Main: Daniel Callihan appearing in court (WWLTV). Insets, top to bottom: Erin Brunett (Amber Alert) and Callie Brunett (Facebook).
A 37-year-old Louisiana man accused of murdering a 35-year-old mother in her mobile home and then kidnapping her two young daughters, killing one of them, will spend the rest of his life in prison. Daniel Callihan pleaded guilty to two federal charges: 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 revealed on Wednesday.
Callihan faces a mandatory life sentence for the first charge and 10 years to life for the second. He may also face fines up to $500,000. In exchange for his guilty plea, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Louisiana agreed not to seek the death penalty.
His girlfriend, Victoria Cox, who is also alleged to have participated in the kidnappings and murders, is indicted on a capital murder charge in Mississippi, where she could potentially face the death penalty.
The case drew attention in June 2024 when Callie Brunett was found dead in her locked mobile home in Loranger, about an hour from New Orleans. She was discovered a day after being reported missing, with over 50 stab wounds. Brunett lived with her two daughters, ages 4 and 6, both of whom were also missing.
Prosecutors allege Callihan killed Brunett on June 12, 2024, and kidnapped both children in Brunett’s vehicle. He drove to pick up Cox before crossing state lines to a home on Boozier Drive in Jackson, Mississippi. Authorities stated Callihan and Brunett had been in a prior relationship.
They further stated that Callihan and Cox “engaged in sexual battery” with Brunett’s 6-year-old daughter. Following this, Callihan “purposely suffocated [Erin] to death by holding Minor Victim 1 closely against his chest,” according to a news release. After his arrest, Callihan admitted to the murders of Brunett and Erin, as well as the sexual battery of 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.
