Ex Star Athlete Who Dismembered Nebraska Tinder Date Won’t Get New Trial, Court Says

Bailey Boswell is a Lincoln, Nebraska, woman who was sentenced to life in prison for the dismemberment murder of a Tinder date and hardware store clerk named Sydney Loofe.

On May 10, the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld her convictions, the appellate court records say. “There is no merit to any of Boswell’s assigned errors regarding the trial court’s evidentiary rulings. We therefore affirm Boswell’s convictions and sentences,” the opinion says.

“After the dismembered remains of 24-year-old Sydney Loofe were discovered, Bailey M. Boswell and Aubrey C. Trail were charged, in separate criminal cases, with premeditated first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and improper disposal of human skeletal remains,” the decision says.

“Trail’s case was tried in 2019, and the jury found him guilty on all charges,” and his convictions were affirmed on appeal, the documents say. A jury found Boswell, who was tried in 2020, guilty on all charges, according to the documents, which said she received a life prison term.

“The pathologist determined the cause of death was homicidal violence by strangulation,” court documents say. Trail and Bowell were accused of soliciting “young females through social networking sites,” recruiting three other people “to commit murder,” selecting Loofe to murder, and disposing of Loofe’s body, the records say.

Prosecutors accused Bailey and Trail of using “a dating app to solicit and recruit several young women, including A.H., A.G., and K.B., into dominant-submissive sexual relationships that included grooming the women, through physical and sexual punishment and regular discussions of witchcraft and the occult, to plan and participate in torture and murder for sexual gratification,” the documents say.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Sydney Loofe Was Reported Missing After She Failed to Show Up at Her Job at a Lincoln, Nebraska, Hardware Store

On November 16, 2017, Loofe “was reported missing after she failed to show up for work at a hardware store in Lincoln, Nebraska,” the appellate records say. “Loofe’s family and friends knew that a few days earlier, on November 14, she had gone on a first date with a female named ‘Audrey,’ whom she met through an online dating application (dating app).”

They also knew that Loofe “had a second date planned with ‘Audrey’ for the evening of November 15,” the records say. “After Loofe was reported missing on November 16, one of her friends located the online profile for ‘Audrey’ and provided it to police.”

Police investigators “discovered that ‘Audrey’ was actually Boswell, and they eventually learned that Boswell and Trail lived together in a basement apartment in Wilber, Nebraska,” the documents say.

Death Penalty Info.org reported that Trail received the death penalty, but Boswell received life in prison without parole.

“Boswell presented evidence that Boswell, who had been a star high school athlete, spiraled downward after being verbally and emotionally abused by her college coach, sexually assaulted, subjected to beatings and sexual punishments by a boyfriend who then sexually trafficked her on Backpage, where she met Trail,” the site says.

She accused Trail of threatening to kill her daughter, the site says.

“Sydney did nothing but threaten to expose my lifestyle and I killed her for it,” Trail said during his sentencing, according to KETV, adding that he said he strangled Loofe with an electrical cord when she “freaked out” at the couple’s apartment. Trial testimony accused Trail of joking that he drank Loofe’s blood, the television station reported.

In 2019, in court, he tried to cut his own throat, shouting, “Bailey is innocent and I curse you all!” according to KETV.

2. Court Documents Say Bailey Boswell Went on a Date With Sydney Loofe, But Checked Into a Hotel With Aubrey Trail

Investigators “also obtained cell site location data for two cell phones associated with Boswell and one associated with Trail. That data, along with other evidence gathered during the investigation, showed the following coordinated activity by Boswell and Trail during the days immediately before and after Loofe’s disappearance,” the court documents say.

On the afternoon of November 14, 2017, Loofe “texted Boswell her apartment address in preparation for their first date that evening. Within minutes, Boswell phoned a hotel close to Loofe’s apartment, after which Boswell and Trail traveled to, and checked into, that hotel,” the documents say. At 5:35 p.m., Boswell “left the hotel without Trail and drove to Loofe’s apartment. Boswell picked up Loofe, and they drove around Lincoln for almost 2 hours.”

Boswell returned Loofe “to her apartment at approximately 7:15 p.m., and Loofe remained there until she left for work the following morning. Boswell phoned Trail at 7:22 p.m., and then returned to the hotel where she and Trail spent the night,” the documents say.

