Sydney Loofe case: Aubrey Trail sentenced to death for murder, dismemberment

SALINE COUNTY, Neb. (TCD) --

A Nebraska man was sentenced to death Wednesday for the murder and dismemberment of Sydney Loofe in 2017.

On June 9, Aubrey Trail was sentenced to die by lethal injection by a panel of three Nebraska judges.

Trail, 54, was convicted in July 2019 of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and improper disposal of human remains in the 2017 death and dismemberment of Sydney Loofe.

Loofe, 24, was found in Clay County, Nebraska, in December 2017. Over the course of two days, Loofe’s body parts were found dispersed in the area in garbage bags.

An autopsy determined Loofe died by strangulation. She had been reported missing on November 16, 2017, after she missed a work shift.

Loofe’s body was cut into 14 segments, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

The FBI arrested Aubrey Trail and his girlfriend, Bailey Boswell, at a hotel near Branson, Missouri, on Nov. 30, 2017, the Associated Press reported.

TRUE CRIME DAILY: Sydney Loofe case coverage - TCD

Lincoln Police said Sydney Loofe had met up with Bailey Boswell, who was 24 at the time, the night before Loofe was reported missing. The two had met on the Tinder dating app a week earlier, according to investigators.

On November 19, 2017, police served a search warrant at a basement apartment Boswell shared with Aubrey Trail. Their landlord reported smelling the strong scent of bleach the night before. Cellular phone data from Boswell’s phone placed her near where Loofe’s body parts were found on the night she was last seen.

Police found security video from a Home Depot in Lincoln that showed Trail and Boswell buying tools and supplies, including a hacksaw and bleach, on November 15, 2017, around 10:35 a.m., hours before Loofe and Bailey met for their date.

Trail confessed to Lincoln Police and FBI investigators that he had strangled Loofe with an extension cord, and he said Bailey helped him clean up the apartment afterward.

In a courtroom during his 2019 trial, Aubrey Trail shouted "Bailey is innocent and I curse you all" before he slashed his neck with an object believed to have been a pen, and fell from a wheelchair. He survived and was later convicted.

Aubrey Trail's attorney later said Loofe's killing was an accident that occurred as she, Trail and Boswell played out a consensual sex fantasy.

Bailey Boswell was convicted of the same charges in October 2020. She has not been sentenced. Prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty for Boswell. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 30, the Associated Press reports.

Prosecutors said Trail and Boswell had been planning to kill someone before Boswell met Loofe, the Associated Press reports. All Nebraska death penalty sentences are automatically appealed.

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