Nicole Lopez was the second young woman found dead in separate Columbia County cases within roughly 12 hours, sheriff’s officials said.
LAKE CITY, Fla. — Columbia County deputies were still working one homicide when another call sent them to a home north of Lake City before dawn Sept. 10. Inside, they found 21-year-old Nicole Xenia Lopez dead. Her boyfriend, Isaiah Devon Campbell, 19, was arrested on a murder charge later that day, making Lopez’s death the second separate intimate-partner homicide investigation opened by the sheriff’s office in roughly 12 hours.
The compressed timing prompted the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office to address the two killings together even though investigators said they were separate cases. The first investigation began around 4 p.m. Sept. 9, when deputies conducting a well-being check found a 16-year-old pregnant girl fatally shot in an apartment. About 12 hours later, at approximately 4:19 a.m., deputies were dispatched to a residence on Northwest Moore Road after Campbell reported that Lopez was not breathing. Sheriff’s officials later thanked deputies, investigators and the Third Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office for working through the night as the two homicide cases developed.
In Lopez’s case, the first explanation authorities received was comparatively simple. The sheriff’s office said Campbell told 911 dispatchers that his girlfriend had fallen and struck her head during a physical altercation. Campbell was the person who let deputies into the residence, according to officials. When they found Lopez, however, authorities said she was already cold to the touch. Emergency medical personnel pronounced her dead shortly after responding. Investigators secured the scene, detained Campbell and began examining whether his account could explain what they saw inside the home.
Detectives soon said the evidence pointed to more extensive violence. The sheriff’s office reported that Lopez had suffered blunt-force injuries and stab wounds during an altercation earlier that night. An arrest report described swelling and widespread bruising along with multiple puncture wounds. Investigators also documented blood spatter in the residence and reported finding blood beneath Campbell’s fingernails and on his shoes. Those observations have been presented publicly as investigative findings, but the early reports reviewed for this story did not include a final autopsy or comprehensive forensic laboratory results establishing every detail of Lopez’s death.
When detectives questioned Campbell, he acknowledged part of the violence but denied another part, according to the arrest report. Campbell said he and Lopez argued and that she struck him in the chest and arm. He told investigators that he became enraged and hit her in the face several times. The report said Campbell cried during the interview and told detectives that he had blacked out and had not meant to kill Lopez. He denied stabbing her. That denial left a direct conflict between his account and investigators’ description of puncture wounds they believed were consistent with stabbing.
Campbell also described a delay before he sought emergency help. According to the arrest report, he said Lopez became lightheaded and fell after the confrontation. Campbell told investigators he went into another room for roughly 30 minutes to calm himself and did not immediately check on her because he thought she was “playing around and wanted attention.” When he returned, he said, Lopez was lying on her back and was not responding. Campbell claimed he then attempted CPR for approximately an hour. Authorities have not publicly established whether that claimed timeline matches medical evidence about when Lopez died.
Investigators wrote that Campbell said he was frightened and did not know how to respond after finding Lopez unresponsive. Before the emergency call, according to the arrest report, he covered her with a white sheet. The report attributed to him a statement that he was tired of looking at her. When deputies arrived, officials described Lopez’s body as already cold, an observation that contributed to the questions surrounding the timing of the call. The available public reports did not provide a precise time of death, and authorities have not released all of the medical or forensic evidence that could further establish the timeline.
The sheriff’s office arrested Campbell after the interview and booked him into the Columbia County Detention Facility on a murder charge. A judge ordered him held without bond at his first appearance, according to the agency. The charge is an accusation rather than a finding of guilt. Early public reporting did not identify a conviction or trial, and Campbell would have the right to challenge the prosecution’s evidence and offer a defense in court. The state, meanwhile, would have to establish the elements of the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt before a conviction could be entered.
The second homicide investigation made the deaths difficult for local officials to discuss in isolation. The girl killed Sept. 9 was identified in local reporting as 16-year-old Ashia Moore, who was seven months pregnant, according to a family friend cited by Action News Jax. A 17-year-old boyfriend was taken into custody in that separate investigation, though the precise charges and status reported in early coverage differed as investigators continued working the case. Lopez’s death the following morning involved different people, a different location and a different alleged method. Nothing in the reviewed reports suggested the two incidents were connected to one another.
What linked the cases in the sheriff’s public response was the issue of domestic violence. Officials said violence involving intimate relationships can affect people regardless of age or background and can escalate. The agency publicized national and local support resources when announcing the investigations. That official message followed an exceptional stretch in which investigators handled two deaths of young women within less than a day. The warning did not determine what happened in either criminal case, but it showed how the sheriff’s office interpreted the broader community significance of the two investigations.
For Lopez’s relatives, the wider discussion did not replace the particular person they lost. Her mother, Melissa Lopez, described Nicole as sweet, caring and loving in statements shared with local television stations. The family called her “Miss Smiley” because, relatives said, her smile could brighten a room. Local reports identified Lopez as the mother of a toddler. Her mother said she would hold on to memories of her daughter and described being Nicole’s mother as one of the greatest blessings of her life. Those remembrances shifted attention from the allegations against Campbell back to the 21-year-old whose death began the second investigation.
Campbell’s reported statements also left several factual questions unresolved. Publicly available reports did not identify a specific weapon connected to the apparent stab wounds, disclose detailed laboratory findings or provide a complete medical reconstruction of Lopez’s final hours. Authorities also had not announced a specific motive beyond describing the fatal encounter as a domestic violence incident. Campbell’s claim that he did not stab Lopez stands against detectives’ conclusion that she suffered stab injuries, an evidentiary dispute that could become important if the prosecution proceeds toward trial.
For now, The sheriff’s office is seeking information from the public as the investigation moved into the court system. As of Oct. 21, the reviewed public reports continued to describe Campbell as having been ordered held without bond, and no later disposition of the murder charge was identified. The two September homicide investigations began only hours apart, but each will be resolved on its own evidence. In Lopez’s case, that evidence includes the condition of the Northwest Moore Road residence, her documented injuries and the statements Campbell gave investigators after deputies entered the home.
Author note: Last updated October 21, 2026.