A Louisiana woman named Dawn Elaine Coleman has pled guilty for her role in the tragic and bizarre death of 5-year-old Cairo Ammar Jordan, and has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for helping cover up his death. Jordan’s mother, Dejaune Ludie Anderson, remains at large and is wanted by police.
Jordan’s body was found in April 2022 stuffed inside a suitcase in Indiana by a hiker who was hunting mushrooms. Investigation into the child’s death was slow due to the fact that no one, including the boy’s father, ever reported him missing – a testament to the likely unhappiness of the child’s brief life.
Police say that the child died of an electrolyte imbalance caused by vomiting and diarrhea associated with viral gastroenteritis. Police do not believe the child was placed in the suitcase while still alive.
Police issued warrants for Coleman and Anderson last October after discovering their fingerprints on trash bags used to wrap Jordan’s body inside the suitcase. At the time, authorities believed Anderson was hiding out in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles.
According to police, Coleman claims that she and Anderson had met about a year prior and had been traveling together with Jordan. Coleman admitted to walking into the room and seeing Anderson on top of Jordan, but she claims that Jordan was already dead at the time. She admitted to helping Anderson dispose of the body. At the time of Jordan’s death, Anderson and Coleman were believed to be living in Louisville, Kentucky.
Coleman told police that Anderson believed that Jordan was possessed by demons, an account confirmed by Anderson’s facebook posts, which said in 2021 that she believed her son had a demon that needed to be “exorcised or killed.” In other posts, she discussed using hexes and rituals on the boy, in order to cleanse “a very powerful demonic force from within my son.”
Coleman also allegedly posted on Facebook material that apparently indicated her belief that Jordan was acting as an “avatar” of a demonic being.
Even though Jordan’s body had not yet been identified, the residents of Salem, Indiana held a memorial for him after his discovery. Another was held after Jordan’s body was identified, with the remaining members of his family in attendance.
A warrant remains outstanding for Anderson on charges of murder and child abuse and neglect. Anyone with information on Anderson’s whereabouts is encouraged to contact the Indiana State Police, who are investigating Jordan’s murder.