Bailey Boswell, the woman accused of helping her boyfriend strangle a 24-year-old wooed through Tinder, “got off sexually” from talking about killing and torture, prosecutors alleged on Friday, as the bombshell trial involving claims of a vampire sex cult began.
Boswell, 26, is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and improper disposal of human remains for her role in the 2017 slaying and dismemberment of Sydney Loofe, a cashier at a Lincoln home-improvements store.
Prosecutors allege Boswell conspired for weeks with her boyfriend, Aubrey Trail, 52, to lure Loofe to her death. Loofe was missing for 19 days after the Tinder date before her body was found in garbage bags scattered among ditches and farm fields in rural Nebraska.
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Last July, Trail was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder after jurors heard from witnesses who said the 52-year-old convinced his “cult” members he was a flying, mind-reading vampire with a coven of a dozen witches—who he claimed would gain their powers by killing people.
During his dramatic trial—in which he cut his own throat “several times”—he claimed Loofe was accidentally strangled during a “sex party.”
“They will tell you that Bailey Boswell got off sexually talking about those kinds of things,” Assistant Attorney General Sandra Allen said Friday, describing three women who will testify against Boswell.
In opening statements in Dawson County Court on Friday, prosecutors claimed the 26-year-old was a willing participant in the sinister murder plot, pointing to evidence that the couple had conspired to lure several young women into their lifestyle.
The three women testifying for the prosecution are set to detail Boswell and Trail’s “rules”—including not wearing clothes in the apartment and participating in group sex—and frequent discussions about “killing and torture.”
“Some of these people are just pieces of the puzzle. And they might not make sense when you hear them individually,” Allen said, according to the Omaha-World Herald, adding that in the end “it will all make sense to you.”
Allen told the 15-person jury that prior to Loofe’s disappearance on Nov. 15, 2017, she had gushed to a friend about a future second date with Boswell, whom she described as her “dream girl.” But prosecutors allege Trail and Boswell messaged Loofe on Tinder under the name “Audrey” with the intent of “killing, torture, and sex.” (Tinder was formerly owned by IAC, the parent corporation of The Daily Beast.)
Allen said cellphone data tracked the 26-year-old and her 52-year-old boyfriend the day of the killing, showing that they followed Loofe to work and bought a hack saw, utility knife, boxes of trash bags, four roasting pans, and duct tape.
That night, while Loofe was on a date with Boswell, Trail strangled the 24-year-old with an extension cord and then used a “fine-toothed saw” to dismember her body, prosecutors alleged. According to court documents, Trail confessed to the murder and told authorities Boswell helped clean up the crime scene.
The morning after the date, Loofe was reported missing when she didn’t show up for work at Menards. Nineteen days later, after an extensive search and a manhunt for Trail and Bowell, authorities found her body about an hour-and-a-half drive from her apartment complex outside of Lincoln.
In a Facebook video after her arrest, Boswell explained she met Loofe on Tinder and they “drove around Lincoln, smoked weed [and] had a great time.” She took Loofe on another date the following evening, she said.
“I gave her my number. We were planning to go to the casino that weekend,” Boswell said. “I haven’t heard from her since.” Allen said that, at the end of the video, Bowell added: “I don’t know where she’s at. I really hope you find her.”
Boswell’s defense attorney, however, poked holes at the prosecution’s case and witnesses during his Friday opening statement, cautioning jurors against thinking emotionally.
“Look at the state’s evidence critically,” Todd Lancaster said, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. “They want you to be emotional in this case.”
Lancaster, who revealed prosecutors will be calling Loofe’s mother as their first witness on Monday, stressed jurors will be “assaulted” by photos of the deceased 24-year-old and will hear emotional testimony.
“Remember when you start getting emotional, when you start getting upset about this, think about why the state's giving you that evidence,” the defense attorney said. “It's because their case is weak and they want to rile your emotions up.”
During his trial, Trail testified that Loofe was accidentally strangled during a “sex party” that the 24-year-old had voluntarily agreed to participate in with him and Boswell. He said that Boswell helped him dispose of the body. The admission came after Trial stunned the Saline County courtroom when he cut his own throat before falling out of his wheelchair and yelling, “Bailey is innocent, and I curse you all.”
“I used people for money, I used people for sex… [killing someone] was counterproductive,” Trail testified, according to the Omaha-World Herald, before adding: “I can’t bring Sydney back. I didn’t mean to, but I did.”
A 22-year-old woman who claimed to be a follower of Trail’s alleged “cult” took the stand in his trial and told jurors she joined the pair’s depraved world the summer before Loofe was killed. She described how the 52-year-old convinced her she’d need to kill someone and “take their last breath” in order to obtain her magical powers, according to the Norfolk Daily News.
She said that she met Trail after communicating with Boswell via Tinder, and the 52-year-old showed her photos of women he claimed had witch powers. She said Boswell was called the “Queen Witch” and Trail referred to himself as “Daddy,” NET Nebraska reported.
It wasn’t clear if the 22-year-old would be one of the three women to testify against Boswell, but Lancaster urged jurors to be skeptical about these testimonies.
“Do their stories match up?” Lancaster said. “You’re going to hear some crazy things from these women, things that you’ll shake your heads at. Some of what you hear is going to leave you with more questions than answers.”
