Investigators recovered 13 body parts from 17 disposal sites. The medical examiner later determined that Sydney Loofe had been cut into 14 pieces and had all of her internal organs removed before her remains were scattered by her killers.
The Nebraska Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the woman convicted of murdering, mutilating and dismembering another woman she met on a popular dating app.
Bailey Boswell, 30, is currently serving a life sentence after a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and improper disposal of human remains following her criminal trial in 2020.
Those charges stem from the death of 24-year-old Sydney Loofe, a hardware store employee who met Boswell on Tinder before being lured to her death by the woman on their second date, according to prosecutors.
Loofe's cellphone last pinged on Nov. 16, 2017, at the apartment Boswell shares with 58-year-old Aubrey Trail, her co-defendant who is now on death row.
Law enforcement spent three weeks searching for Loofe before finally discovering the young woman's severed arm in a torn bag on the side of the road in Edgar, a town located approximately 75 miles west of Lincoln with a population of less than 500 people. Investigators were able to quickly identify the remains because of the tattoo Loofe had on her arm which read: "Everything Will Be Wonderful Someday."
In the end, investigators recovered 13 body parts from 17 disposal sites. The medical examiner later determined that Loofe had been cut into 14 pieces and had all of her internal organs removed before her remains were scattered by her killers.
Boswell and her attorney challenged a number of things in their appeal, starting with the 87 crime scene photos of Loofe’s dismembered body as well as the images from the autopsy that were entered into evidence at trial. They argue that there images are irrelevant and turned jurors against Boswell because they depicted the graphic and gruesome nature of Loofe's murder.
The court rejected this argument, with Justice Stephanie Stacy writing:
The digital photographs taken at the various disposal sites provided direct evidence of the charged crime of improper disposal of human skeletal remains. And such photographs were also relevant to document the recovery process, to show chain of custody, to show the identity of the victim, to show the condition and location of the body segments and plastic trash bags as they were discovered by investigators, to assist in determining which body segments had been subjected to animal predation and which had not, and to support a finding of deliberate and premeditated malice.
Boswell and her attorneys also objected to the testimony of three young women who said they were in dominant-submissive sexual relationships with the defendant and Trail after first meeting the pair through Tinder. Those witnesses said Boswell and Trail subjected them to physical and sexual torture, spoke about witchcraft and the occult, and discussed a plan to participate in the torture and murder of another person for their sexual gratification, according to court transcripts.
Boswell and her attorney objected to evidence related to these sexual torture claims as well as the woman's testimony about witchcraft and the occult, arguing this painted the defendant in an unfair fight because she is a victim of Trail, who they claim is the mastermind behind this all.
The court rejected this argument as well, with Justice Stacy writing:
[T]he evidence was offered to show that Boswell got sexual gratification from controlling and torturing others, that prior to Loofe’s murder, Boswell was describing ways she wanted to torture and kill someone, and that Boswell and Trail had been actively recruiting and grooming others to participate in such a crime. The sex and witchcraft evidence was integral to explaining how Boswell and Trail methodically recruited and groomed young women to participate in the planned torture and killing of another person by using sexual control and punishment, gradually testing the boundaries of obedience, and introducing and normalizing discussions of occult rituals, torture, and murder.
Boswell and her attorney also argued that testimony from these three women in which they recounted conversations with Trail about Boswell was hearsay and should not have been admissible, arguments the court found "unpersuasive."
Trail confessed to killing Loofe shortly after he and Boswell were arrested, telling FBI agents and local police that he accidentally strangled the young woman during a sex act. He and Boswell then pled not guilty to all charges at their trials. Trail missed the majority of his trial after stabbing himself in the neck with a razor during a pretrial hearing but was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and improper disposal of human skeletal remains. That conviction was affirmed on direct appeal and in 2021 a three-judge panel sentenced him to death.
Boswell successfully petitioned the court for a change of venue in her case. She is now an inmate at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women.
