Tinder killer who believed he was a warlock said he picked wrong person

Sydney Loofe believed she was meeting a woman for a second date after connecting on Tinder. Instead, the 24-year-old disappeared, beginning a case that would end with her killer making a chilling confession about why he believed she had been the “wrong person” to target.

“I don’t regret killing Sydney,” Aubrey Trail said, according to filmmaker Christopher St. John. “I don’t regret killing somebody, but I regret killing … I picked the wrong person.”

Trail, a 52-year-old con man at the time, was convicted of killing the Nebraska store clerk in 2017. Prosecutors said he strangled Loofe with an electrical cord, dismembered her body into 14 pieces, sealed the remains in garbage bags and left them in roadside ditches. During the trial, witnesses described how Trail and his girlfriend, Bailey Boswell, then 25, approached people about group sex and spoke of the occult, including their belief that killing could help them gain “powers.”

“One of the FBI agents said the culprits were in a frenzy,” St. John told News Media. “They were looking to do this, and Sydney was the available target. She was trusting and innocent and fit the profile. Later, you hear Aubrey Trail, the murderer, say, ‘I picked the wrong person.’”

“That is incredibly chilling to me because he feels no remorse. He only regrets choosing someone whose strong network of family and friends ultimately helped expose him and bring about his capture.”

The murder of Loofe by Trail, who called himself a “powerful warlock” and claimed to lead a sex cult, is revisited in Hulu’s new true crime docuseries, “Swipe Right on the Devil.” The three-episode production includes interviews with Loofe’s family and friends, investigators and recordings of Trail from death row.

Loofe worked as a cashier at Menards, a home improvement retailer, and lived by herself with her cat, Mimsy. Friends said she hoped to find a relationship. Through Tinder, she matched with a woman named Audrey—a false identity used by Boswell. After messaging one another, the pair went on a first date and arranged to meet again the following day. Loofe appeared genuinely excited about the connection.

“Sydney was like any one of us,” St. John said. “She was lonely and looking for a sense of belonging. She went on a date with this woman and was so excited that she immediately told her friends. They said, ‘Great, nothing to worry about.’ Then they never heard from her again. Something horrific had emerged from the darkness.”

When Loofe failed to report for her morning shift, her family asked police to conduct a welfare check. Officers found her vehicle at home, along with her work clothes and purse prepared for the day. Her cat had not been fed.

Loofe’s friend Brooklyn McCrystal knew she had gone on a date the night before she vanished. Hoping to identify Audrey and obtain contact information, McCrystal created her own Tinder account. After matching with the profile, she exchanged phone numbers with Boswell and passed the information to police. Friends also showed investigators Loofe’s final Snapchat post, a selfie captioned “Ready for my date.”

“Brooklyn delivered the first major breakthrough,” St. John said. “She catfished the people responsible. The case involved digital tracking and all the elements of a remarkable investigation. But in the end, it was Sydney’s loved ones—people determined to find answers—who helped lead authorities to Aubrey and Bailey.”

Boswell declined to assist investigators. Authorities discovered that the phone they were tracking was a burner device obtained under a false name. Its signal led them to nearby hotels, where surveillance footage and the state-issued identification used during check-in helped police determine that Boswell was the woman using the name “Audrey.” The footage also showed her with an older man later identified as Trail. The Lincoln Journal Star reported that Loofe’s phone last connected to the location of Boswell and Trail’s apartment that night.

Police secured a search warrant for the apartment and found that it reeked of bleach. By then, Boswell and Trail had paid their rent ahead of time and abandoned the property.

Police named Boswell and Trail as persons of interest. On Nov. 29, 2017, the couple released a video on social media denying any involvement in Loofe’s disappearance. Boswell said she had gone on two dates with Loofe, but after their second date, she had dropped Loofe off at a friend’s house. Despite maintaining their innocence, they went on the run.

