Loranger residents in shock as confessed killer Daniel Callihan and his alleged accomplice await arraignment

LORANGER, La. (WVUE) – As the sun rose over Tangipahoa Parish Saturday morning, residents in and around Loranger woke up trapped in the same nightmare since the AMBER Alert for two missing little girls was issued. launched Thursday.

Daniel Callihan, 36, admitted to murdering a 3-year-old child following the murder of her mother, Callie Brunett, and the kidnapping of her children, including her 6-year-old.

Callihan called for his own execution, telling reporters, “I did it,” as he was led to a police vehicle to be transported to prison.

He faces charges of first-degree murder, sexual battery and kidnapping.

In the small community of Loranger, shock is an understatement.

“The victim's family was a member of my church, we went to the same church together,” said Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards.

It was Callie Brunett's father who found her murdered in her home Thursday morning. He called the police to report that his two young daughters and his car were missing from the house.

In a place where everyone knows each other, every update hits close to home.

“I felt sick to my stomach when I heard. Unreal, I couldn’t believe it at first,” said Chris Babin, who has known the Brunetts for years.

Babin said she first met Callie Brunett while driving the bus that took her to and from school. The six-year-old girl was riding the bus route at Babin's Loranger Elementary School during the last school year.

“Get on the bus and first: “Hello, Ms. Chris!” and then, you know, she was a lovely child,” Babin said. “She really was. Beautiful little girl, both.

Around 9:21 a.m. Thursday morning, Louisiana State Police said Sheriff Edwards requested an AMBER Alert.

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“I promised we would find the person responsible for this and make sure they were brought to justice,” Edwards said.

An hour later, around 10:30 a.m., state police said they were missing information from the TPSO app, ultimately delaying the alert.

At approximately 12:28 p.m. Thursday afternoon, the AMBER Alert was being issued across the state.

Across state lines, police found Daniel Callihan in Jackson, Mississippi.

“I don't know what the exact definition of a coward is, but I'm sure his picture is right there,” Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade said.

Erin Brunett was killed and her body was found in the woods by U.S. Marshals about 30 yards behind a house. A few meters away, his 6-year-old sister was found alive, but injured. Animal cages were also found at the scene.

“It hurt my heart, it hurt my soul, to see this baby dead in the woods,” Wade said. “I am a father. My “why” for what I do is my children.

“You really don’t know the people, I guess,” said Loranger resident Renée Louvière. “Even if you’ve known them for years, there’s a different side to people.”

When reporters asked Callihan why he killed the little girl, he couldn't come up with an answer.

“I have no reason for what I did,” Callihan said. “All I know is I mean I was sober and only taking Lexapro and Lexapro, and I was also diagnosed with borderline multiple personality disorder.”

Asked if he was hoping for the death penalty, Callihan replied: “For what I did? Lethal injection is the simplest solution for me.

A Loranger resident told us he was glad Callihan admitted to the crime and believed he deserved the death penalty for his alleged actions.

But the uneasy feelings persisted throughout the weekend.

Callihan has a criminal history of burglary, theft and battery dating back to 2006.

“(My daughter) doesn’t like to go out now,” Darci Heck said. “She will go out and if she hears something she will run back into the house. And she just wants to do cartwheels. It's hard.”

Heck and his daughter live next to Daniel Callihan's trailer. They say he was erratic, terrorized the neighborhood and used a swing blade to cut grass.

In security video obtained by Fox 8, Heck says Callihan broke into a nearby property while mostly naked, wearing only a leather apron on his back, armed with a crossbow.

“I don’t know what happened next, but he apparently broke into this man’s property and messed up the inside a little bit,” Heck said. “When they learned that the little girl was dead, we cried. It could have been anyone. It could have been us. It could have been here.

Heck said Callihan usually had company in the trailer. An alleged accomplice was arrested shortly after Callihan's capture Thursday evening.

Victoria Cox was seen smiling as she prepared to be transported to prison on Friday. She was charged with capital murder and allegations of sexual battery.

“She looked like her,” Heck said of the woman she saw around the trailer. “I never met her up close. I saw her from afar.

The FBI took over the case Friday morning, investigating a possible case of human trafficking. The agency has set up a digital hotline to provide more information to the public about the Callihan case.

“This whole sex trafficking thing really shook me,” Heck said. “It makes me want to build a wall.”

Now, residents of Loranger and Tangipahoa Parish are collecting donations from local businesses and online for the grandparents who are now raising the only surviving six-year-old child.

“I don’t know how she’s going to get through this. She’s 6 years old,” Louvière said. “She’s going to remember it for a long time.”

Daniel Callihan and Victoria Cox remain in custody at a Rankin County, Mississippi, jail. Multiple agencies are investigating and officials tell us they are still refining the charges.

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