It has been two weeks since Nebraska woman Sydney Loofe, 24, was last seen, and authorities apparently don’t have any suspects. At least not yet. A hooded woman identified as Bailey M. Boswell recently released a bizarre Facebook video insisting she had nothing to do with the disappearance. She said they went on a couple of Tinder dates, but she hadn’t heard from Loofe since. What do investigators think about this? They were looking for Boswell, and a man in the video, Aubrey C. Trail. Authorities said Thursday they got in touch with the pair, but they remain vague about the duo’s actual involvement.
The Facebook video was originally uploaded Wednesday, but is now deleted. It was obtained and posted to YouTube.
“Hi, good morning,” said Boswell, 23, wearing a hoodie and sunglasses. “I’m Bailey, Audrey on Tinder and a few other names because I have warrants.”
She said she and Loofe went on a date in Lincoln, smoking weed, and “had a great time.”
“I dropped her off at home,” she said. “Picked her up the next night at her house. We drove around smoked weed again.”
The date ended, and Loofe asked to be dropped off at a friend’s home, said the woman identified as Boswell.
“I gave her my number,” she said. “We were planning to go to the casino that weekend.” But she hasn’t heard from Loofe since.
Trail, 51, was decidedly more grumpy. He said the Lincoln Police Department was publicly smearing them, and misrepresenting their involvement in the case. (Cops identified them as persons of interest on Tuesday.) Like the woman identified as Boswell, he acknowledged his criminal history.
“You’ve heard all of this stuff about my criminal history: all true,” he said. “Been convicted of bad checks and forgery and all that good stuff,” he said. Trail insisted they attempted to communicate with cops over the phone and via an attorney. He claimed police were uncooperative.
Investigators held a press conference Thursday in Lincoln. FBI Special Agent in Charge Randall Thysse said Loofe went missing on Nov. 16, and her mother called authorities for a welfare check the next day. He asked for help from the public in finding Loofe, and said they just made “contact” with Boswell and Trail. But he and Lincoln Police Chief Jeff Bleimeister were vague, or otherwise declined to answer many questions about the pair’s involvement in this case.
“It’s a very fluid situation,” said Thysse. He explained that Boswell and Trail were “somewhere in the midwest,” but not in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Bleimeister said they had contact with the pair over the phone. Both he and Thysse declined to answer a question about whether the pair cooperated. He apparently misspoke at one point saying there had been arrests, but walked back that statement, and then said they were sending authorities to the duo’s location.
Bleimeister confirmed that Boswell had an outstanding warrant for possession of a narcotic, and Trail had a Saline County warrant for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. He said investigators are vetting the pair’s claims: notably, Boswell’s story about her dates with Loofe, and Trail’s claim that communicating with an attorney.
Bleimeister said said that searches did not turn up any evidence that would direct law enforcement to Loofe’s location.
“If someone knows something, please do the right thing,” said Syndey’s father George Loofe, who was also at the press conference.
[Screengrab via Facebook]
