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The Tinder Murder – The Tragic Murder of Sydney Loofe
Before we jump into this week’s case, we want to remind you that though the new way of the world includes online dating, dating apps and meeting up with folks you’ve never met before, it is crucial to be careful and always keep your wits about you. There is nothing wrong with dating apps or online dating, but we want to always caution to trust no one and stay in a public location until you truly know and trust this person.
Sydney Loofe was born on August 21, 1993 and she was 24 years old. She was born and raised in Neligh, Nebraska and had a brother and a sister and was raised by her parents George and Suzie. Her friends and family described her as a very kind person and very generous, always looking to help others. Sydney did give college a try and ultimately got her own apartment, had a cat and became the head cashier at Menards.
Again, like any person on the dating scene nowadays, Sydney signed up for Tinder, a dating app, and created a profile to try both online dating and a way to make new friends. On November 14, 2017 Sydney matched with 26 year old Audrey on Tinder.
The two girls shared 140 messages with each other on that first day of matching, and they ended up going on a date that night. This first date consisted of driving around and smoking a bit of week, but by the end of the night Sydney was really smitten with Audrey. The two ended up agreeing to go out again the next night and after that first date, Sydney was showing all of her friends what Audrey looked like and shared how much she liked her. Friends said that Sydney could not contain her excitement to go out with her for that second date.
On the night of the second date, Sydney posted a Snapchat selfie that said “Ready for my date” with the heart eyes emoji. The last known test from Audrey to Sydney was at 6:45 pm saying that she’s outside there to pick her up for their second date. The next day, November 16th, Sydney did not show up for her shift to work, and this is a ginormous red flag because it’s extremely unlike Sydney to just not show up for work with no call or no message. On top of that, no one could get ahold of her. Sydney’s mom later learned that no one close to her had heard from her since prior to leaving for the Tinder date. This is when Sydney’s mom filed a missing person’s report. The last known conversation between Sydney and her mom was when her mom received the snapchat the night before (“Ready for my date”) and her mom screenshotted this and sent it back to Sydney and said “What date?” but Sydney did not answer.
The following day, police did a welfare check at Sydney’s apartment and they soon discovered that her car, the jeep, was still in the driveway. Her purse was there in the apartment and her cat had not been fed. There were no signs of a struggle though, so after this police received another clue from one of Sydney’s friends named Brittney. Brittney sent over a photo of what Audrey looked like as Sydney had sent this around to all of her friends out of excitement.
Since Sydney is an adult, there’s not really much anyone can do this early and no one knew the name of the girl who she went out on the Tinder date with. However, another one of Sydney’s friends named Brooklyn, made a Tinder profile in order to swipe until she found Audrey. After swiping away, she found the exact photo that Sydney had shared with her. Brooklyn swiped right and ended up matching with Audrey. Through an immediate conversation, Brooklyn was able to gain a lot of information about Audrey, such as; where she worked, where she was at that moment and even her contact information. Once she received all of this information she gave it all to the police and then deleted the profile. Police ran all of the information and found that it came back to a Bailey Boswell.
On this same day, 45 minutes away in Wilber, Nebraska, a landlord was informed of a very strong smell of bleach coming from a basement apartment. The couple that was renting this apartment was 56 year-old Aubrey Trail and 26 year-old Bailey Boswell. These two were known around town as ‘Antique Dealers’ and told their landlord that they were engaged. They were also familiar with the law as they were involved with scheming a Kansas couple out of $400,000 over an old coin and they were convicted of that crime. On top of the antique business, Aubrey and Bailey had a very….different lifestyle.
To hear the rest of this week’s episode, head over to our show Kill and Tell Podcast for the full case episode. You can find our sources to this week’s episode below.
As always, keep it spooky and we’ll see you next Monday!
Kelsie