A Louisiana woman was sentenced to 30 years in prison for her role in the death of a 5-year-old boy from southern Indiana found in a suitcase abandoned in the woods.
Dawn Elaine Coleman, 41, received the sentence after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the tragic death of young Cairo Jordan. She’ll serve 25 in prison and get five years probation under the terms of her plea agreement, online court records show.
“You packaged Cairo up like trash … and dumped him like garbage,” Judge Larry Medlock said to Coleman at the hearing, CBS Louisville affiliate WLKY-TV reported. “You chose not to stop it, not to call the authorities.”
A mushroom hunter discovered Cairo’s body on April 26, 2022, in “a very distinctive suitcase” with the words “To Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada” that had been discarded in a heavily wooded area.
Police 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.
The Washington County Circuit Court issued two felony arrest warrants on Oct. 14, 2022, for Coleman and Cairo’s mother, 38-year-old mother Dejuane Ludie Anderson, 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 locate Anderson. She has remained on the lam as investigators continue the search for the accused killer, authorities said.
Dawn Elaine Coleman and Cairo Jordan (Indiana State Police)
In court documents obtained by ABC’s Louisville, Kentucky, affiliate 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.
Dejuane Ludie Anderson (Indiana State Police)
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. “I have been able to weaken his powers through our blood. I have his real name, and he is 100 years old. Need assistance.”
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.
Law&Crime’s Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
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