3. Aubrey Trail Was Seen on a Hardware Store Security Camera ‘Watching Loofe,’ According to Court Records

Boswell and Loofe “planned a second date for the evening of November 15, 2017. On the morning of November 15, Boswell and Trail traveled to the vicinity of Loofe’s apartment and then followed the same route that Loofe took to her job,” the court documents say.

Shortly after Loofe began her work shift, Trail “was observed on the hardware store’s security camera watching Loofe, after which Trail phoned Boswell, who was waiting in the store parking lot,” the documents say. “Throughout the day, Boswell and Trail went to multiple stores in Lincoln and Wilber and purchased items, including plastic dropcloths, a hacksaw, hacksaw blades, tin snips, drywall blades, a utility knife, rope, chemical drain cleaner, bleach, plastic trash bags, duct tape, and four roasting pans.”

Shortly before 7 p.m. on November 15, 2017, Boswell “arrived at Loofe’s apartment, and the two traveled together to Boswell’s apartment in Wilber. At approximately 8:08 p.m., Boswell and Loofe arrived at the apartment,” the documents note. “The last time Loofe’s cell phone communicated with any cell tower was at 8:32 p.m.”

According to the documents, “The following morning, November 16, 2017, Boswell purchased more bleach, plastic trash bags, and chemical drain cleaner in Wilber. Police telephoned Boswell on November 17, and she admitted going on a date with Loofe on November 15th but insisted she had dropped Loofe off at a friend’s home in Lincoln after the date.”

4. Authorities Found Sydney Loofe’s Severed Body Parts in Ditches & Fields Where Bailey Boswell & Aubrey Trail Traveled, Court Documents Say

Using cell site location data and mapping software, “investigators were able to determine that on the afternoon of November 16, 2017, the cell phones associated with Boswell and Trail traveled the same route along county roads west of Wilber,” the court documents say. “For approximately 3½ hours that afternoon, those cell phones were either stationary or slowly moving along that route.”

In December 2017, investigators “searched the county roads and ditches along the route where Boswell’s and Trail’s cell phones had traveled on November 16. They discovered a partially torn plastic trash bag that contained severed human body parts, including a severed arm with a distinct tattoo that matched a known tattoo of Loofe,” the documents say.

“In subsequent searches of ditches and fields in the area, investigators discovered additional disposal sites, and eventually, they recovered a total of 13 body segments. All of the recovered body segments were found in or near plastic trash bags, and several of the bags were torn or ripped open when discovered,” the documents say.

“In all, 17 different disposal sites were discovered by investigators. Additional items of evidence were recovered near the body segments, including (1) plastic tarps with what appeared to be blood and body fluids; (2) pieces of a sauna suit with the crotch cut out; (3) a sex toy; (4) latex gloves; (5) a flat bedsheet; (6) star-patterned pajama pants; (7) an extension cord; (8) a large green shirt with apparent bleach stains on it; (9) torn pieces of denim clothing; (10) a towel; (11) cut-up pieces of Loofe’s driver’s and credit card; (12) broke npieces of Loofe’s cell phone; (13) Loofe’s jacket, bra, and; and (14) Loofe’s car keys,” the documents say.

In the Bailey-Trail apartment, investigators found “several bottles of bleach, a second sauna suit, duct tape, a human anatomy book,” and more, the documents say. The court documents say that “most of the inter nal organs in Loofe’s torso and abdomen were missing. The recovered body segments included Loofe’s head and upperneck; her lower neck and upper torso,” and more.

5. The Court Reviewed Statements in Which Aubrey Trail Was Accused of Saying Bailey Boswell ‘Was a Witch’

The Nebraska Supreme Court rejected Boswell’s appeal on a number of fronts, including the admission of crime scene photos.

“The admission of photographs of a gruesome nature rests largely with the discretion of the trial court, which must determine their relevancy and weigh their probative value against their prejudicial effect,” the court wrote.

The court also rejected a hearsay claim relating to statements made in court by the other women. They included “A.H.’s testimony that Trail asked her if she wanted a young woman they saw in a discount store to be her first kill” and “K.B.’s testimony that Trail told her Boswell was a witch and that he was a powerful being.”

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