ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — The two Lake Brantley High School students accused of trying to resurrect the “Sandy Hook” school shooter by murdering one of their classmates in January were put into the back of the same patrol car after their arrest.
The move allowed officers to listen in to a conversation between the girls – who didn’t realize they were being recorded – which included jokes about mug shots, discussions about how much prison time they’d receive and frustrations one of their friends snitched, officers said.
Prosecutors are now using that conversation as ammunition against Isabelle Valdez and Lois Lippert as they push a judge to keep the girls behind bars.
Both Valdez and Lippert filed to be released pending their trials and have a court date next week, while prosecutors maintain they’re a danger to the community.
“Valdez told Lippert that she was going to use makeup this morning for her mugshot, but she could not find anything,” the readout of the conversation stated. “Valdez then said, ‘It’s over.’ Lippert replied, ‘Yea, it’s over. It doesn’t matter if you look good or not.’”
The conversation also allegedly included jokes about the blood ritual the two planned to perform, discussions about the girls’ plans to spread their story around the True Crime community, and hopes by Valdez law enforcement would send her to a psych ward.
Those hopes echoed other statements by Valdez, including texts she sent to Lippert and an apology note written to her parents the night before her arrest, that showed the teenager was tortured by the thoughts running through her head and knew they were wrong.
“This really is about our mental health crisis unfolding in real time right before our eyes,” Cherlette McCullough, a therapist, said upon hearing some of the comments. “When our teens start doing things like posting dark thoughts on social media, when they start saying things like, ‘I’m not right,’ or they’re saying things like, ‘I need help, or I need to be checked into a mental facility, or I need to be Baker Acted,’ it’s not just something for attention. That could literally be a cry for help.”
WFTV reached out to both Lippert’s and Valdez’s parents and attorneys. Everyone either declined to comment or did not call or text back.
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