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?”

A lively New England city is split over a proposed downtown redesign that would add protected bike lanes—but could take five years to complete. Local business owners worry the prolonged construction may keep customers away.

The debate is unfolding in Northampton, Massachusetts, a city of roughly 31,000 people known as the “Paradise City.” Northampton is located about 100 miles west of Boston.

The $43.3 million proposal would transform Northampton’s Main Street with separated bicycle lanes, fewer parking spaces and a narrower roadway. In some sections, the street would shrink from approximately 90 feet wide.

Construction on the first phase of the project is expected to begin in 2028. The full downtown redevelopment, known as Picture Main Street, could take five years to complete, according to the Boston Globe.

Robert McGovern, the 81-year-old owner of Packard’s bar, said the plan could seriously damage downtown businesses. “People are not going to bicycle in town to go shopping,” he said, describing the proposal as a “kiss of death for downtown.”

“Grandma is not going to be sitting in a … basket while you pedal her to Packard’s for a beer,” McGovern told the outlet. “It’s not going to happen.”

Still, the proposed Main Street redesign has attracted strong support from residents who believe the project should go even further in prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists.

“I would love to do away with all parking on Main Street,” Jennifer Nery, a local acupuncturist, told the outlet.

Nery said she would prefer to see “an even stronger version of a public square” incorporated into the Northampton downtown plan.

McGovern, however, argued that years of construction could make downtown Northampton even less appealing to visitors and shoppers.

“The big crowds of people we had in the 80s and 90s, they’ve gone away,” McGovern said. “And they’re not coming back.”

Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra is among Picture Main Street’s most prominent supporters. She has called the proposal a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to redesign downtown Northampton.”

Sciarra said the city should create “all available opportunities to minimize our reliance on motorized vehicles for trips that can be completed by other means.”

“Some people need to roll, walk, or bike,” she said.

Anna Bowen, who owns Strada Shoes on Main Street, said the proposed construction has left her “very nervous.”

“I’ve survived online shopping,” Bowen told the outlet. “I’ve survived Trump twice now. I’ve survived COVID.”

Even so, Bowen acknowledged that she was “not 100 percent sure” her store could survive the disruption caused by the Main Street redesign.

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Wayne Feiden, who previously led Northampton’s planning department for 25 years, said Main Street was built in the 19th century.

People had to visit downtown to shop then, but ‘they have other options’ now.

‘It has to be a different kind of place,’ Feiden told the Boston Globe.

Northampton resident Liza Styles said she was excited about the bike lanes, though she noted that other locals might have a difficult time adjusting to the redesign.

‘It is a huge change, and change is hard,’ Styles said.

Elizabeth Sharpe, the co-director of the Historic Northampton museum, said Main Street was ‘an idea’ that some locals might feel nostalgic for.

‘It represents order, your values, responsibility, civic virtues,’ Sharpe told the outlet. ‘It’s a place where people come together.’

Northampton’s website for the proposal said the dedicated bike lanes would be ‘great for everyone.’

‘They result in fewer injuries, improved traffic flow, safer sidewalks, they’re better for the environment, and they make people healthier,’ the plan said.

Of the redesign’s projected $43.3 million cost, only $11.8 million is expected to be paid by the city.

The rest of the $31.5 million will come from state and federal funds for construction.

Though Northampton is known as ‘Paradise City,’ it has struggled with affordable housing and traffic accidents.

There were 497 accidents investigated in 2025, according to the Northampton Police Department.

Of those, 421 involved personal injury or property damage exceeding more than $1,000.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the Northampton Mayor’s office for further comment.

For 13 years, Adriana Aviles, a passionate education advocate and former NYPD officer, was deeply connected to New York City’s school system. As a prominent member of the Citywide Council on High Schools, she proudly represented Queens District 26, which she considered one of the city’s strongest districts. She knew the principals, trusted the teachers and believed her son was thriving. Throughout his K-8 education, he earned consistently strong grades, particularly in math. But two weeks ago, Aviles sat down with her 14-year-old son to prepare for his second math exam. The experience left her shaken and her high school freshman overwhelmed — and led her to challenge Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels publicly at a town hall last week. She described her family’s ordeal to The Post’s David Spector.

