Judge orders mental exam of mom of boy found dead in suitcase in southern Indiana
SALEM, Ind. (WISH/AP) — A judge on Wednesday ordered a psychologist and a psychiatrist to examine the mother of a 5-year-old Atlanta boy whose body was found in a suitcase in Indiana in 2022, court documents show.
Washington Circuit Judge Larry Medlock asked the doctors, both from Indianapolis, to perform mental evaluations of Dejaune Anderson to determine her competency to stand trial on charges of murder, neglect, and obstruction of justice in the death of Cairo Ammar Jordan.
A mushroom hunter discovered the boy’s body in April 2022 in a wooded area some 35 miles (55 kilometers) northwest of Louisville, Kentucky. An autopsy found that Cairo died from vomiting and diarrhea that led to dehydration, state police said. Investigators said the boy had died about a week or less before the mushroom hunter came upon the body.
U.S. Marshals arrested Anderson in March in California after she had been nearly two years on the run.
The judge’s order Wednesday came as Anderson sent multiple messages to the court since Monday. One of her messages asked the court to dismiss her case, which the judge denied. Another message notified the court that she was firing her public defender. She also repeated a request to defend herself.
In addition to seeking to defend herself in court, Anderson had made a statement during her initial hearing on April 2 that the National Security Agency Space Force had been following her prior to her arrest.
Her next hearing was set for April 24. The judge has granted requests for cameras in the courtroom.
A jury trial has been preliminarily set for August.
A second woman charged in the case reached a plea deal with prosecutors in November.
Dawn Coleman, 41, of Shreveport, Louisiana, was sentenced to 30 years in prison with five years suspended to probation after pleading guilty to aiding, inducing or causing murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and obstruction of justice.