WASHINGTON COUNTY, INDIANA, Ind. — An Indiana court ruled it would not be throwing out the case against a woman charged in the death of a boy whose body was found in a suitcase in southern Indiana.
Dawn Coleman, 40, of Louisiana, is charged with aiding, inducing or causing murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors say Coleman helped 37-year-old DeJaune Ludie Anderson, of Atlanta, dispose of her 5-year-old son's body in April 2022.
Last month, Coleman's lawyer Ryan Bower filed a motion asking the Circuit Court of Washington County to dismiss the case against her.
Bower argued that Coleman is charged in Indiana where Cairo Jordan's body was found, but documents allege Cairo's murder actually happened in Kentucky and his body was dumped in Indiana.
Documents say Coleman told investigators she walked into a bedroom of the trio's Louisville home and found Anderson on top of Cairo. The boy was face down on the mattress and, Coleman said, "it was already done."
Coleman said she helped Anderson put Cairo's body in a hard-sided Las Vegas suitcase before they drove across the border into Washington County, Indiana, where Coleman dumped the suitcase in the woods.
The court on Tuesday decided that because Cairo's body was found in Washington County, Indiana, law says Washington County can have jurisdiction.
Plus, the court said, despite the fact that this case involves multiple states and counties, so far, there hasn't been any kind of dispute with any other jurisdiction about who has priority or if Washington County is the right place for the case to be heard.
Bower also argued the charges are unconstitutional because they fail to specify the acts that prompted Coleman to be charged. Without this specific evidence, he said, Coleman is not able to prepare a defense, which violates her 6th and 14th Amendment rights.
In response to this argument, the court simply wrote: "The Defendant was obviously able to figure out the allegations in order to make arguments in support of her Motion to Dismiss."
The court wrote that Coleman's case could ultimately be dismissed — but only if prosecutors fail to present sufficient evidence and right now, the court said, it's premature for it to dismiss the case.
Where is DeJaune Anderson?
Members of the San Francisco Police Department Tactical Unit and ISP arrested Coleman on an out-of-state warrant on Oct. 19 in San Francisco.
Anderson, on the other hand, remains at large.
According to the court documents, Coleman claims Anderson talked about her son being possessed as they got into the car and then drove to Indiana to dump the suitcase.
A felony murder arrest warrant was issued for Anderson in November 2022. She is currently still missing. Police searched for her in the Los Angeles metro area, but had no luck finding her.
Police said she's known to travel and in November 2022, police said she had recently been to San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas and Houston.
Anderson is about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and 135 pounds. She had short, dark brown hair in her last known photo, but she is known to often wear wigs or hair extensions.
