A convicted murderer who claimed to be a warlock expressed no remorse for killing a 24-year-old Nebraska woman he lured through Tinder, only regret that he chose a victim whose devoted family and friends led to his capture.
The Brutal Murder of Sydney Loofe
Sydney Loofe, a cashier at Menards home improvement store, disappeared in 2017 after what she believed was a second date arranged through Tinder. Aubrey Trail, then 52, strangled the young woman with an electrical cord, dismembered her body into 14 pieces, and dumped the remains in roadside ditches across Nebraska. Trail and his girlfriend Bailey Boswell, 25, were both convicted in the horrific crime.
According to filmmaker Christopher St. John, Trail later admitted he had no regrets about the killing itself, only about selecting someone whose strong support network would pursue justice relentlessly. Trial testimony revealed that Trail and Boswell had solicited others for group sex and discussed occult practices, including gaining supernatural powers through murder. Trail described himself as a powerful warlock and cult leader.
Convicted killer
Digital Tracking Led to Capture
When Loofe failed to appear for her morning shift, police found her apartment undisturbed with work clothes laid out and her cat unfed. Her friend Brooklyn McCrystal provided the investigation’s first major break by creating a fake Tinder profile to locate the woman Loofe had met, who used the alias Audrey. McCrystal matched with Boswell and obtained her phone number, passing the information to authorities.
Investigators traced Boswell’s burner phone to area hotels, where surveillance footage and identification records revealed her true identity and connection to Trail. Loofe had matched with Boswell on the dating app and went on an initial date before planning the fatal second meeting. Her final social media post showed a selfie captioned for her date.
A New Documentary Examines the Case
The Hulu docuseries titled Swipe Right on the Devil explores the murder through interviews with investigators, Loofe’s family and friends, and recordings from Trail on death row. The three-part series examines how a young woman seeking companionship became the target of killers in what FBI agents described as a frenzied hunt for a victim. St. John noted the chilling nature of Trail’s confession, emphasizing that the murderer wished only that he had chosen someone without such determined loved ones.