Brunetts’ confessed killer, alleged accomplice indicted on first-degree murder charges
AMITE, La. (WVUE) - The man and woman suspected in the brutal deaths of a Loranger mother and her 4-year-old daughter were indicted on murder and kidnapping charges.
A Tangipahoa Parish grand jury returned charges against Daniel Callihan, 36, and Victoria Cox, 32, on Thursday, June 20.
Callihan is charged with:
- Two counts of first-degree murder for Callie Brunett and her daughter 4-year-old Erin Brunett
- One count of aggravated kidnapping of a child for Erin’s kidnapping
- One count of second-degree kidnapping for kidnapping Erin’s 6-year-old sister.
Cox is charged with:
- One count of first-degree murder for Erin Brunett
- One count of aggravated kidnapping of a child for Erin Brunet
- One count of second-degree kidnapping for kidnapping Erin’s 6-year-old sister
- One count of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder for Callie Brunett
Under Louisiana law, first-degree murder carries the possibility of life in prison or the death penalty.
District Attorney Scott Perrilloux says his office has not yet decided if it will seek capital punishment. He says he will first consult with family members and wait for the investigation among the other law enforcement offices to unfold.
“These things don’t happen like this very often here, it’s an extremely significant matter, I would expect it’s devastating, I know it’s devastating to the family,” Perrilloux said.
Perrilloux said he wants the Louisiana charges to be prosecuted first because the crime originated in the state.
He said he expects federal prosecutors to be forming a case in addition to the capital murder and sexual battery charges the duo already faces in Mississippi.
“First of all, it originated here, it involves local people here. I feel strongly that this community deserves right to have it ultimately resolved and decided here,” Perriloux said.
Callihan was arrested after Brunett was found brutally stabbed to death in her Loranger home on Thursday, June 13.
A regionwide search for her two daughters ended when 4-year-old Erin Brunett’s body was found in a wooded area of Jackson, Mississippi later that day.
Police Chief Joseph Wade says the little girl was likely suffocated. Her 6-year-old sister was alive but injured in a nearby vehicle.
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Callihan made a shocking confession to killing the child and requested the death penalty after he was taken into custody, saying he had “no reason for what I did.”
The extent of Cox’s role and the motive behind the crimes remain unclear. A public defender representing Cox in Mississippi argued that the two girls were alive when his client last saw them. He says Cox was picked up on the way to Jackson with no information about the girls.
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