What one North Hollywood woman thought was just an eccentric neighbor turned out to be a fugitive wanted for allegedly murdering her 5-year-old son during a prolonged mental-health episode in which she thought the child was a demon, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The woman, who spoke to the Times anonymously, said Dejaune Anderson caused a ruckus in March by “using what appeared to be a broom to repeatedly smash the walls and ceiling.”
“She also heard high-pitched chanting, as if someone were trying to summon something,” the Times added.
Anderson’s 5-year-old son, Cairo Amman Jordan, was found dead in a suitcase in the southern Indiana woods in 2022.
Though two others have been arrested in connection with Jordan’s death, Anderson remained on the loose until March.
Before Anderson’s arrest, she used the alias “Olla” and claimed her North Hollywood apartment was being rented by her father, whom the apartment manager said appeared initially but wasn’t seen again.
Anderson, meanwhile, told the manager that neighbors were trying to kill her, claimed to be a cousin of former President Donald Trump and taped on her walls “large strips of white paper scribbled with conspiracy theories in colored marker,” the Times reported, including asserting that she was the “rightful queen of Scotland.”
Such beliefs seemed to have preceded Jordan’s death.
“Authorities in court records paint a troubled portrait of Anderson, alleging she believed her young son was actually a century-old demon who was trying to kill her,” the Times reported.
Ahead of her tentative trial in August, Anderson is undergoing psychological exams, the Associated Press reports.
“[The judge’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,” the AP added.