Hulu premiered its new three-part true-crime documentary series “Swipe Right on the Devil” on Thursday, Oct. 22, telling the story behind a small-town Nebraska woman’s murder at the hands of two people hellbent on forming a coven of witches in 2017.
The documentary marks the first time the family of Sydney Loofe, whose remains were found along the side of a highway in Clay County more than two weeks after she went missing, has spoken publicly about her killing.
According to Time magazine, hundreds of production companies and documentarians approached the Loofes before they decided to share their story with Imagine Productions.
The series also hears from Nebraska investigators, women who had been caught up in the cultish coven the murderers were trying to form, and the group’s ringleader, Aubrey Trail.
Below is a brief history of the tragic incident and what led up to it. Beware that spoilers and graphic content are included.
A woman in search of community
The story begins with recollections from friends and family about a young Sydney Loofe, who grew up in Neligh, seat of Antelope County in northeast Nebraska. Loofe realized as a teen that she was queer and, after graduating from high school, moved to Lincoln in search of a more progressive social scene.
In November 2017, Loofe met a woman named Audrey on Tinder and went on a date with her. The first experience seemed to be a positive one, according to one of Loofe’s friends.
Loofe shared a screenshot of Audrey’s Tinder profile with her friend before heading out on a second date with her on Nov. 15, 2017. Loofe would never return.
The mystery behind Loofe’s disappearance may have never been solved if not for Loofe’s friend, who went against the advice of detectives and tracked down Audrey’s phone number by matching with her on Tinder in a sort of “catfish” operation.
She shared that info with investigators, who were able to identify “Audrey” as Bailey Boswell, a resident of nearby Wilber. Detectives went to speak to Boswell at her Wilber home, which she shared with boyfriend Aubrey Trail, but could not track down the couple.
While still searching for Boswell, detectives spoke to multiple other women who had been involved with her and Trail, uncovering a pattern of manipulation that saw the pair targeting insecure women on Tinder and recruiting them into schemes that involved group sex, theft, and fraud.
Women in the documentary described a cult-like scenario in which Boswell appeared to do Trail’s bidding. Trail reportedly had to provide permission for any of the women to do anything, including go to the bathroom.
An arrest and a grisly discovery
On Nov. 30, police arrested Trail and Boswell at a hotel in Branson, Missouri. The documentary shows Trail attempt to play mind games with detectives over hours of interrogation. However, using cell tower triangulation methods, investigators found Loofe’s remains on Dec. 4 without the help of Trail or Boswell.
They first found Loofe’s right arm, identified by a tattoo reading “Everything will be wonderful someday,” tied in a trash bag on the side of a gravel road in Edgar, an hour west of Wilber. Searchers would find more remains and items belonging to Loofe along the road over the next two days.
Detectives stated in the documentary that they were able to tie Boswell to the scene because she was on Tinder looking for new victims while she and Trail drove through the area dumping the remains.
Confronted with that discovery by detectives, Trail quickly confessed to the killing. He maintained that it was an accident and insisted that Loofe was killed by strangulation during a consensual sex act.
A trial as bloody as the incidents that led up to it
Over the course of the investigation, detectives formed a picture of a couple that deeply believed in witchcraft and had solicited multiple other women to kill on their behalf in the past. Trail believed himself to be a “vampire sorcerer” who could utilize mind control and black magic to manipulate people.
He and Boswell believed that, in order to become a true dark witch, one needed to murder someone so as to take their soul from them. They believed that the worse a victim is tortured before their death, the more powerful the murderer becomes.
Trail and Boswell both went to trial claiming that Trail was fully to blame. Boswell maintained that she had been manipulated and controlled by Trail. For his part, Trail insisted that Boswell was innocent and that he should be blamed for the murder.
The documentary shows Trail make a suicide attempt during his trial, slashing his own throat multiple times with a razor. He would recover and be found guilty, sentenced to death row in 2021.
Boswell would also be found guilty, thanks in part to jailhouse messages between the two in which Trail planned out Boswell’s defense, ordering her to say that he brainwashed her. Boswell was sentenced to life in prison.
Carrying on in Loofe’s name
While Loofe’s disturbing murder has now become fare for true-crime lovers everywhere, her friends and family continue to struggle with the impacts of her loss.
In 2019, her family launched The Sydney Loofe Foundation, which funds scholarships and supports community causes in Nebraska ranging from playground construction to theater renovations.
Over the last eight years, the foundation has awarded more than $36,000 in scholarships to Nebraska students while giving more than $26,000 to local projects and causes.
“Sydney Loofe was a unique child of God, one who proudly had this tattooed on her arm, ‘Everything will be wonderful someday,” the website reads. “Her family holds tight to the faith that indeed in heaven, that is true.”
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