Detectives say messages, surveillance video and seized items tie a couple to the late-December attack.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Orange County prosecutors on Monday laid out a social-media setup that they say led to a late-night ambush at the University Park apartments, where a man was stabbed and struck with an ax before fleeing for help. A judge ordered Nicholas Lavallee, 20, held without bond while the case proceeds.
The case centers on what investigators describe as an online “come over” scheme that moved from Instagram to a third-floor stairwell just before New Year’s. Prosecutors say 29-year-old Anne Marie Aksell messaged the victim to visit, while Lavallee waited with a gun and two unidentified men positioned at the bottom of the stairs. Authorities say the victim lost his phone, wallet and keys, and his Jeep was later recovered. The ruling keeps Lavallee in jail as detectives sift surveillance clips and phone records and as a separate detention hearing for Aksell is set for Tuesday following a change in her legal representation.
According to arrest paperwork summarized in court, the invitation arrived late on Dec. 29. The victim, James Isaacs, told deputies he reached the landing at the east Orlando complex when a man he recognized as Aksell’s partner told him not to move while pointing a handgun. Isaacs turned to run. Two masked men were waiting below—one with a knife, the other holding an ax. A struggle followed across the hallway and into an outside area. Isaacs said he was stabbed in the upper back and hit on the head with the blunt side of the ax. He vaulted a fence, found a passerby and called 911. He later showed reporters stitches along an arm wound and staples in his scalp.
Investigators say apartment camera footage captured parts of the encounter, including a woman in dark lingerie walking down the stairs to meet the visitor and a man in a black hoodie. Audio captured the line “get him,” according to a detective’s testimony. A search warrant at the couple’s residence turned up clothing that matched what was seen on video, along with a loaded handgun in an unlocked safe, investigators said in court. Prosecutors argued the messages show a coordinated plan to lure, assault and rob Isaacs after Lavallee saw Instagram exchanges he considered insulting. In a recorded statement recounted by detectives, Lavallee said he intended only to “fight” Isaacs; prosecutors responded that the presence of a firearm and an ax undercut that claim.
Both Lavallee and Aksell face counts of robbery with a firearm, aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and grand theft of a motor vehicle. The two masked men, identified only by nicknames in affidavits, remain at large. Judge Cherish Adams found no release conditions could protect the community, granting the state’s motion to hold Lavallee until trial. Assistant State Attorney Ashley Culpepper told the court the plan involved deceptive messages that claimed the couple had split up, which drew the victim to the complex near Colonial Drive shortly before 11:30 p.m.
Neighbors at the complex said they heard yelling and saw people running near a stairwell and grassy courtyard on the night of the attack. A resident said management asked tenants to share video from door cameras pointed toward the hallway. The victim’s Jeep was later found abandoned on Nelson Park Circle, investigators said. Isaacs said he believed he would be killed if he did not run. “It was fight or flight,” he said, describing the decision to sprint from the stairwell as the men closed in.
Lavallee remained jailed without bond Monday night. Aksell’s detention hearing was rescheduled to Tuesday, and deputies said they are still working to identify the two other men. Prosecutors are expected to make a formal filing decision and set initial court dates later this month.
Author note: Last updated January 6, 2026.