Duo who raped 6-year-old girl, kept her captive in pit with dead sister may get plea deals

MCCOMB, Miss. (WKRC) – A man and woman who allegedly raped a child and kept her captive in a pit with her dead sister may get plea deals.

According to PEOPLE, 34-year-old Victoria Cox, who is accused of assisting a man who killed a woman and abducted her two young daughters, later killing one and keeping the other as a “sex slave,” was offered a plea deal from prosecutors during a court appearance on Monday, October 13.

The report states that 37-year-old Daniel Callihan, in a factual basis signed after he pleaded guilty to federal charges, admitted to killing 35-year-old Callie Brunett and kidnapping her two young daughters from Louisiana on June 11, 2024. Callihan also admitted to driving the children to Mississippi the next day, then driving back to Louisiana to pick up Cox, before returning to McComb, Mississippi, per the publication.

Callihan admitted in the factual basis that he and Cox both sexually abused the six-year-old girl before he killed her four-year-old sister “by holding (her) closely against his chest,” according to PEOPLE. The children were reported missing after a relative discovered the body of Brunett on June 13, according to the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

A joint search effort was launched at the local, state and federal level, and the six-year-old girl was located that same day, the publication reported, Authorities found Brunett’s car, which Callihan had stolen, parked close to the property that child was being kept, and ultimately found her inside a dirt pit with her deceased sister, per the report.

According to PEOPLE, Cox is not facing federal charges because her alleged crimes were committed in Mississippi, and she agreed to testify at Callihan’s trial for prosecutors.

Citing the signed factual basis, the publication reported that Cox corroborated Callihan’s account of the sexual abuse against the six-year-old girl in a post-Miranda interview. If she choses not to accept the plea deal, Cox’s trial will begin on December 8. Callihan is scheduled to be sentenced on November 19, and prosecutors have agreed not to seek the death penalty so long as he pleaded guilty to all charges, per the publication.