Southern Indiana's 'Angel' identified; murder warrant issued for mother

Oct. 26—SOUTHERN INDIANA — Southern Indiana's 'Angel,' a 5-year-old boy adopted in the hearts of Washington County residents, has been identified as Cairo Ammar Jordan, of Atlanta.

His body was found stuffed in a suitcase in New Pekin in April and for months, no one even knew his name. Now police want to arrest his mother for his murder.

Indiana State Police updated the six-month mystery on Wednesday during an emotional press conference with the Washington County Sheriff's Department and Washington County Prosecutor's Office.

ISP Sgt. Carey Huls said Jordan would have turned 6 on Monday.

On Tuesday, a murder warrant for his mother, Dejaune Ludie Anderson, 37, of Atlanta, was signed in Washington County. Court records show she believed Jordan was possessed by a demon and had posted about it several times on social media.

"As a result of physical evidence and the investigation itself our detectives were able to identify two suspects in this case and detectives were also able to identify the deceased child," Huls said.

Washington County Circuit Court issued two felony warrants on Oct. 14, one for Anderson and another for Dawn Elaine Coleman, 40, of Shreveport, Louisiana.

"Those felony warrants were for neglect of a dependent, resulting in death and obstruction of justice," Huls said. "As a result of the information gathered, Det. Matt Busick and Det. Chris Tucker traveled to California. On Oct. 19 Detective Busick located and arrested Dawn Coleman, with the assistance of San Francisco police."

Police also went to the Los Angeles area to locate Anderson, but weren't successful. They said she was still at-large as of Wednesday and was last seen in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles. They also showed Anderson's mugshot from when she was booked into Louisville Metro Corrections, weeks before Jordan's body was discovered.

"Miss Coleman will be transported to Indiana sometime in under 30 days," Huls said. "Here on Indiana soil to answer to those charges. Again we need the public's help in locating Dejaune Anderson."

Huls said Anderson and Coleman were just passing through around the time Jordan's body was discovered. After leaving Southern Indiana they traveled to Houston, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; San Francisco, California; San Diego, California, and Los Angeles.

"Everyone coming together, we appreciated all the hours that's been spent by ISP and other law enforcement to identify this child and identify suspects and at least get one of those suspects in custody at this time," said Washington County Sheriff Brent Miller. "Hopefully with the help of the community we will be able to get the other suspect in custody in a timely manner so we can bring them both back here to Indiana to bring some closure in this case."

Anderson is described as a Black woman, 5-foot-5 and approximately 135 pounds. She had short, dark brown hair in her last known photo, but she is known to often wear wigs or hair extensions.

No family members, witnesses, or acquaintances came forward to identify the boy or provide any information, ISP said.

Jordan's father has been identified as 33-year-old Vincent Charles Jordan Jr.

"Detectives from this agency have spoken to his family," Huls said.

Vincent Jordan posted on Facebook about his son and said Anderson kept him from his father.

"She took him away at the beginning of our custody battle back in 2017, she threatened to call the police on me for coming to pick him up on a agreed weekend. She never showed up in court and it's killing me because that weekend is the last time I seen my baby boy. I swear y'all don't know the pain, as a father I feel defeated this was the only thing I feared on this earth," Vincent Jordan wrote.

Anderson was arrested and served jail time twice in the weeks prior to the discovery of Jordan's body.

According to court records, Anderson was arrested by the South Carolina Highway Patrol and charged with child endangerment, speeding and failure to stop for blue lights on March 12.

Officers in South Carolina tried to stop her for speeding after she led troopers on a pursuit that lasted about 30 miles before she ran out of gas.

At the time of that arrest Anderson was driving a 2019 Black Dodge Challenger with the name of her business on the side. It was registered to Coleman, who was with her and Jordan in the car.

Police said neither Anderson nor Coleman would open the doors for police following the chase and troopers had to break the back window to get inside. Anderson was transported to the Colleton County Jail.

Anderson was arrested two weeks after that by the Louisville Metro Police Department after she allegedly stole clothing from the Von Maur department store at Oxmoor Mall.

She was stopped by security after loss prevention witnessed her hiding clothes in a bag. Anderson then became violent and punched a security officer in the face, according to court records. Anderson was charged with robbery by LMPD on March 31 and released from Metro Corrections on April 11.

She made two posts on her Facebook page that day. The first said, "Just got out of a jail mission" and "Yes had to do some healing and killing."

On April 12 Anderson made a post on her public Twitter that read, "@FrVinceLampert good day sir. I need to speak with you urgently. I have survived the death attacks from 5-year-old throughout the 5 years he has been alive. I have been able to weaken his powers through our blood. I have his real name and he is 100 years old. Need assistance."

Two days later, on April 14, Anderson and Coleman's cellphone's pinged in the area of Holden Road, in New Pekin, where the child's body was found inside the suitcase.

Video surveillance from the area was obtained from someone who lives on Holder Road at around 4:53 p.m. on April 14. The vehicle appears to stop on Holder Road, in the area where the suitcase was found.

The next day, which was Good Friday, Anderson made another post on her Facebook page. It reads, "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 magical 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."

On April 16 police were alerted to the discovery of the suitcase and child. On that day Anderson's 2019 Dodge Challenger was captured on a RiverLink camera going south on Interstate 65 over the bridge from Jeffersonville to Louisville at about 8:16 p.m.

That evening a man called police and said he found Jordan's body in a suitcase on his property while he was hunting mushrooms. He said the suitcase wasn't covered and he opened it. Inside, he found a pillow and a black trash bag. When he opened the trash bag, he found Jordan's body.

Police arrived and confirmed they saw the same thing. At around 12:10 a.m. on Easter Sunday, the suitcase was put into a bag and transported to the Washington County Coroner's Office.

The next day, on April 18, ISP launched a national tip line and pleaded for people with information on the case to come forward.

"Thousands of tips came in," Huls said on Wednesday. "Unfortunately none of those tips were associated with this case. We are grateful for the tips, obviously people are wanting justice."

Over the summer residents of Washington County held a funeral for the boy. It happened on June 1 at Weathers Funeral Home in Salem.

Janet Irk and her daughter Yvonne Casey had been working to bring justice for Jordan.

Casey said her heart was broken when she heard the story of the child.

"(Washington County) is just a small, little community and you just don't think that it would happen here, that it shouldn't happen anywhere," Casey said in June. "But when it's just a small little community like this, it just overwhelms us and we have to come out and be the voice for the little kids."

The child was buried, with a headstone, at a gravesite in Washington County.

A few weeks later, on June 29, Indiana State Police Forensic Scientist Mallory Webb contacted a detective and said she matched fingerprints from two of the trash bags in the suitcase to Anderson. On July 25, Webb said she obtained a second fingerprint match, belonging to Coleman.

Nearly three months later a detective flew out and arrested Coleman. There are photos and videos of her on her public social media profiles that show her with the same Las Vegas suitcase where the child's body was found, according to authorities.

On Wednesday, Huls said he's grateful for the help and concern of the public, but the case is far from over.

"The number one thing at this point is we have a suspect at large," he said. "We have a murder warrant for Dejaune Anderson and we need the public's help. No matter where you live, no matter in the U.S. or out of the country, we could use help locating her for Cairo. Help us locate her for Cairo so justice can be served."