Two years after child's body found in suitcase, mother arrested in California

The mom of a 5-year-old boy, who was discovered useless in a suitcase practically two years in the past in Indiana, was arrested in Arcadia in connection along with his homicide, in keeping with authorities.

Dejaune L. Anderson was arrested Thursday by the U.S. Marshals Service on allegations of homicide, neglect of a dependent leading to loss of life and obstruction of justice, Indiana State Police Sgt. Carey Huls instructed The Occasions.

Authorities had been tipped off by a “involved citizen,” and Anderson was detained whereas trying to board a practice, Huls stated. He declined to specify additional how authorities had been tipped off.

On April 16, 2022, a person looking for mushrooms in a wooded, rural space of Washington County, Indiana, discovered the physique of a 5-year-old boy in a brightly coloured suitcase, officers stated. The boy was recognized six months later as Cairo Jordan, an Atlanta resident.

Dejaune Ludie Anderson in a Georgia DMV photograph.

(Indiana State Police / AP)

An arrest warrant was issued for Anderson in October 2022, however the boy’s mom had been on the run ever since.

Investigators from Sellersburg, Ind., had been in Southern California over the weekend to attempt to communicate to Anderson and to proceed their investigation, in keeping with Huls. Anderson has a courtroom listening to Monday; the extradition course of will depend upon how she pleads. If she doesn’t struggle the extradition, officers from Indiana may choose her up within the subsequent week or two.

“If she fights extradition, then it’ll be on the mercy of California courts for it to play out,” Huls stated. “A governor’s warrant would in all probability be requested and courtroom system must work that out. It’ll be at the very least a month till that course of will get began.”

Anderson is initially from the Atlanta space and isn’t a resident of Indiana, Huls stated. She has no identified connection to Southern California.

Anderson’s buddy Daybreak Elaine Coleman, 41, of Shreveport, La., was sentenced to 30 years in jail with 5 years suspended to probation in reference to Cairo’s loss of life after reaching a cope with prosecutors in November.

Coleman pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit homicide, aiding, neglect of a dependent leading to loss of life and obstruction of justice, in keeping with authorities.

Coleman and Anderson had identified one another for a few 12 months and traveled along with Cairo; they’d been staying in a residence in Louisville on the time of the boy’s loss of life, in keeping with police.

Coleman instructed police that she noticed Anderson smothering Cairo by sitting on high of him when he was face-down on a mattress, in keeping with courtroom data. Coleman stated “it was already achieved” by the point she walked into the room and that Anderson requested her to assist put Cairo inside a trash bag after which a suitcase. They drove Cairo’s physique to Washington County and left him there within the suitcase, she stated.

Each Coleman’s and Anderson’s fingerprints had been discovered on the plastic luggage that contained Cairo’s physique contained in the suitcase, investigators stated.

In accordance with a possible trigger affidavit filed by the Indiana State Police for Anderson’s arrest, Anderson allegedly made references to exorcism and demonic possession concerning her 5-year-old son in Fb posts in March 2022.

“Can’t wait to inform my story: I needed to increase my frequency, heal myself and previous lives, heal my ancestors, heal s— within the universe, heal Gaia to exorcism a really highly effective demonic pressure from inside my son,” she wrote, in keeping with the affidavit.

Coleman posted comparable messages on Fb in April 2022, in keeping with the affidavit:

“Simply because the avatar is of what we name a toddler doesn’t imply that it’s truly a toddler there are beings which might be right here that aren’t speculated to be right here that choose avatars to cover behind to play roles to steal vitality and to destroy lives you higher examine to see if the youngsters that you simply assume are kids even have souls or in the event that they’re not melevolent [sic] beings with a soul and in a toddler Avatar.”

The boy died from an electrolyte imbalance more than likely attributable to gastroenteritis, or vomiting and diarrhea that led to dehydration, in keeping with Indiana State Police, citing post-mortem outcomes. The boy had died per week earlier than his physique was discovered.