On paper, my son had always been a math standout in middle school. His report cards were filled with A’s, and his lowest grade was a B-plus. But after he scored a 78 on his first exam at a prestigious Queens high school this fall, I sat down with him to prepare for the next test.

I will never forget watching tears gather in my son’s eyes as he struggled to answer more than the first few questions on his math review sheet.

He could not solve basic algebra problems. Geometry confused him. Even elementary-school fractions were beyond his grasp.

That was a shocking contrast to his years at PS 221Q, North Hills Elementary School, where he routinely earned the top math grade. At MS 67Q Louis Pasteur Middle School in Little Neck, his lowest math mark on an end-of-term report card was an 89 in seventh grade. He earned a 92 in sixth grade and a 93 in eighth grade — grades equivalent to A’s.

After he was accepted to his first-choice high school, one of New York’s highest-rated schools, we had every reason to expect that his academic success would continue.

But sitting beside my son as he studied revealed a reality that shocked me to my core.

He looked at the page without understanding it, completely lost in the material. Equations involving fractions left him especially confused.

The shock quickly turned into heartbreak — and then anger.

My son is mature, intelligent and hardworking. He even runs his own online apparel business. He usually keeps his struggles to himself, so seeing tears in his eyes broke my heart. I told him none of this was his fault. The system had failed him, I said, and we would do whatever was necessary to help him catch up.

That night, I did not tell anyone what had happened — not even my husband.

After my son took the test, his teacher called me. I told her I already knew why she was reaching out.

She said he had answered only two of the 10 multipart questions correctly and received a score of 10 out of 100.

Now his high school must provide the math instruction he should have received during elementary and middle school.

I have started buying math workbooks designed for first- through fourth-graders so I can determine what he truly understands — and identify the point at which he stopped learning.

My son now gives up his lunch period every Tuesday through Friday for tutoring. Once baseball season ends, he will also receive tutoring on Saturdays.

I am the daughter of immigrants. My parents came to the United States from Colombia, and my mother instilled in my sisters and me a deep respect for education. She closely monitored our schoolwork and made sure we understood how important earning a high school diploma would be.

The discipline and work ethic she taught me helped me become an NYPD officer. When I became a parent, I passed those same values on to my son.

When I married my husband, who was also an NYPD officer, in 2005, I insisted that we move to District 26 in Douglaston because it is regarded as one of the best school districts in New York City.

If my son’s teachers had told me he was struggling, we could have secured help much earlier. He would have put in the work. But no one alerted us, and his grades gave us no indication that he was falling behind.

I know now that teachers grade according to a rubric — and that DOE fudges the numbers. The NYC education system had betrayed my son to make itself look better.

What made this betrayal worse is I’ve worked with the teachers and administrators at my son’s schools for years.

I’m a longtime parent leader, I’ve served as PTA president, CEC president, and I now sit on the Citywide Council on High Schools. I’ve formed close relationships with educators at every stop.

I became active in my children’s education because I knew that the only way to be truly informed was to be involved. I thought I was fully aware of how my son was doing in school.

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I was so wrong.

My son wasn’t in advanced classes, he was in general education, he didn’t take the Regents in middle school. I relied on his teachers to tell me the truth about how he was doing.

I failed too. I didn’t scrutinize his work closely or check his performance on state test scores because I figured if his report cards were good then everything was fine.

It was only recently, after I realized how far behind he is, that I looked back and discovered he was deemed “not proficient” in math on a seventh-grade state exam.

How can he not be proficient in math but was receiving As?

Why didn’t his middle school ever give him additional resources?

I feel deceived.