Boswell and Trail were arrested on Nov. 30, 2017, near Branson, Missouri, on unrelated federal fraud charges.

Nearly three weeks after Loofe disappeared, investigators used cellphone data to trace Boswell and Trail’s movements and identify rural areas where they appeared to have slowed down or stopped.

On Dec. 4, 2017, investigators searched a roadside ditch near Edgar, Nebraska. They found car keys, a phone, a label with Loofe’s name and her dismembered upper arm, which bore a tattoo that read “Everything will be wonderful someday.” The Lincoln Journal Star reported that some garbage bags contained her clothing.

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According to court documents, Trail and Boswell were captured on surveillance video at a Home Depot in Lincoln on Nov. 15, 2017, buying tools investigators believed were used to dismember Loofe, hours before her death. Investigators believed Boswell and Trail had lured Loofe through Tinder before killing her and dismembering her body.

“During the trial, the prosecutor said that Aubrey and Bailey had four arms, four legs and one mind,” director Brian Biegel told News Media. “That speaks to how intertwined they were, how they fed off of each other’s darkness and desire for evil.”

After his arrest, investigators questioned Trail about accounts that he portrayed himself as a powerful warlock and surrounded himself with women he called witches. Trail initially dismissed the occult talk as role-playing, but later told investigators, “Witches kill … the more they kill, their power increases.”

“I spoke to Aubrey Trail for over two years on the telephone and on video conferences,” said Biegel. “I do believe that he believes, based on his history growing up in rural Tennessee and the people that he was groomed by, which, according to him, were witches and they believe in dark magic.”

“I believe, that he believes, that he has special powers and he can use them mostly to manipulate vulnerable people into bending to his will,” Biegel continued. “And I think that’s an important distinction because yes, in his words, he was trying to form a coven of witches and groom them to do awful, terrible things. It’s his belief that if they had done that, they would have superpowers.”

St. John said the filmmakers were aware during production that Trail was “a liar and a serial one.”

“There’s truth in and among the lies, so we were constantly trying to check ourselves and be like, ‘Are we being manipulated by him just like he manipulated these young women?’ And honestly, we didn’t want to give him more of a platform for his, frankly, out-there views.”

The docuseries also examines how Boswell used multiple identities on Tinder to meet women, including Loofe.

Ana Golyakova said Trail required her and Boswell to be intimate in front of him, while Ashley Hills said Trail beat her if she disobeyed his demands. Hills said Trail’s rules included remaining naked, asking permission to do virtually anything — even to use the bathroom — and not speaking to other men.

Several women described similar patterns of control. Hills also said Trail told her he practiced witchcraft and could control people’s minds.

The filmmakers said the women’s accounts were crucial to understanding how Trail and Boswell operated — and how investigators ultimately brought them to justice.

“At the heart of this story is Sydney Loofe and the women who were pulled into the orbit of Aubrey and Bailey,” said St. John.

“These were young women who, in a very universal way, were searching for belonging in a place that was hard for them to find that. It made them vulnerable and, as a result, they fell into this awful situation. But they were incredibly brave. Other than Sydney, who unfortunately was killed, these young women have told their story in court, and they’re responsible for putting these people away.”

Trail was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in 2019. He also pleaded no contest to improper disposal of human skeletal remains. He was sentenced to death in 2021.

Boswell was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and improper disposal of human skeletal remains in 2020. She was sentenced to life in prison the following year.

“There was a thirst for doing something really awful to someone that had built up in Bailey and Aubrey’s orbit,” said Biegel. “And so, Sydney was at the wrong place at the wrong time. She came into their world at a time when they were ready to perform some of their supposed beliefs in witchcraft and dark magic.”

“This is obviously a cautionary tale about not knowing who’s on the other side of the screen,” Biegel said. “But had it not been for the brilliant work of the Lincoln Police Department and the FBI, there would probably still be two killers on the streets. Who knows how many other people they would have killed?”