Main: Daniel Callihan appearing in court (WWLTV). Insets, top to bottom: Erin Brunett (Amber Alert) and Callie Brunett (Facebook).
A 37-year-old man in Louisiana accused of killing a 35-year-old mother in her mobile home, then kidnapping her two young daughters, killing one, will spend the remainder of his life behind bars after pleading guilty to a pair of federal charges. Daniel Callihan formally pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of kidnapping resulting in death and one count of transporting a minor in interstate commerce with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, authorities announced.
Callihan faces a mandatory life sentence on the first count and 10 years to life on the second count. He could also be fined up to $500,000. In exchange for pleading guilty, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Louisiana agreed not to seek the death penalty.
Victoria Cox, his girlfriend and alleged co-conspirator in the kidnappings and killings, has been indicted in Mississippi on a capital murder charge, where she may still face the death penalty.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, the case came to light in June 2024 when Callie Brunett was found dead in her locked mobile home in Loranger, about an hour north of New Orleans, a day after she was reported missing. The victim suffered more than 50 stab wounds to her head, neck, chest, abdomen, and back. Brunett lived in the home with her two young daughters, 4-year-old Erin Brunett and her 6-year-old sister, both of whom were missing.
Prosecutors said Callihan, on the night of June 12, 2024, killed Brunett and kidnapped both girls in Brunett’s car, driving to pick up Cox, then crossing state lines and bringing the victims to a residence in the 3900 block of Boozier Drive in Jackson, Mississippi. Callihan and Brunett had previously dated, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Callihan and Cox “engaged in sexual battery” with Brunett’s 6-year-old daughter. Callihan then “purposely suffocated [Erin] to death by holding Minor Victim 1 closely against his chest,” prosecutors said in a news release. Following his arrest, Callihan confessed to murdering Brunett and Erin as well as sexually battering Erin’s sister.
Authorities discovered Erin’s body in a wooded area near the Mississippi home on July 13, 2024. Her sister was found alive nearby and transported to the hospital for treatment.
The crime scene where the children were found was possibly linked to human trafficking, the Louisiana-based Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office and Mississippi-based Jackson Police Department said at the time.
“We see cages, small animal cages,” Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade said. “This is very, very disturbing to me as a police chief and as a father to witness and see what I saw.”
After his arrest in Mississippi, Callihan confessed to reporters with cameras rolling as he was being escorted in handcuffs and a yellow jail jumpsuit. He gave no reason for the bloodshed and asked to die by lethal injection.
“Unfortunately, on Lexapro, sober, no drugs in my system, I did,” he said to reporters when asked about the girl’s killing. “I have no reason for what I did. All I want to say is that I was sober and only on Lexapro — and off Lexapro — and I’m also diagnosed with borderline multiple personality disorder.”
“For what I did, lethal injection is the easiest thing for me,” he added as he sat in the back of a police vehicle.
Callihan is scheduled to be formally sentenced on Nov. 19.
