Indiana State Police released this photo of a hard-shell Las Vegas suitcase in which a child’s body was found in April in Washington County.
Submitted photo
SELLERSBURG — Detectives with the Indiana State Police in Sellersburg have arrested a suspect in connection with the death of the boy found inside a suitcase in rural Washington County in April.
When detectives originally began investigating the case, there was little information available to assist them including the child’s name, according to a news release from Sgt. Carey Huls.
Huls, the Sellersburg Post’s public information officers, said a local mushroom hunter found the body in a distinctive Las Vegas-themed hard-shell suitcase approximately 80 feet off Holder Road. The dead end road is in an isolated area of southeastern Washington County.
Police released the name of the boy, Cairo Jordan Ammar, 5, of Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday. He would have been six on Monday.
On Oct. 14, Washington Circuit Court arrest warrants were issued for Dawn Elaine Coleman, 40, of Shreveport, Louisiana, and Dejaune Ludie Anderson, 37, of Atlanta, Georgia, for charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Level 1 felony, and obstruction of justice, a Level 6 felony.
Coleman has been arrested, but police continue to look for Anderson, who has been identified as the biological mother of the deceased child.
No family members, witnesses or acquaintances came forward to identify the boy or provide any information at the time he was discovered, Huls said.
Leads from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also proved unsuccessful as well as tips called in by the public, he said.
Information gathered from the autopsy shed little light on the investigation and listed the cause of death as “electrolyte imbalance,” likely caused by a “viral gastroenteritis,” Huls said.
From the onset of the investigation, ISP crime scene technicians, detectives and laboratory personnel utilized any physical evidence collected in hopes of determining and locating a suspect in the crime. No crime scene investigation technologies were spared in this investigation, including recent advanced technologies only available through federal and outside agencies, Huls reported.
Detectives and ISP criminal intelligence analysts also utilized a variety of electronic, digital communication and social media forensic techniques in the course of their investigation.
As a result of the investigation and physical evidence gathered at the scene, detectives identified Anderson and Coleman as suspects, Huls said.
As a result of information gathered during their investigation, ISP detectives Matt Busick and Chris Tucker traveled to San Francisco, California. On Oct. 19, 2022, Detective Matt Busick located and arrested Coleman with the assistance of the San Francisco Police Depart.
Continuing with information collected as part of the investigation, both detectives traveled to the Los Angeles, California, metro area but were unsuccessful in locating Anderson.
Based on information gathered during Busick’s continuing investigation, on Tuesday, the Washington County Circuit Court issued an arrest warrant for Anderson for the charge of murder. She is currently at large, and her location is unknown.
Police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Anderson, who is described as a Black female, 5-05, 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.
Her last known location was the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, California; however, she is known to travel and has recently been to San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas and Houston, Texas.
Anyone who observes or has current location information about Anderson is asked to contact the local police department with jurisdiction at that location.
Authorities with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations assisted in locating and contacting Cairo’s biological father after investigators were able to confirm the child was Cairo.
