SALEM, Ind. (WDRB) -- It's been nearly two years since 5-year-old Cairo Jordan was laid to rest in Salem.
Since that day, the people who rallied around him have been praying police would find his mother and put her behind bars.
Teddy bears, flowers and angels still surround Cairo's headstone. The story of the young boy found stuffed in a suitcase shattered the city of Salem.
Nearly two years later, he's still on their minds.
"Just to keep his little face out there and his memory," Janet Irk said.
Irk and her daughter Yvonne Casey held vigils and made t-shirts, hoping and praying for justice. Friday, that day came.
"I thank God for the person that found her and had the nerve to call and report it," Irk said.
Police got a tip Cairo's mother, Dejuane Anderson, was just outside of Los Angeles, an area they suspected she was hiding since the day the boy was dumped in the woods in Washington County, Indiana.
She's charged with murder and neglect resulting in death.
"I always think of that old saying you can run but you can't hide, and she ran for two years, but she couldn't hide forever," Casey said. "They got her."
Another person, Dawn Coleman, was convicted in November for her role in his death and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
"He'll never have the chance to ever see 30, you know?" Casey said. "So, I just say until she takes her last breath, she ought to be in there."
As for Salem, the boy the small town adopted as their own can finally rest in peace.
"I think they should paint his little face on the wall of her cell and her look at that little baby everyday of the rest of her life," Casey said.
A sliver of hope now shining down over a shadow that's been cast since their unknown angel was found.
The women are holding a prayer vigil at 4:30 p.m. on April 16, the anniversary of the day he was found, at Crown Hill Cemetery in Salem.
Related Stories:Â
- Mother of 5-year-old found dead in suitcase in southern Indiana arrested after nearly 2 years on the run
- Woman convicted in death of 5-year-old found in suitcase in southern Indiana learns her sentence
- Woman charged in death of 5-year-old boy found in suitcase in southern Indiana pleads guilty
- Police say mother murdered 5-year-old boy found dead in suitcase in southern Indiana
- State police plan to release new details in case of 5-year-old boy found dead in suitcase in southern Indiana
- 3 months after boy found in suitcase in Indiana, hard questions remain
- Southern Indiana community holds vigil for 5-year-old boy found in a suitcase
- ISP says search for identity of 5-year-old boy found in suitcase is 'getting bigger by the day'
Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.Â
