase and driving with her to Indiana where they dumped the luggage in the woods. Both women’s fingerprints were found on the suitcase and cellphone data placed them in the area where Cairo’s body was found just days before the suitcase was discovered.
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Court documents further indicated that in the days before Cairo was killed, his mother made a series of disconcerting posts on social media.
“I have survived the death attacks from my 5-year-old throughout the 5 years he has been alive,” she tweeted on April 12. “I have been able to weaken his powers through our blood. I have his real name and he is 100 years old. Need assistance.”
Three days later, she posted the following to Facebook:
This is a whole demon in a child body. Why you think she need a cigarette?!! Losing energy huh! 64 years old in a child body. Was full of gifts and magickal (sic) rites stronger than many of you because your frequency not high enough. Start asking spirit to reveal these things to you hiding behind a body.
She also made references to needing “to exorcism [sic] a very powerful demonic force from within my son,” adding, “just because the avatar is of what we call a child does not mean that it is actually a child.”
“[T]here are beings that are here that are not supposed to be here that pick avatars to hide behind to play roles to steal energy and ruin lives,” she wrote.
Authorities say that Anderson is about 5 feet, 5 inches tall, 135 pounds female, and has been spotted in California’s Echo Park as well as Houston and Las Vegas. Anyone with information as to her whereabouts is urged to contact police at 1-888-437-6432.
Coleman is currently being held at the Washington County Jail and is scheduled to appear for her sentencing hearing on Nov. 21.
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