Cairo Jordan murder case: Everything we know about the boy found in a suitcase in 2022

Nearly two years after the body of 5-year-old Cairo Jordan was found inside of a suitcase abandoned in a wooded area in Southern Indiana, Indiana State Police announced Friday that his mother, Dejuane Ludie Anderson, had been arrested in connection with his death.

Indiana State Police said Anderson was taken into custody without incident Thursday by the U.S. Marshals Service in California.

While Dawn Coleman, Anderson's friend and a second person of interest in the case, has been sentenced in the death, police had sought Anderson since the start of the investigation of the case.

Here's what we know about the case so far:

Where was Cairo Jordan’s body found?

The then-unidentified five-year-old's body was found in Southern Indiana on April 16, 2022. An area resident hunting for mushrooms reportedly found his body near a roadway in a heavily wooded area in the 7000 block of East Holder Road in Washington County, 25 miles northwest of Louisville.

He was found in a closed, hard-shell suitcase printed with "Welcome to the Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada."

Police identified Cairo Jordan's body six months later

Indiana State Police announced the identity of the boy on Oct. 26, 2022, six months after his body was found.

Cairo Jordan was buried in May 2022

Cairo was buried with a headstone that said "In loving memory of a beloved little boy known but to God."

His full name has since been engraved on a space left open at the time of his burial.

How did Cairo Jordan die?

Police said Cairo died due to an electrolyte imbalance "most likely caused by gastroenteritis, which in common laymans' terms would be vomiting and diarrhea. And that resulted in dehydration."

Police said Cairo Jordan’s mother and her friend were responsible for his death

At an October 2022 press conference, police identified Dawn Elaine Coleman, of Shreveport, Louisiana, and Cairo's mother, Dejuane Ludie Anderson of Atlanta, as suspects. Both were charged with neglect and obstruction of justice, and Anderson was additionally charged with murder.

Dawn Elaine Coleman arrested in connection with Cairo Jordan’s death

Coleman was found and arrested in San Francisco in October 2022, then extradited to Indiana.

She pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit murder in relation to the boy's death and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Investigators believe she had Cairo in her custody for about two weeks in April 2022.

Anderson had not then been located by police, who said she had been to San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas and Houston since Caro’s death.

Cairo Jordan death investigation findings

A police investigation determined Coleman had been living with Anderson and Cairo in a house in Louisville. Coleman's arrest affidavit stated she allegedly walked into a bedroom of the home, where she witnessed Anderson lying on top of Cairo, who was face down on a mattress. Police said Coleman told them "it was already done" by the time she walked in and that Anderson asked her to help put Cairo in a trash bag and then into a suitcase. Anderson and Coleman then drove to a wooded area outside Pekin, Indiana, where they dumped the suitcase, police said.

Fingerprints belonging to Coleman and Anderson were found on contents within the suitcase and police found phones owned by the women in the area where Cairo's body was found, The Courier Journal reported.

Additionally, RiverLink data found a car owned by Anderson crossed a bridge between Louisville and southern Indiana the day the body was recovered.

Cairo Jordan’s mother has a troubled past

Anderson was arrested in Louisville less than a month before her son's death and charged with second-degree robbery after being accused of attempting to steal merchandise from the city's Von Maur store, according to her arrest citation, and hitting a security guard in the face once confronted. She was released on her own recognizance April 11, 2022.

Both Anderson and Coleman had published several social media posts that referred to a child as a "demon" and "an avatar playing a character" ahead of Cairo's death, according to Coleman's arrest affidavit. At one point, Anderson is alleged to have written a post that referred to writing a "book about living with a demonic child."

Where is Cairo Jordan’s father?

On Oct. 25,  2022 a man who identified himself as Cairo's father posted on Facebook that he had just learned of his son's death. The name on the account matches the name of the father identified by investigators and belonged to a man who lives in Atlanta, where Cairo was born. In the post, the man said he hadn't seen his son in three years and that his family had been searching for Cairo and Anderson.

IndyStar reporters Cate Charron and Jenny Porter Tilley, and Louisville Courier Journal reporters Rachel Smith, Krista Johnson and Leo Bertucci contributed to this report.

Contact IndyStar reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at cheryl.jackson@indystar.com or 317-444-6264. Follow her on X.com:@cherylvjackson.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Cairo Jordan murder: Everything known about the case