Friday police said the mother wanted on a murder warrant was caught in California over two years after her 5-year-old son's body was found in a suitcase on an Indiana roadway.
Since October 2022, Dejaune Ludie Anderson has being sought for her role in Cairo Jordan's death. Officials say an Indiana mushroom hunter found her son Cairo's remains in a bag months earlier. Las Vegas-themed luggage found in rural Washington County woods beside a road in April 2022.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Carey Huls told a news conference that Anderson was arrested Thursday night in Arcadia, California, east of Los Angeles.“It’s still a sorrowful, somber moment in the investigation,” Huls added. "But it's something we've anticipated for almost two years."
A Washington County judge issued an arrest warrant for Anderson in October 2022 for murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and obstruction of justice.Dawn Coleman, who was apprehended, convicted, and sentenced to 25 years, was also wanted, but Anderson escaped.
Huls said an Indiana State Police detective “received information from a concerned citizen,” leading to Anderson's arrest in Arcadia this week. Huls said Anderson was jailed in Los Angeles Friday. Friday night, it was unclear if she had an attorney.Authorities will try to extradite Anderson to Indiana.Huls said police are not searching for anyone else involved in Cairo's killing.
He called Cairo's death "tragic and horrific."Huls said investigators worked hard and were convinced Anderson would be captured.
"We knew they would get the break and knowledge they needed. He stated we knew this day would come.Coleman, the other woman indicted, pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy in 2022. She received a 25-year sentence in November.
Autopsy results show Cairo died from vomiting and diarrhea that dehydrated him, state police say.Huls claimed the Indiana community buried and decorated the youngster."There's still flowers to this day that are placed at his gravesite, and people praying for him and his family," he said.
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