Murder of Sydney Loofe

Sydney Irene Loofe was born August 21, 1993, in Broken Bow, Nebraska, and raised largely in Neligh, Nebraska. She worked at a Menards store in Lincoln after graduating from Neligh-Oakdale High School in 2011. In the days before her disappearance, Loofe had discussed worsening mental health with her family, who had scheduled and driven her to a doctor's appointment for antidepressants.

On November 14, 2017, Loofe went on a first Tinder date with a woman using the alias "Audrey," later identified as Bailey Boswell. A second date followed on November 15 in Wilber, Nebraska; Loofe posted a Snapchat captioned "Ready for my date" before leaving. Cell tower data later showed phones belonging to Boswell and Aubrey Trail traveling from Loofe's home to Wilber, with Loofe's own phone last pinging in Wilber before shutting off around 8:32 p.m. On November 16, Loofe failed to appear for her shift at Menards, and her mother, Susie Loofe, reported her missing after receiving no response to texts. A welfare check at Loofe's rental home found her car, glasses, and purse left behind, with no signs of a struggle, though her cat had not been fed.

Investigators traced Loofe's last phone ping to a duplex in Wilber rented by Boswell and Trail, where a neighbor had complained of a strong bleach smell. A friend of Loofe's, Brooklyn McCrystal, helped identify the "Audrey" Tinder profile and passed a phone number to police. On November 28, Boswell and Trail were named persons of interest; they responded with a Facebook livestream denying involvement. On November 30, the pair were arrested at a Missouri motel on unrelated fraud charges, reportedly in possession of items suggesting a plan to leave the country.

Loofe's dismembered remains were found on December 4–5, 2017, wrapped in trash bags along a gravel road near Edgar, Nebraska. Trail subsequently made multiple, shifting confessions, at times claiming sole responsibility and at other times describing an accidental death during a sexual encounter involving choking. He directed police to Loofe's phone, driver's license, and credit card at a Wilber cemetery.

Boswell and Trail were charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and improper disposal of human remains. At trial, prosecutors presented store receipts, surveillance video, and cell tower data showing the pair purchasing bleach, trash bags, and cutting tools before and after Loofe's death, and tracking her movements on the day she disappeared. Trail pleaded guilty to improper disposal of remains and, during proceedings, cut his own neck in court. A jury convicted Trail of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and improper disposal of remains; a separate jury later convicted Boswell of the same charges following a change of venue. In 2021, a three-judge panel sentenced Trail to death, while Boswell was sentenced to life in prison after one judge found her conduct did not meet the standard required for capital punishment. Boswell is incarcerated at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women; Trail is on death row at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution.