SALEM – Dejuane Anderson who investigators say put her dead child’s body in a suitcase believed a demon lived inside the child.
According to police, 5-year-old Cairo Ammar Jordan’s body was found inside a suitcase in Washington County on April 16, 2022. Jeff Meredith was out mushroom hunting in a rural, wooded area of Washington County. About 80 feet from the roadway, Meredith found a bright blue, yellow, and red suitcase. He immediately thought to call the police but hesitated thinking “this may be nothing”, so he opened the suitcase.
An autopsy released earlier found he died due to an “electrolyte imbalance” most likely attributed to a “viral gastroenteritis.” Investigators say Cairo likely died due to vomiting and diarrhea, leading to dehydration.
ISP Sgt. Carey Huls said Cairo’s body was found clean and clothed, and there is no indication he was placed in the suitcase alive.
Two felony arrest warrants were issued for Dawn Elaine Coleman, 40, of Louisiana, and 37-year-old Dejuane Ludie Anderson, of Georgia, the mother of the child, in connection to the child’s death.
Police say fingerprints found on the two trash bags Cairo’s body was wrapped in provided a big break in the case.
One match found on June 29 pointed to Anderson, according to court documents, while another match found on July 25 belonged to Coleman.
Photos posted on Anderson’s social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, showed photos of Cairo, police said. Photos from Coleman’s accounts showed pictures and videos of her with the suitcase matching the one in which Cairo’s body was discovered in.
As a result of information gathered during their investigation, ISP Detective Matt Busick and ISP Detective Chris Tucker traveled to San Francisco, California. On October 19, 2022, Detective Matt Busick located and arrested Dawn Coleman with the assistance of the San Francisco Police Department. She will be transported back to Washington County, Indiana to face charges.
Police are not saying how Coleman was involved but she is not related to the family.
Anderson is still believed to be in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, California.
“Help us locate her for Cairo so that justice can be served for him,” Sgt. Huls added.
Anderson made several Facebook and Twitter posts between December 2021 and April 2022 saying she believed her son was a “demon who needed to be killed or exorcised”.
She wrote of hexes and curses, “protection spells” and “reversal spells,” according to court documents. In a Jan. 5, 2022, post, she wrote, “I’m using my blood for this ritual.”
On Feb. 19, 2022, she wrote that she had to raise her “frequency” in order to heal others and her ancestors. She needed to exorcise “a very powerful demonic force from within my son.”
On March 18, 2022, she posted she couldn’t “wait to tell this story.” She mentioned a “book about living with a demonic child” and a “podcast.” She also wrote of “avatars” that were hiding “in plain sight.”
Police say Coleman also wrote a Facebook post on April 8, 2022, saying “Just because the avatar is of what we call a child does not mean that it is actually a child…there 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 to ruin lives.”
She went on to post magic was real and curses were real, warning others against “catering” to evil beings hiding in plain sight.
She reached out to an Indianapolis priest on Twitter on April 12, 2022, saying she needed to speak with him urgently because she had survived an attack from her 5-year-old son.
“I have been able to weaken his powers through our blood,” she wrote. “I have his real name and he is 100 years old. Need assistance.”
Court documents provide a timeline of the events leading up to the dumping of Cairo’s body.
Investigators learned Anderson had previous run-ins with the law, including an arrest on a child endangerment charge in South Carolina. She’d led police on a chase in March 2022, going 92 mph in a 60-mph zone with Cairo in the car, according to court documents. Coleman was with them. That chase ended when the Dodge Challenger Anderson was driving ran out of gas. Neither woman would open the doors of the vehicle after the chase and police had to break the driver’s side window to get inside.
Anderson was arrested and Coleman and the child were taken to an area hotel.
On March 31, 2022, Anderson was arrested in Louisville, KY. after being stopped by Oxmoor Mall security outside of the Von Maur store. She was caught shoplifting clothing. She punched a security officer in the face and was jailed. While in jail she called Coleman on two occasions.
Anderson was released on her own recognizance from jail on April 11, 2022. She never showed up for her May court appearances and a warrant was issued for her arrest for failure to appear.
On April 12th, Anderson tweeted “I have survived the death attacks from my 5-year-old throughout the 5 years he has been alive. I have been able to weaken his powers through our blood. I have his real name and he is 100 years old. Need assistance.”
Two days later, on April 14, investigators pinged both Anderson’s and Coleman’s cell phones in Washington County where Cairo’s body was later found. Police also obtained surveillance footage of a vehicle stopping in the area.
On April 15th Anderson posted on 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.”
At 8:16 p.m. on April 16, 2022, a RiverLink camera captured images of Anderson’s car driving south on I-65 over the bridge from Jeffersonville, IN., to Louisville, KY. The same day Cairo’s body was found.
