WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ind. — Police have upgraded charges for a woman accused in the death of a 5-year-old Georgia boy found in a suitcase. The boy’s mother remains on the run.
Indiana State Police found a 5-year-old dead inside a Vegas suitcase on the side of the road in April. Officials identified him as Cairo Jordan from Atlanta in October, the same month where he would have turned six.
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Police identified Jordan’s mother, 37 year-old Dejuan Anderson, and another woman, Dawn Coleman, as suspects in his murder. Officials caught Coleman in Los Angeles, but Anderson has not yet been found.
Coleman made her first court appearance in Indiana after she was extradited back to the state last week.
Channel 2′s ABC affiliate WHAS-11 reported that Coleman now faces a new charge of aiding in murder, which comes with 45-65 year prison sentence if convicted.
WHAS-11 also obtained police reports that revealed new details in Jordan’s death.
According to a police affidavit, Coleman said she found Anderson in a bedroom on top of the child with his face buried in the mattress.
“It was already done,” Coleman said, according to the affidavit.
Coleman told police that there were trash bags already in the room when she walked in. She also said that she helped Anderson put his body into the suitcase, WHAS-11 reported.
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Police said they found Coleman and Anderson’s fingerprints on the trash bags. The autopsy report done on Jordan’s body showed he died from an electrolyte imbalance, likely due to dehydration.
Coleman pleaded not guilty during Monday’s hearing and the judge set her bond at $5 million.
Meanwhile, police continue to search for Anderson. In October, Channel 2 Action News spoke with Jordan’s grandmother, who said her son tried to get custody of Jordan.
“Hurt. Pain. Because he tried to you know, he wanted to get custody of his son but she disappeared and we didn’t know where they were,” she said.
They never expected this from his mother and urges her to turn herself in.
“She should turn herself in,” Jordan’s grandmother said. “She’s committed a crime. She needs to pay.”
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