Psych exams ordered for mother of boy found dead in suitcase in southern Indiana

SALEM, Ind. (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.

Washington County Circuit Judge Larry Medlock asked the doctors 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.

Medlock’s order came after the woman, during a strange court appearance April 2, said she had been under federal surveillance for eight months, identified herself with a name beginning with “Princess” and said she was “representing the entity” of Anderson.

Anderson sent multiple messages to the court this week. One asked Medlock to dismiss her case, which the judge denied. Another message notified the court that she was firing her public defender and requested to defend herself.

A telephone message seeking comment on Medlock’s order was left Wednesday afternoon for Anderson’s public defender.

Anderson is due back in court on April 25, with a tentative trial date scheduled for August.

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U.S. Marshals arrested Anderson last month in California after she had been nearly two years on the run.

Cairo Ammar Jordan’s body was discovered by a mushroom hunter in April 2022 in a wooded area about 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.

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.