Social media has become the hunting ground for a new breed of criminal.
What starts as innocent messaging can turn into a nightmare in seconds.
A Florida couple used Instagram to set up one brutal ax attack.
Instagram messages turned into a violent ambush
Anne Aksell, 29, used her Instagram account to lure James Isaacs to an Orlando apartment complex on December 30.
The two had followed each other on the platform for about a year before Aksell started messaging him.
When her boyfriend Nicholas Lavallee, 20, found out about the messages, he took over Aksell's account and told Isaacs to back off.
Isaacs did exactly that.
But then Aksell's account sent new messages claiming she'd broken up with Lavallee and invited Isaacs over.
Isaacs drove to the University Park Apartments around 11:30 p.m. that night.
Aksell came down the stairs wearing lingerie and led him up toward her apartment.
As they reached the third-floor landing, a voice ordered Isaacs not to move.
Lavallee stepped out holding a gun.
Isaacs ran back down the stairs but two men were waiting at the bottom.
One held an ax and the other gripped a knife.
https://twitter.com/fox35orlando/status/2006863056127545781?s=20
Victim fought for his life against armed attackers
The men grabbed Isaacs and one put him in a chokehold while the others beat him.
During the attack, they stole his wallet, phone, and car keys.
Isaacs broke free and started running.
The attackers chased him down and one caught up.
The man swung the ax and hit Isaacs in the head with the blunt end.
"He stated he thought he was going to die so he started running again," the arrest affidavit stated.
Isaacs jumped a fence into a neighboring apartment complex.
A woman walking her dog called 911.
Deputies found Isaacs with a stab wound to his upper back and a head injury.
The knife wound fractured his arm.
His Jeep was found abandoned in the neighborhood.
Ring camera footage exposed the couple's lies
Orange County Sheriff's detectives reviewed surveillance video from a neighbor's Ring doorbell camera.
https://twitter.com/JacKopp10/status/2007810522654069003?s=20
The footage showed Aksell in lingerie and a man in a black hoodie before the attack.
"We're doing it right here in this hallway," someone said on the video.
Another clip captured Isaacs running as someone yelled "get him."
Aksell initially told investigators Lavallee wanted to beat up Isaacs because he "grabbed on her" and she feared he would assault her.
But detectives pointed out her timeline didn't match the evidence.
Detectives confronted Aksell about inconsistencies in her story.
She finally cracked and admitted "she and Nicholas invited him over with the intention of beating him up," the affidavit stated.
Lavallee told investigators he was mad because Isaacs "was making fun of him and disrespecting his wife."
Orange County Sheriff's Detective Rob Calachi said Lavallee claimed Isaacs "called him goofy."
Lavallee admitted he wanted to "blow off some steam and teach this guy a lesson."
He recruited two men from the neighborhood he identified only as "Eli" and "J3" to help with the attack.
Detectives found the black hoodie in Lavallee's apartment along with a loaded gun in an unlocked safe and the lingerie Aksell wore.
Isaacs spent a year building trust that Aksell turned into a trap
Isaacs followed Aksell on Instagram for a full year before she made her move.
That's 12 months of harmless social media contact that built just enough trust to get him in the car.
The couple used that year-long connection to craft the perfect bait.
The couple crafted messages designed to make Isaacs think he was meeting someone interested in him.
Instead, he walked into a coordinated ambush with multiple armed attackers.
Aksell's Instagram showed Isaacs exactly what he wanted to see.
She knew where he lived, what kind of car he drove, who his friends were.
One message claiming she broke up with her boyfriend was all it took.
Cops can't do a thing about it until after someone gets hurt.
The messages happen in private DMs where nobody's watching.
By the time Isaacs realized he'd been set up, three armed men had him surrounded.
Assistant State Attorney Ashley Culpepper told the court this wasn't just a fight gone wrong.
Lavallee armed his accomplices and brought his own gun because he had "alternate plans," Culpepper said.
Judge Cherish Adams agreed with prosecutors that no conditions could ensure public safety if Lavallee was released.
She ordered him held without bond until trial.
Aksell's bond hearing was postponed when she got a new lawyer.
Both face charges of robbery with a firearm, grand theft of a motor vehicle, first-degree battery, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
The two unidentified attackers remain at large.
Isaacs told reporters the attack left him with staples in his head, stitches in his arm, and bruises covering his body.
"It was absolutely terrifying and absolutely traumatizing," Isaacs said.
Sources:
- Bob Hazen, "Man accused of ambush with ax and stabbing in Orlando to remain jailed until trial," WESH, January 5, 2026.
- Brandon Hogan, "2 arrested in Orange County ax-attack ambush, deputies say," ClickOrlando, January 2, 2026.
- Colin Kalmbacher, "'She was a decoy': Florida woman 'dressed in lingerie' lures victim into ax-wielding ambush at boyfriend's apartment," Law & Crime, January 3, 2026.
- Marie Edinger, "Florida man attacked with axe in targeted robbery: 'Absolutely terrifying,'" Fox 35 Orlando, January 1, 2026.
- Angel Green, "Both suspects in Orlando axe attack will remain behind bars," WFTV, January 4, 2026.
