Sydney Loofe, 24, disappeared after posting a photo to Snapchat with the caption “Ready for my date on Nov. 15, 2017.
Two roommates long suspected in the death of a Nebraska woman who vanished after she met one of the pair for a date have been charged with her murder, officials said.
Sydney Loofe, 24, went missing after posting a photo to her Snapchat with the caption “Ready for my date” on Nov. 15, 2017.
Loofe planned to spend the evening with 23-year-old Bailey Boswell after the two women met through Tinder. The pair had a first date the previous night, but Loofe never returned home following their second meeting.
Boswell and her 51-year-old roommate, Aubrey Trail, were immediately looked at as persons of interest in the case, but they denied having anything to do with Loofe's disappearance.
“I pray for Sydney, I hope she’s found soon," Trail said in a bizarre cell phone video he and Boswell, wearing a hood and sunglasses, posted to Facebook. "I wish the family the best, I’m sorry that she wasn’t with you on Thanksgiving and that’s pretty much all I can say for now."
In the video, Boswell discussed her relationship with Loofe, while Trail accused the police of withholding proof of their innocence.
Boswell and Trail were taken into custody on unrelated warrants on Nov. 30. They were found in a motel in Missouri and booked into Taney County jail.
Then on Dec. 4, about three weeks after Loofe was reported missing, her dismembered remains were found in garbage bags in a field located about 90 miles southwest of Lincoln, officials said.
Trail and Boswell were allegedly caught on video hours before Loofe was reported missing at a Home Depot in Lincoln buying tools prosecutors said they used to dismember her body, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Trail eventually told investigators that he strangled Loofe with an extension cord, officials said.
"It wasn’t supposed to go to the extreme it went, of course not," Trail told the World-Herald over the phone in January. “It wasn’t meant that she was to die."
Boswell is believed to have helped Trail dismember Loofe’s body and dispose of her remains, investigators said.
Trail and Boswell were charged with first-degree murder, and face charges associated with dismembering and disposing of Loofe’s remains.
They made their first appearance in Saline County court Tuesday via videoconference, and were denied bond.
Authorities believe the killing was premeditated, but have not suggested a motive in the slaying.
Trail told the judge he wanted to represent himself, and an attorney appointed standby counsel as a result. Boswell asked that an attorney be appointed for her.
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