Woman Arrested 2 Years After Son's Body Found in Suitcase

Dejuane Ludie Anderson arrested after tip from 'concerned citizen'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 27, 2022 4:45 PM CDT
Updated Mar 20, 2024 2:10 PM CDT
Mom Said Dead Boy in Suitcase Was Life-Ruining 'Demon': Cops
Dejuane Ludie Anderson   (Indiana State Police via Georgia Department of Driver Services)
UPDATE Mar 20, 2024 2:10 PM CDT

The mother of 5-year-old Cairo Ammar Jordan has been arrested two years after the boy's body was found in a suitcase in rural Indiana. Police say Dejuane Ludie Anderson was arrested in California last week and could be brought to Indiana soon, the Louisville Courier Journal reports. Police said she was arrested in the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia after a tip from a "concerned citizen." A warrant was issued in October 2022 on charges including murder and neglect of a dependent resulting in death, reports CNN. Police said in 2022 that Anderson and her friend, Dawn Elaine Coleman, published social media posts describing a child as a "demon" who needed to be killed. Coleman was arrested later that year and is now serving a 30-year sentence for conspiracy to commit murder.

Oct 27, 2022 4:45 PM CDT

Indiana state police say they've identified the young boy whose body was found wrapped in a trash bag, stuffed in a suitcase, and abandoned in the southern part of the state, and are now searching for his mother, who is wanted for murder. Police have arrested one person in California in connection with the death of 5-year-old Cairo Ammar Jordan but continue to search for 37-year-old Dejuane Ludie Anderson of Atlanta, reports CNN. A warrant for murder was issued Tuesday. Police say Anderson, last known to be in Los Angeles' Echo Park, is likely still in that area, though she has recently traveled to cities including San Francisco, San Diego, Houston, and Las Vegas. Notably, Cairo's body was found in a hard-shell suitcase featuring an image of the famous Las Vegas sign.

Police previously said the boy died of an "electrolyte imbalance" likely triggered by a virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea. However, they now point to social media posts in which Anderson described her son as a "demon who needed to be killed or exorcised," WBIW reports. A week before Cairo's body was found, she allegedly wrote that "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," adding "just because the avatar is of what we call a child does not mean that it is actually a child." She also allegedly contacted an Indianapolis priest, saying she'd survived "death attacks from my 5-year-old," who is actually "100 years old," though "I have been able to weaken his powers through our blood."

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Fingerprints on the trash bags allegedly point to Anderson—described as Black, 5'5", and 135 pounds, possibly with short, dark brown hair—and 40-year-old Dawn Elaine Coleman of Louisiana, who was arrested in San Francisco on Oct. 19 and is to be extradited to Indiana to face charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and obstruction of justice. Police say cellphone data puts both women in the area where Cairo's body was found on April 14, per WAVE. They also note Coleman was present when Anderson was arrested for child endangerment in South Carolina in March; she was allegedly driving 92mph in a 60mph zone with Cairo in the car. WBIW reports photos posted on social media show Coleman with a suitcase matching the one that hid the body. (More murder stories.)

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