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Two high school students have been accused of conspiring to murder a fellow classmate, and in a startling twist, they were recorded laughing and chatting about their mugshot makeup in the back of a police car.
During their arrest in January, 14-year-old Lois Lippert reportedly turned to her friend, 15-year-old Isabelle Valdez, and remarked, “This is such a bonding experience.” This conversation was captured on film inside the police vehicle.
Parts of this footage, showing the teenagers expressing glee over their arrest, have been shared by the Florida State Attorney’s Office. These clips were included in a motion for pretrial detention document that was reviewed by legal experts.
On February 3, both Valdez and Lippert were taken to the Seminole County Jail, where they were charged with six counts each, including attempted first-degree premeditated murder and possession of a weapon on school property. According to ABC News, both have entered pleas of not guilty.
Valdez was heard saying, “I was going to do my makeup this morning for the mugshot, but I couldn’t find anything.”
She added, “I don’t feel guilty for my actions.”
A prosecutor called the alleged conversation “sociopathic” as the footage played in a recent court hearing, according to KATV Channel 7.
The girls allegedly planned a “blood ritual” that involved killing a classmate at Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs, according to the motion for pretrial detention document, in part because he allegedly reminded Valdez of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza.
Other parts of Valdez and Lippert’s alleged conversation—including their desire to start a romantic relationship with each other in prison—were quoted in the motion.
In the car, Valdez allegedly asked Lippert if she “was trying to look good for her mugshot” with Lippert responding at one point, “I’m glad I don’t look too bad today.”
Added Valdez, “I look horrible,” to which Lippert replied, “Yeah, it’s over. It doesn’t matter if you look good or not.”
The alleged plot came to light on Jan. 22 when police received an anonymous tip through the school safety app FortifyFl, according to a police affidavit reviewed by Oxygen. The tip alleged that someone, who police later identified as Valdez, planned to kill somebody at school. While planning the alleged murder, read the motion, Valdez enlisted the help of Lippert.
Valdez admitted to police, as cited in the motion for detention document, that she, after memorizing the victim’s class schedule, followed him around campus and secretly photographed him.
She planned to wait for the victim outside the boys’ bathroom, Valdez stated in the affidavit, and push him into a stall to “stab him or slice his throat” with a 12-inch knife—which Lippert allegedly helped sharpen—while the motion stated that she planned to muffle his screams with a microfiber towel.
Lippert participated in the plan, Valdez told police in the affidavit, by bringing flowers to the bathroom for the victim’s funeral, along with gloves, cigarettes and a lighter. Lippert also allegedly drew “graphic and disturbing” sketches of the victim, per the motion, that depicted him lying on the floor next to Valdez, hanging from a rope and in a sexual context.
In alleged Discord messages from Valdez to Lippert that were quoted in the motion, she wrote, “It’s gonna be over by tomorrow” and “I’m gonna make a blood ritual for Adam Lanza.”
Valdez also allegedly wrote, “If I had him, I wouldn’t have been like this!!!!”
Spokespeople from Lake Brantley High School and Seminole County Public Schools did not immediately return requests for comment from Oxygen.
Meanwhile, Valdez’s attorney Edward Lopez has spoken out.
“We recognize the significant public interest in this matter and understand the community’s concern,” he said in a statement to Oxygen. “As with any individual accused of a crime, our client is entitled to the presumption of innocence and to a fair, thorough, and unbiased legal process.”
“Trying this case through the media serves no one,” Lopez added, “and denigrates the legal process.”
An attorney for Lippert did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Oxygen. The teens next appear in court on April 29.