Mississippi
4-year-old Louisiana girl found dead, 6-year-old sister alive after frantic Amber Alert
Authorities issued an Amber Alert for 4-year-old Erin Brunett and her 6-year-old sister Jalie after their mother’s body was found in her Louisiana bedroom. Only one sister survived their ordeal.
When do you issue an Amber Alert or Silver Alert?
Indiana issues both Amber Alerts and Silver Alerts through the Emergency Alert System, based on certain criteria. Here’s how police agencies decide when to request one.
Dwight Adams, dwight.adams@indystar.com
A 4-year-old Louisiana girl was found dead in Mississippi on Thursday just hours after an Amber Alert was issued for her and her 6-year-old sister, both of whom were abducted from their home after their mother was found dead.
Four-year-old Erin Brunett and her 6-year-old sister Jalie were taken around 8 a.m. Thursday from their home in Loranger, about 45 miles northeast of Baton Rouge, Tangipahoa Parish Chief Deputy Jimmy Travis told reporters at a news conference.
Erin’s body was found 120 miles away in Jackson, Mississippi. She was found along with her unharmed sister and the girls’ suspected abductor, Daniel Callahan, Travis said. Callahan was in an “on-and-off relationship” with the girls’ now-deceased mother, 35-year-old Callie Brunett, according to the chief deputy.
It appears Erin was killed once Callahan knew that police tracked him to Mississippi, Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade told WBRZ-TV.
“Once he realized law enforcement knew where he was, he tried to do away with the children,” Wade said, according to the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based outlet. “Thank God one of them survived and the grandparents are on their way to Jackson, Mississippi.”
It’s unclear whether Callahan yet has an attorney.
How was Daniel Callahan arrested?
An undercover officers noticed Callahan “checking houses” in Jackson, according to Travis. Although Callahan attempted to flee, the officer managed to arrest him, he added.
Once in custody, Callahan directed officers to a car where Jalie was found “alive and well,” Travis said. Callahan then showed officers to a wooded area not far from the car, and that is where Erin’s body was discovered, according to the chief deputy.
Detectives with the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office are currently on scene in Jackson. Earlier in the investigation, the sheriff’s office got information about Callahan driving Callie Brunett’s vehicle in Jackson, so they were already in that area checking with local law enforcement, Travis said.
How did the search for Erin and Jalie begin?
Authorities became aware of the girls’ abduction when their mother’s parents called the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office and told them they hadn’t been able to contact or locate their daughter, Travis said during an earlier news conference.
Erin’s and Jalie’s father went to their mother’s home in Loranger at 8 a.m. on Thursday, found her body in the bedroom and called 911, according to Travis.
Authorities didn’t “have any reason to believe the kids could still be” at the scene after they searched throughout the wooded area near the home, Travis said.
Erin’s and Jalie’s mother’s car was not at the home when the girls’ father arrived, and her family hadn’t had contact with her since Tuesday afternoon, according to the chief deputy. It was unclear when the last time the girls or their mother were seen, Travis added.
The Tangipahoa Parish Coroner is determining the cause of death for Callie Brunett, according to the chief deputy.
‘She’s going to have to spend the rest of her life living with this’
The Brunett family has been notified and Jalie’s grandparents are going to pick her up in Jackson, Travis said.
“She’s been through something that most of us hopefully never ever have to experience,” the chief deputy said about Jalie. “She’s going to have to spend the rest of her life living with this. This is horrific.”
Wingate rejects standing challenge in Jackson ARPA lawsuit
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A federal judge said the NAACP and Jackson residents suing Mississippi over withheld American Rescue Plan Act water infrastructure money have cleared the first major hurdle in their lawsuit against the state.
During a hearing Monday, May 18, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate announced he had rejected the state’s argument that the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to bring the case, clearing the way for the lawsuit to continue.
The lawsuit was filed by the Jackson branch of the NAACP along with Jackson residents Doris Glasper and Nsombi Lambright. It alleges Mississippi officials discriminated against Jackson, a majority-Black city, through the way they controlled and distributed federal American Rescue Plan Act water infrastructure funding that plaintiffs argue could have helped prevent or lessen the city’s 2022 water crisis.
The hearing was a continuation of arguments first heard Thursday, May 14, where Mississippi attorneys asked Wingate to dismiss the lawsuit on several grounds, including standing, statute of limitations issues and 11th Amendment immunity claims.
But Monday, Wingate said the plaintiffs had met the legal threshold required to keep the case alive.
“This court is persuaded that this lawsuit shall go forward,” Wingate said from the bench. “This court has determined that these plaintiffs, all of them, have standing.”
Wingate said he is still finalizing a written opinion explaining his reasoning and expects to issue one later this week that will address the remaining dismissal arguments as well.
The state had argued the plaintiffs could not directly connect their alleged harms — including boil water notices, low pressure and prolonged water outages — to Mississippi’s handling of ARPA funds. Instead, state attorneys argued those problems stemmed from Jackson’s longstanding water system failures themselves.
The plaintiffs, meanwhile, argued Mississippi created additional barriers specifically for Jackson after lawmakers approved Senate Bill 2822 in 2022, including requiring Jackson’s award money to flow through a separate state-controlled Capital City Water/Sewer Projects Fund. Jackson was the only municipality to have a separate fund.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs also argued that while Jackson was publicly awarded roughly $35.6 million in ARPA funding, much of the money never actually reached the city.
