Jury selection begins in Nebraska murder, dismemberment case

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Jury selection has begun in the trial of a woman charged with killing a 24-year-old woman who disappeared after a Tinder date and whose dismembered remains later were found in trash bags along remote gravel roads in Nebraska.

Bailey Boswell, 26, faces the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in the November 2017 slaying of Sydney Loofe, who was a store clerk in Lincoln. Boswell had arranged a date with Loofe through the internet dating app — a date from which Loofe never returned.

Boswell's boyfriend, 54-year-old Aubrey Trail, was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Loofe's death in July 2019. Trail testified that he accidentally choked Loofe to death during a sex party that involved Boswell.

Boswell’s trial was moved from Saline County, where she and Trail lived, to Dawson County because of extensive publicity.

On Wednesday, a special prosecutor handling the case asked jurors if they had read or heard anything about the case. Nearly all indicated that they had heard about the case, and most nodded when asked if they had gotten their information from news accounts.

Trail, an ex-convict who specialized in fraud and deception, went on social media shortly after Loofe was reported missing to proclaim in a video that he and Boswell had nothing to do with her disappearance. Boswell has said she dropped Loofe off in Lincoln after their date and had no idea where she was.

During his trial, Trail slashed his own neck in front of jurors, but survived. Prosecutors have called Trail a conman.