NEED TO KNOW
- Daniel Callihan, 37, confessed to murdering Callie Burnett, 35, before kidnapping her two daughters, having sex with the 6-year-old child and then killing her 4-year-old sister
- He confessed as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors, also admitting that he kept the 6-year-old girl in a dirt pit with the body of her dead sister
- Now his alleged accomplice Victoria Cox, 34, has also been offered a plea deal by local prosecutors in Mississippi
The woman accused of assisting a man who abducted two young sisters after murdering their mother — killing the 4-year-old and keeping the 6-year-old as his “sex slave,” according to U.S. Marshals — has been offered a plea deal.
Victoria Cox, 34, appeared in a Mississippi courtroom on Monday, Oct. 13, where prosecutors presented her defense team with a plea deal offer.
The details of that deal were not shared in court and the defense said they would have to consult with Cox before deciding if they would agree to the deal being offered by the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office.
Cox is charged with capital murder, kidnapping and sexual battery for her alleged role in the abduction of two girls and murder of one.
The man who masterminded that plan, 37-year-old Daniel Callihan, confessed to his crimes in federal court earlier this year while accepting his own plea deal.
In a factual basis he signed after agreeing to enter guilty pleas to federal charges of kidnapping resulting in death and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in sexual activity, Callihan admitted to killing the mother of the two young girls, 35-year-old Callie Brunett, in Louisiana on the night of June 11, 2024.
He then admitted to driving the girls from their home in Loranger — an unincorporated community located approximately 70 miles north of New Orleans — to Mississippi. The next day, on June 12, he drove back to Louisiana to pick up Cox and then returned to McComb, Miss., with her and the two victims.
Callihan said in the signed factual basis that he and Cox engaged in criminal sexual activity with the 6-year-old victim, after which he murdered her 4-year-old sister “by holding [her] closely against his chest.”
Jordan Ginsberg, the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, said that on June 13, a relative discovered the body of Callie and reported her two daughters missing.
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The surviving sister was tracked down that same day thanks to a joint effort between local, state and federal law enforcement. Callihan had stolen Callie’s car, which was discovered close to the property where the girl was being held captive.
The 6-year-old was discovered in a dirt pit, where she was being kept with the body of her deceased younger sister.
Cox managed to avoid federal charges since unlike Callihan all her crimes were committed in the state of Mississippi, and she agreed to testify at Callihan’s federal trial for prosecutors, who identified her as Co-Conspirator-1 in charging documents.
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In a post-Miranda interview with investigators, Cox corroborated Callihan’s account of the sexual assault of the 6-year-old victim, according to the signed factual basis.
Her trial is scheduled to begin on Dec. 8 in Mississippi should she not accept the plea deal.
Sentencing for Callihan’s federal offenses is set for Nov. 19. Federal prosecutors agreed to not seek the death penalty if he entered a guilty plea to all charges.
A lawyer for Cox did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
“Every law enforcement partner who worked on this case was determined to deliver justice for the [redacted] family and the people of Tangipahoa Parish,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of New Orleans said in a statement. “The FBI thanks the U.S. Marshals Service, Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and the Jackson Police Department for their efforts to make sure Daniel Callihan will never do anything like this again.”
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