Monday’s hearing focused narrowly on the legal question of whether the NAACP and the two residents had the right to sue in the first place.
Wingate summarized the plaintiffs’ claims in court, saying they alleged Mississippi’s actions “prevented the disbursement of federal funds that had been directed at and allocated to the City of Jackson” and that those delays prolonged residents’ suffering tied to the city’s water problems.
Wingate also noted the NAACP argued its Jackson membership had dropped from roughly 500 members to around 300 members because of the city’s ongoing water problems, which the organization cited as part of its standing argument.
After announcing his ruling on standing, Wingate immediately moved the hearing into arguments over the state’s statute of limitations defense. The hearing recessed for 20 minutes before attorneys resumed arguments on the remaining motions to dismiss.
The next fight: Did the plaintiffs wait too long to sue?
After ruling the plaintiffs had standing, Wingate moved into another major argument from the state: whether the lawsuit was filed too late.
State attorney Lisa Reppeto argued the clock started in April 2022 when the state’s ARPA laws were passed, meaning the lawsuit filed in August 2025 fell outside the three-year statute of limitations.
The state also argued the lawsuit never identified a specific ARPA funding request that was denied by Mississippi.
But Crystal McElrath, an attorney representing the plaintiffs through the Southern Poverty Law Center, pushed back, arguing the alleged discrimination and harms continued well beyond 2022. They pointed to actions taken by state officials in late 2022 and afterward, along with ongoing water-related problems residents say they continue to experience.
McElrath also argued Mississippi intentionally created a separate and confusing process for Jackson’s ARPA money by requiring the funds to flow through a special state-controlled account.
Both Reppeto and McElrath sparred Monday over the “continuing violation doctrine,” a legal argument centered on whether the alleged discrimination happened only when Mississippi passed the ARPA laws in 2022 or whether the state’s later handling of Jackson’s funding kept the clock running for the lawsuit.
“The system itself, the process created, was intentionally designed to prevent the City of Jackson from being able to access those funds,” McElrath said.
Wingate did not immediately rule Monday on the statute of limitations argument.
Charlie Drape, the Jackson beat reporter, has been covering all of the nuances of the Jackson water crisis since 2024.
We interrupt your downpour of college baseball news for a reminder that some basketball programs are still building out their roster for next season.
Mississippi State landed a commitment from Ashton Magee on Saturday.
Magee becomes the latest piece in what has turned into a near-total roster rebuild for Mississippi State, and his addition fits the broader theme of what the staff has been chasing this spring.
He’s a 6-7 forward coming off his freshman year at Southern University, where he played steady rotation minutes and showed enough long-term upside to draw interest once he hit the portal. He’ll arrive in Starkville with three seasons of eligibility and the option to redshirt if the staff wants to stretch his development.
The Laurel native and South Jones product didn’t put up big numbers in Baton Rouge, but he played in 31 games and logged 350 minutes as a true freshman.
Magee shot 44.4 percent from the field, averaged 3.0 points and 1.7 rebounds, and got a taste of what a full college season feels like. Southern finished 17-17 and 11-7 in SWAC play, and Magee’s role grew as the year went on.
His path to Mississippi State has already taken a few turns. Magee originally committed to Kansas State out of high school before reopening his recruitment and signing with Southern.
Now he’s back in his home state with a chance to carve out a role on a roster that has plenty of room for new contributors.
And that’s the real context here. Mississippi State returns only one full-time starter in rising senior Josh Hubbard, who will carry the scoring load again.
King Grace is back after playing meaningful minutes as a freshman, and redshirts Cameren Paul and Tee Bartlett will finally get their first real look after sitting last season. Everything else is open. Everything else is up for competition.
Mississippi State Basketball Transfer Portal Tracker
Women
Incoming
- Reese Beaty, 5-8, G, Fr. (Iowa State)
- Aryss Macktoon, G, 5-11, So. (La Salle)
- Arianny Francisco De Oliviera, F, 6-4, So. (Gulf Coast State College)
- Macie Phifer, 6-1, G, Fr. (Middle Tennessee)
- Cali Smallwood, 5-9, G, Jr. (UAB)
Outgoing
- Awa Fane, 5-8, G, Jr.
- Nataliyah Gray, 6-3, F, Fr.
- Rocío Jiménez, 6-7, C, R-So.
- Saniyah King, 5-7, G, So.
- Jaylah Lampley, 6-2, Fr.
Men
Incoming
- Thomas Bassong, 6-8, F, Fr. (Florida State)
- RJ Johnson, 6-4, G, Jr. (Kennesaw State)
- Ashton Magee, 6-7, F, Fr. (Southern)
- ND Okafor, 6-7, F, Sr. (Washington State)
- Kendyl Sanders, 6-8, F, Fr. (Utah)
- Tajuan Simpkins, 6-4, G, (Seton Hall)
Outgoing
- Gai Chol, 7-0, C, Jr.
- Jamarion Davis-Fleming, 6-10, F, Fr.
- Dellquan Warren, 6-2, G, So.
- Amier Ali, 6-8, G/F, So.
- Sergej Macura, 6-9, F, So.
- Brandon Walker, 6-8, F, Sr.
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Softball
May 16, 2026
Alyssa Faircloth’s no-hitter is Mississippi State’s first in NCAA softball tournament
May 16, 2026
Alyssa Faircloth threw a no-hitter in Mississippi State’s regional win over Oregon, the Bulldogs’ first in an NCAA tournament game. Watch the extended highlights from the no-hitter here.
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