Second suspect arrested in connection with the kidnapping of two Louisiana children and the death of one of the children

JACKSON, Mississippi – A second suspect was arrested Friday in connection with the kidnapping and death of a 4-year-old Louisiana girl who was found in Mississippi, Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade said.

Wade told WJTV-TV that the suspect, a 32-year-old woman, is an acquaintance of a 36-year-old man who was arrested Thursday.

The woman was arrested at a South Jackson hotel as part of a multi-law enforcement effort, the police chief said. She was taken to the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond.

According to Wade, the four-year-old was found dead in a wooded area, while her six-year-old sister was found alive nearby and taken to a hospital in Jackson.

Wade said there was evidence of possible human trafficking at the location where the children were found, including small animal cages, and Jackson police have contacted the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and Hinds County human trafficking units to investigate the scene.

The first man arrested, a Louisiana native who dated the girls’ mother, was the suspect in an Amber Alert in Louisiana before he was arrested. Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey said he is being held in the Rankin County Jail.

Louisiana State Police issued the alert after the girls’ mother, Callie Brunett, 35, was found dead in her home in Loranger, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Baton Rouge. She was reported missing after no one had spoken to her since Tuesday, according to Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Jimmy Travis. The cause of death was not immediately released.