Looking back, there were warning signs. The teachers barely gave homework. He was allowed to revise his answers on tests after they were graded — and get a new grade. Teachers had a surprisingly laid-back attitude about missed assignments.

There are so many working-class parents in the NYC school system who don’t have the time to closely monitor their kids’ schoolwork and rely on their teachers — and the grading rubrics — to be honest. The lack of rigor in city schools and the inflation of grades are dishonest.

This is one of the reasons so many families are leaving the school system.

The DOE enables failure in minority communities by constantly lowering their standards instead of grading our children accurately and failing to collaborate with families to address issues they may be having. They don’t even police chronic absenteeism. How can our kids get jobs if they can’t read or do math, or are even taught the value of showing up?

I soon found out my family was not alone in feeling cheated.

Shortly after my son’s October test, I reached out to other parents in his school to ask if their kids were also struggling in algebra. The responses were overwhelming; so many said that they were and asked what tutoring options were available.

I spoke to a mother of an eighth-grade girl who was apoplectic about her daughter’s math curriculum. She said her daughter, who is also in District 26, was only getting one page of homework a day and she’s urgently trying to get her into Catholic school.

That’s when I knew I had to use my position in the public school system to speak out for all of the families who have been failed by the system.

I decided to confront Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels about it a Community Council on High Schools town hall on Monday, Oct. 26.

The DOE is ending the Regents requirement to graduate and moving to the “Portrait of a Graduate” model, which is supposed to grade students in a “holistic” manner that is even more dependent on subjective teacher evaluation. All of these problems will just get worse as we abandon more objective metrics.

I was already planning on asking Samuels about this at the town hall, but after seeing what happened to my son, I knew I had to share what my family had been through.

“This school system is failing our children. . . . I equate this to the childhood game ‘Kick the Can.’ My my son is the can. Where did he land?” I tearfully said as I sat on the dais in the Art and Design High School Auditorium.

As I choked back tears, I made clear to the chancellor that the system’s failure would be felt by my family for years to come.

“In high school, where they are expected to help him graduate with the necessary tools to succeed, will they continue to kick the can all the way to college, where I will be expected to pay for a remedial class that does not count toward a degree?” I asked.

Finally, I pressed Samuels on the upcoming Portrait of a Graduate changes. How could we not expect to see what happened to my son happen to thousands of more students if grades are now even more dependent on the subjective judgments of biased teachers and principals?

Samuels seemed taken off guard by my comments. And his response disgusted me. He didn’t even acknowledge my question. He didn’t know what to do with himself. He was stammering and didn’t know what to say. It just sounded like mumbo jumbo. As a parent, and a longtime parent leader, I was entitled to a real response. I would have preferred a slick non-answer that politicians give, but he didn’t even give me that.

I had to walk off stage after that. Usually, after these events I stick around and pose for pictures with the DOE officials in attendance, but I went straight home that night.

I couldn’t pose for pictures with Samuels. If he can’t answer how we’re going to educate our children, who can?

Private jets, superyachts, mansions and access to wealthy and influential figures helped the Alexander brothers draw women into their social world while cultivating an “aura” that left alleged victims worried they would not be believed, an attorney representing three women with civil claims against the convicted sex traffickers told News Media.

Alon, Oren and Tal Alexander were each sentenced Tuesday in New York to 30 years in federal prison for a yearslong sex-trafficking scheme. Prosecutors said the brothers used their wealth, social standing and luxury lifestyle to attract women before drugging and sexually assaulting them.

However, the sentences concluding the federal case do not end the legal challenges facing the brothers.

Michael J. Willemin, a partner at Wigdor LLP, told News Media that his firm represents three women pursuing civil claims against the brothers. He said evidence uncovered during the federal prosecution could strengthen allegations in those separate cases.

Willemin said the brothers used their connections to wealthy and powerful people, along with an extravagant lifestyle, to attract women and create an image that made alleged victims afraid to speak out.

“They used things like luxury trips and parties and introductions to celebrities and powerful individuals and private jets and super yachts, mansions and estates,” Willemin said.

