Lake Brantley teen accused in school murder plot says online grooming influenced actions

Teen accused in school murder plot pens apology letter to judge

A Lake Brantley High School student accused of plotting to kill a classmate wrote in a letter to a judge that online influences and years of bullying contributed to her actions.

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A Lake Brantley High School student accused of plotting to kill a classmate wrote in a letter to a judge that online influences and years of bullying contributed to her actions.

In the three-page handwritten letter, 15-year-old Isabelle Valdez apologized and asked to return home to her parents. 

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 Valdez described struggling with depression and said she had been groomed and assaulted by people she met in an online crime-related group.

"The internet made me a horrible, horrible person," Valdez wrote in the letter.

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Valdez and another girl, Lois Lippert, 14, were arrested in January after authorities said they planned to kill a male student at the school. Investigators said the girls targeted the boy because they believed he resembled the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter and thought killing him would somehow bring the gunman back to life.

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Police said the girls brought a knife to school as part of the alleged plot.

In the letter, Valdez told the judge she regrets her actions and wants help, writing that she is "not the same girl" she was months ago. She also claimed she acted recklessly in part because she wanted to appear mentally unstable so she could be sent away for treatment.

Video recorded after the girls’ arrests showed them joking in the back of a patrol car about their mug shots and arrest experience.

Both teens are facing criminal charges in the case.