Two Florida teenagers accused of plotting to kill a classmate in a “blood ritual” will remain in jail without bail, with prosecutors arguing that footage of the pair laughing in a patrol car after their arrest showed they continued to pose a threat.
Isabelle Valdez, 15, and Lois Lippert, 14, are both students at Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs. He was arrested in late January after police investigated an anonymous tip reporting a suspected murder plot.
The two teens were later charged as adults with attempted premeditated murder, attempted felony murder and other charges.
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The informant reported to the app FortifyFl on Jan. 22 that Valdez told the informant he planned to kill “someone we knew from school” the next day, according to the police report.
On Jan. 23, officers searched Valdez’s backpack and found a knife, which Valdez allegedly admitted planning to use to cut the victim’s throat or stab him in the abdomen in a school bathroom, police reports state.
The victim reportedly reminded Valdez of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza, and “she believed that if she killed the victim, she would be related to Adam Lanza and thereby raise him from the dead,” prosecutors said in court documents. Prosecutors said Valdez planned to “leave flowers and smoke cigarettes at the scene after the homicide was completed.”
Lippert allegedly provided gloves, chocolate, flowers and cigarettes and helped sharpen knives in a school bathroom in support of the murder plot, according to prosecutors. She also made “graphic and disturbing” sketches of Valdez’s victims, according to prosecutors.
18th Judicial Circuit Attorney’s Office – Photo: Isabel Valdez, left, and Lois Lippert in patrol car footage on Jan. 23, 2026.
In patrol car video released Jan. 23 by the 18th Circuit State Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, two teenagers can be heard complaining about a “snitch” who submitted an anonymous tip, discussing sharpening knives and mentioning school shootings. At one point they also talked about how much “time” they would get along with their booking photos.
“Man, I was going to put on my makeup and take a mug shot this morning, but I couldn’t find anything,” Valdez said.
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The two laughed throughout the trip, with Lippert saying at one point: “It’s a bonding experience. I love this.”
“I don’t feel guilty about what I did,” Valdez said at one point.
“I do feel bad for my mom. That’s the only person I feel bad for. And you. I feel bad for your mom, too,” Valdez said.
18th Judicial Circuit Attorney’s Office – Photo: Isabel Valdez, left, and Lois Lippert in patrol car footage on Jan. 23, 2026.
The state attorney’s office said prosecutors presented the patrol car video at the juvenile’s bond hearing Wednesday “as evidence that they posed a threat.”
“The video shows them laughing and discussing bringing knives and other supplies to school, committing murders in the bathroom, where they sharpened and tested the knives,” the state attorney’s office said in a statement Thursday. “It also confirms their fascination with Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza and Columbine High School shooters Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris.”
The judge ultimately granted the state’s motion for pretrial detention while denying the defense’s motion for bail.
Both teenagers have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Seminole County Sheriff’s Office – Photo: Booking photo of Isabelle Valdez. |Booking photo by Lois Lippert.
The state attorney’s office said they were charged as adults “in order to give the justice system more options than the juvenile justice system to incarcerate and control defendants for long periods of time.”
ABC News has reached out to their attorneys but has not yet heard back. Parents and attorneys for both suspects declined to comment to ABC Orlando affiliate WFTV after Wednesday’s hearing.
Officials praised the anonymous tipster after they were arrested and charged.
After their arrest, Seminole County Public Schools said in a statement, “We are extremely grateful for the individual’s brave report, which allowed law enforcement to take swift action. This situation was safely resolved due to seamless collaboration between our schools and law enforcement partners.”
