Daniel Callihan pleads guilty to killing 4-year-old after murdering the girl’s mother
By Angela Williams
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JACKSON, Mississippi (WAPT) — A man who confessed after his arrest in Jackson to killing a 4-year-old girl was sentenced to life in prison in Mississippi.
Daniel Callihan, 38, entered a guilty plea Monday before Hinds County Circuit Judge Debra Gibbs. Callihan pleaded guilty to capital murder, sexual battery and two counts of kidnapping. Gibbs sentenced him to life for capital murder and sexual battery and 30 years for each of the kidnapping charges. The sentences are to run consecutively with each other and with sentences he received in Louisiana.
“This is one of the most horrific crimes that I’ve had to preside over,” Gibbs said before sentencing Callihan.
Erin Brunett, 4, and her 6-year-old sister were the subjects of an Amber Alert in June 2024 after they were kidnapped from Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. Their mother, Callie Brunett, was murdered before the girls were taken.
Investigators traced Daniel Callihan to a home on Boozier Road in Jackson, where Erin Brunett was found dead. The other girl was later reunited with her family.
After questioning following his arrest in 2024, Callihan was asked by a reporter as he left Jackson Police Department headquarters if he killed Erin Brunett. He responded saying, “Unfortunately, on Lexapro, sober, no drugs in my system, I did it.”
Calli Brunett’s sister, Brandi Hosch, spoke during Monday’s hearing in Jackson. She called Callihan a predator, a monster and a rapist. She said the only reason the family agreed to the guilty plea was to prevent the surviving child from having to see Callihan again during a trial.
“The hole you left behind cannot be filled,” Hosch said. “We are forever changed in the worst possible way because of you.”
Callihan pleaded guilty Sept. 26 in Louisiana to first-degree murder for the killings of Callie and Erin Brunett. Callihan was sentenced to two mandatory life sentences without parole. The sentences will run consecutively.
He has already pleaded guilty in federal court to similar crimes after admitting to killing Callie and abducting her daughters in the summer of 2024 from their home.
The judge also said Callihan deserved more than a life sentence, saying he deserved “much worse.”
Callihan will be sentenced in federal court in New Orleans on Nov. 19 and will serve a life sentence without the possibility of probation or parole. Callihan will serve his sentences at the Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana.
Callihan’s suspected accomplice, Victoria Cox, is set to go to trial on Dec. 8 in Hinds County. Cox is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and sexual battery.
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