WASHINGTON COUNTY, INDIANA, Ind. — An Atlanta woman accused of killing her 5-year-old son and dumping his body in a rural part of southern Indiana more than two years ago plans to defend herself in court, according to several new court documents released Wednesday.
Dejaune Anderson, the mother of Cairo Jordan, is charged with murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death and obstruction of justice in the young boy's death.
During her arraignment on April 2, Washington County Judge Larry Medlock assigned a public defender to Anderson's case after she claimed she was under NSA surveillance for several months and claimed Space Force was tracking her movements during the two-year manhunt that came after her son Cairo's body was discovered in 2022.
In new handwritten court documents filed Tuesday, Anderson proclaimed she would like to represent herself in upcoming court hearings. She claimed the court-appointed attorney, Alex Ooley, is "the grandson of [President] Joe Biden" and notified him of his termination on April 8.
"Any motions, filings, pleadings on the behalf of the entity Dejaune L. Anderson by Washington County Public Defender Office are null and void," she wrote.
WHAS11 reached out to Ooley Wednesday to clarify his status on the case and any alleged connection to the Biden family.
As of Wednesday afternoon, he had not returned a phone call seeking comment.
Anderson -- who identified herself as "Princess Califia Hatun Tupak Bey II" -- filed additional motions requesting the judge allow her case to go without trial and argued her charges should be dismissed, citing alleged violations of her due process rights under the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment.
Wednesday, Judge Medlock filed his own motions, requesting Anderson undergo psychiatric evaluations by two doctors to determine her state of mind and see if she is competent to stand trial in August.
Anderson is being held at a Washington County jail without bond. She will be back in court on April 25 for a pre-trial hearing.
Case background
On April 16, 2022, Jeff Meredith was hunting for mushrooms in a wooded area of Washington County, Indiana, when he found a bright, multi-colored “Las Vegas” print suitcase. Inside was the body of 5-year-old Cairo Jordan.
An autopsy report revealed Cairo died from an electrolyte imbalance, likely from complications caused by dehydration.
Two women have been charged in Cairo's death: Dawn Coleman and his mother, Dejaune Anderson.
Coleman was arrested in October of 2023. She took a plea deal last November, pleading guilty to aiding, inducing or causing murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and obstruction of justice.
She will spend 25 years in prison with five years of probation but will receive a year-and-a-half credit for time served. As part of the plea agreement, Coleman will need to testify against Anderson in any criminal case related to the death of Jordan.
According to court documents, 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 court documents claim Coleman told investigators, "it was already done."
Coleman said she helped Anderson put Cairo's body in a hard-sided suitcase with a Las Vegas label before they drove across the Ohio River into Washington County, Indiana, where Coleman dumped the suitcase in the woods.
In a probable cause affidavit, the lead detective wrote that fingerprint testing of the trash bags found in the suitcase matched Anderson’s.
Anderson was known to frequently post on social media about rituals, magic and "raising her frequency."
In many posts to social media, Anderson wrote about how a 100-year-old demon was living inside her son and how demons were using children as "avatars."
Days before Cairo's body was found, Anderson tried contacting an Indiana priest about doing an exorcism on the young boy.