A Louisiana man was arrested after his girlfriend was discovered dead and her two young daughters abducted — the younger of whom was later found dead while the other was mostly unharmed — in what authorities suspect could be a human trafficking case.
The suspect, Daniel Callihan, is accused of “committing brutal and heinous acts of violence,” including the slayings of 35-year-old Callie Brunett and her 4-year-old daughter, Erin, according to a press release from the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Callihan was taken into custody in a wooded area behind a home in Jackson, Miss. late Thursday night, after leading authorities on a brief car chase, local CBS affiliate WJTV reported.
“He had the victim’s car along with her alive-and-well 6-year-old child,” said Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy chief Jimmy Travis.
The body of the 6-year-old’s younger sister was found several yards away from the vehicle, Travis added. Her cause of death has not yet been determined.
“Based on the crime scene, what it looks like, this may be the place where there has been some human trafficking done,” Joseph Wade of the Jackson Police Department told reporters at a press conference. “We see cages, small animal cages.”
An Amber Alert was issued for both girls earlier in the day on Thursday, after Brunett was found dead inside the bedroom of her mobile home in Loranger, La. It said a man, later identified as Callihan, was wanted for questioning “for a domestic violence incident, which occurred at the time of the abduction and resulted in a homicide.”
Travis said Callihan and Brunett dated “on and off” prior to his arrest.
With News Wire Services
