Man who found body of boy in suitcase finds comfort in learning his name

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ind. (WAVE/Gray News) – A man was foraging for mushrooms in the woods near his home the day before Easter Sunday when he discovered a suitcase containing the remains of a little boy.

Indiana State Police identified the child Wednesday as 5-year-old Cairo Jordan of Atlanta.

Jeffrey Meredith said he was both sad and relieved when he learned the boy’s name.

“I can’t help but get emotional about him,” Meredith said. “But I’m glad I found his name. Because I was so worried I would pass in my life without ever knowing that little fella’s name or where he was from. That was the most important thing in the world.”

From a rocking chair on his front porch, Meredith looked to the woods across the road as he recalled the trauma he experienced discovering Cairo’s body.

“Whenever I (saw) him like that, it was the most horrifying thing that any human would have to go through. Especially when you’ve got grandbabies about the same age. You don’t expect anything like that in your life – ever,” Meredith said.

Meredith experienced something he says that no one should ever have to go through.

“When I opened that suitcase and I saw that little fella, his eyeballs, it was like he was screaming to me to help,” Meredith explained. “The only thing I knew to do was to call 911.”

His heart breaks thinking about what the child might have experienced.

Identification of the remains has allowed him to put a name to the life he wishes he could have saved.

“Cairo is the sweetest name I believe I’ve ever heard in my life. That’s the truth. Wow,” Meredith said as his eye filled with tears. “He was a handsome little fella, wasn’t he?”

Copyright 2022 WAVE via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.