Those displays of privilege, he said, complemented the drugs and alcohol allegedly used to impair victims’ memories, ultimately helping the brothers continue the conduct for years.

Prosecutors alleged that the brothers leveraged their wealth and prominence to create opportunities to sexually assault women from at least 2008 through 2021.

Women were allegedly identified through social media, dating apps, personal encounters and party promoters, then offered luxury travel, experiences and accommodations. Prosecutors said that in multiple instances, the women were drugged and forcibly raped or sexually assaulted, sometimes by more than one man.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Jones characterized the alleged pattern during closing arguments as a “consistent playbook to lure, isolate and rape their victims.”

Willemin said the brothers’ wealth and influence not only helped bring women into their circles but also intensified fears about the consequences of accusing them publicly.

“There’s an added layer of concern that the women who come forward are going to be retaliated against,” Willemin said.

Those concerns may include being excluded from social circles, monitored or subjected to other potentially violent conduct, he said.

“That’s something that is a very real fear for women that is exacerbated when someone can use wealth and power to help secure silence,” Willemin said.

Willemin represents Angelica Parker, who sued all three brothers in 2024, as well as Samantha Fields and a Jane Doe, who have filed separate civil claims.

Parker alleges that Oren invited her and a friend to the New York City apartment he shared with Tal and Alon in 2012. She says Oren and Alon offered the women ecstasy, which they refused.

After Parker’s friend left the apartment, Parker alleges that Alon and Tal sexually assaulted her together while Oren watched.

The allegations in Parker’s lawsuit are separate civil claims and were not adjudicated by the federal jury that convicted the brothers.

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Willemin said evidence that emerged during the criminal prosecution nevertheless supports Parker’s contention that what allegedly happened to her was planned rather than spontaneous.

“There was a whole host of evidence with respect to text messages and videos and other behaviors that suggested that these sexual assaults were not the random acts of spontaneity, but were, in fact, planned, which help also support the allegation made by Ms. Parker,” Willemin said.

The federal prosecution may now also change the landscape for the remaining civil cases.

Willemin said Parker’s case has progressed further than the other two his firm is handling and is moving through an appeals process involving whether older sexual assault claims can proceed.

An argument is scheduled in January before the New York Court of Appeals over legal issues Willemin said could determine the outcome of numerous civil cases against the brothers.

“The civil cases are moving forward now,” Willemin said. “And one of the sort of roadblocks to that was to have the criminal case completed. That’s now obviously completed to a degree and now the civil cases should be able to move forward.”

When asked whether additional women may have been victimized but never publicly came forward, Willemin said, “I wouldn’t doubt that at all.”

“It would be, you know, frankly, pretty surprising if every woman who had been the victim of a sexual assault by the Alexander brothers has come forward, given the evidence that we have as far as how widespread this occurred,” Willemin said.

At Tuesday’s sentencing, the brothers continued to deny drugging, raping or trafficking women while acknowledging and expressing regret for past attitudes and comments about women.

Federal prosecutors had sought life sentences, while defense attorneys asked for the mandatory minimum of 15 years.

U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni ultimately sentenced each brother to 30 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release. Alon and Oren were each fined $300,000, while Tal was fined $350,000.

For Willemin’s clients, the federal sentences represent only one part of what they are seeking.

His firm hopes to move its three civil cases through discovery and ultimately to trial, where Willemin said his clients want juries to recognize that they were wronged and provide a remedy through the civil justice system.

“The criminal convictions were welcome for sure, and the sentence, although it could have been longer, it could have been life, was also significantly longer than the minimum sentence that could have been given,” Willemin said.

Asked whether he believed 30 years was a just sentence, Willemin pointed to the brothers’ continued denials and said he believes accountability remains lacking.

“At this point in time, life really seems like the only fair sentence,” Willemin said.

News Media reached out to the Alexanders’ attorneys for comment.