Louisiana woman sentenced to prison in murder of 5-year-old boy found in suitcase in Indiana
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Louisiana woman has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for her role in the murder of a 5-year-old boy from Atlanta, whose body was found in a suitcase in southern Indiana last year.
Cairo Ammar Jordan's body was found on April 16, 2022, in Washington County, Indiana, near Louisville, Kentucky.
An autopsy found that the boy died from an electrolyte imbalance most likely due to gastroenteritis, or vomiting and diarrhea that led to dehydration, according to Indiana State Police. Investigators said the boy had died within a week prior to his body's discovery.
Police said Cairo had never been reported missing, slowing the investigation of the case, as he remained unidentified for months. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation helped Indiana authorities contact Cairo's father after investigators confirmed the boy's identity.
His mother, Dejaune Ludie Anderson, of Atlanta, is wanted on an arrest warrant on a murder charge. She also is charged with neglect of a dependent and obstruction of justice.
Another woman, Dawn Elaine Coleman, 41, Shreveport, Louisiana, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in Cairo's death. She has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, with five years of that sentence suspended to probation.
Police have said Coleman and Anderson had known each other for about a year, and had traveled extensively with her and Cairo, and the three had been staying together in a home in Louisville.
Investigators found both Coleman's and Anderson's fingerprints on black plastic bags the boy's body had been placed inside within the suitcase.
Police said Coleman admitted to walking into a bedroom of the home they shared in Louisville, where she saw Anderson lying on top of Cairo, who was face down on the bed. Coleman told police "it was already done" when she walked in, and Anderson asked her to help put Cairo into a trash bag, and then into the suitcase.
They then took Cairo's body to a wooded area in Washington County, outside of Pekin, where they dumped the suitcase. A man searching for mushrooms in April 2022 found the suitcase.
Coleman was arrested in California in October 2022 after police identified Cairo and linked Coleman to his death.
Anderson remained at large as of Tuesday.