Daniel Callihan, already serving life for kidnapping and murder, sentenced on federal charges
By Angela Williams
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NEW ORLEANS (WAPT) — A man who has already pleaded guilty and been sentenced in Mississippi and Louisiana to murder and kidnapping charges, had a sentencing hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans.
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, 38, to a home on Boozier Road in Jackson, where Erin Brunett was found dead. The other girl was later reunited with her family.
Callihan confessed after his arrest in Jackson to killing 4-year-old Erin and on Sept. 29 was sentenced to life in prison in Mississippi. Callihan was also sentenced to two life sentences in Louisiana.
During the Nov. 19 federal sentencing hearing, a video message from Callihan was played.
“I hurt a wonderful friend and two very innocent kids. There’s nothing I can do to take that back, not even a life sentence, not getting a death penalty, not killing myself,” Callihan said on the video. He then began crying.
“(There is) nothing I can do that would ever take back what I done and that hurts. I don’t even try to think of ways to fix what I’ve done because there’s nothing to really undo what I done. I feel like if my life had been successful, I would’ve never hurt them and that would have been better for me, for them,” Callihan said. “I still have problems dealing with myself, taking medication to not do stupid things like suicide or hang myself.”
Callihan said he had known Callie Brunett for 20 years before he killed her and kidnapped her daughters, killing one of them.
“I’ve been given the option to live and that’s something. The hardest thing is living. I’m really sorry for what I did to them. Not just them, their family, their friends. I took two very special people out of this world,” Callihan said.
Callihan was sentenced to two life sentences in federal court and ordered to pay $260,000 in restitution. The sentences will run consecutively. He will serve his sentences at the Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana.
Victoria Cox, Callihan’s accused accomplice, 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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