Suspect Says He Killed Louisiana Mom, Toddler: ‘No Reason for What I Did’

A Louisiana sheriff’s office confirmed to Newsweek on Sunday night that one of the suspects in the slayings of a mother and her 3-year-old daughter last week confessed to the “brutal and heinous acts of violence.”

The victims were identified as Callie Brunett, a 35-year-old mother from Loranger, Louisiana, and her 3-year-old daughter, Erin. Brunett’s 6-year-old daughter, Jalie, was also abducted and injured but survived the ordeal, according to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office (TPSO).

Erin and Jalie were abducted from their home in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, where their mother was found “brutally murdered” on June 13, TPSO said. Hours later and more than 100 miles away in Jackson, Mississippi, authorities discovered the body of the 3-year-old girl shortly before apprehending a suspect, who had dated the mother “on and off” for more than a year, according to TPSO.

Jimmy Travis, TPSO Chief of Operations, told Newsweek in a phone interview on Sunday night that the suspect, 36-year-old Daniel Callihan, “confessed to all of it.” Travis said the 6-year-old surviving victim verified the details of what occurred.

“They’ve done the forensic interview with the 6-year-old, and the suspect’s statements were validated by the girl’s interview, so he’s not one of these types that’s just saying all these kinds of things to shock the conscious,” Travis said. “He’s pretty much admitting what went on, so as horrific as what he’s saying happened and what he did, he did do it. They did it – he and his accomplice did those horrible things.”

It was unclear at the time of publication whether Callihan had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

While authorities have not said how the mother and toddler were killed, Travis described a disturbing crime scene at the Brunetts’ home in Louisiana. He told Newsweek that he believed the brutality of the crime and the knowledge that the victim had missing children should have prompted an Amber Alert to be issued immediately. However, Travis said due to “protocol” and required paperwork, the alert wasn’t sent out for more than three hours.

“By 9:30 a.m., we knew that we had a brutal murder of a mother, her car missing, and her 3-year-old and 6-year-old daughters missing,” Travis said. “I was there on the scene that morning when the mother was found and was like, ‘We’ve got to blow cell phones up now.’ Waiting hours given the nature of what happened and what we knew is unacceptable.”

He said the alert was issued around 2:30 p.m. in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi and was “the key” to locating the little girls and the suspect.

“Once that Amber Alert finally went out, we started getting all kinds of tips from people that had seen the little girls,” he said. “The Amber Alert is what located the car, the suspect, the surviving girl, and the deceased child. It was all done through information received because of the Amber Alert. Had it gone out sooner, who knows what could have happened.”

Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade identified the second suspect as Victoria Cox, a 32-year-old female acquaintance of Callihan. She was arrested on June 13 at a hotel in South Jackson as part of a “collaborative effort” between several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Jackson police.

Wade said during a press conference that investigators found evidence of possible human trafficking at the location where the children were found, including “small animal cages.”

Callihan and Cox are both facing charges of capital murder and sexual assault, according to Jackson police.

As Callihan was being escorted to jail, he briefly spoke to reporters and confessed to the crimes in a video aired by local station WDSU on Friday.

“I did it,” he said. “I have no reason for what I did.”

Callihan said that he was sober at the time of the crimes and said he did not plan to fight the charges against him, saying: “For what I did, lethal injection is the easiest thing for me.”