Dejaune Anderson at her arraignment (WHAS/YouTube screenshot). Insets: Cairo Jordan, top, and the suitcase in which his body was discovered, bottom (Indiana State Police)
A 38-year-old mother in Indiana accused of killing her 5-year-old son, stuffing him in a suitcase, and abandoning his body in the Indiana woods appeared in court for the first time and claimed that the federal government — specifically, the NSA and U.S. Space Force — had been surveilling her for months while she was on the lam and declared her intent to act as her own defense attorney in her pending murder trial.
Dejaune Anderson on Tuesday appeared before Washington County Circuit Court Judge Larry W. Medlock on Tuesday where she was arraigned on murder, neglect of a dependent, and obstruction of justice in the 2022 slaying of young Cairo Jordan.
Cairo’s body was discovered on April 26, 2022, by a mushroom hunter in “a very distinctive suitcase” with the words “To Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada” that had been discarded in a heavily wooded area in South East Washington County, authorities said. Police described the area as a “very isolated” dead-end road that was “not heavily traveled at all.”
Washington County is located in southeast Indiana, some 45 miles northwest of Louisville in neighboring Kentucky.
Tuesday’s hearing
After being read the charges against her and informed of her rights and penalties, Anderson advised the court that she will file for self-representation and requested five days to prepare arguments to do so.
“It’s not that I can’t afford a lawyer,” Anderson said in courtroom footage provided by Louisville, Kentucky, ABC affiliate WHAS. “I understand the nature of my case, and I understand this is my life on the line.”
The court granted her request but also determined that a public defender should be appointed “until such time that either counsel is hired or she provides evidence to the Court that she is capable of properly representing herself,” according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
In regard to Anderson’s bond, the state prosecutors requested that the court “take judicial notice” of the probable cause affidavit filed by police and emphasized “the gravity of the case” and the fact that Anderson had been a fugitive for two years after her son’s body was discovered.
Speaking on her own behalf, Anderson objected to the state’s characterization of her as a “fugitive” and claimed that she held “Q-classified evidence” that was relevant to her prosecution.
“I am not a fugitive. I have been under NSA surveillance for the past eight months and how can that qualify me as a fugitive on the run, when I’ve also had a detail from Space Force that was following my every move,” she told the court.
Medlock interrupted Anderson, saying that her claims did not constitute a “valid objection” to the state’s argument that she remain in detention without bond. He then explained that if she wanted to represent herself at trial she would “have to learn the rules of evidence and the rules of procedure,” saying, “if you continue to conduct yourself like this and make these types of objections, you have no chance in the world, lady.”
He then overruled her objection.
Anderson is scheduled to appear in court again on June 15. Her trial is currently scheduled to begin on August 6.
The alleged murder
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 appeared to have been left in the woods off Holder Road in South East Washington County.
Police said then they discovered a Black 5-year-old boy dead with no apparent signs of trauma. 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 used crime scene evidence technologies that required outsourcing to federal agencies and narrowed the suspect list to two — Anderson and her friend, Dawn Elaine Coleman.
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 could not find Anderson.
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 facedown 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. The women’s fingerprints were found on the suitcase, and cellphone data placed them in the area where Cairo’s body was found days before the suitcase was discovered.
Coleman last year pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder in Cairo’s death. A judge in November 2023 ordered her to serve a sentence of 25 years in prison and an additional five years of probation.
In the days before Cairo was killed, his mother made a series of disconcerting posts on social media, court documents said.
“I have survived the death attacks from my 5-year-old throughout the 5 years he has been alive,” she tweeted on April 12, according to the documents. “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 reportedly 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 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.
Watch Tuesday’s hearing below.
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