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The Online Date That Became A Chilling Murder Plot · Murder Files Unsealed

0:00
Speaker 1: You know, I want you to put yourself in a
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Speaker 1: very specific, very modern headspace for a second. Think about
0:07
Speaker 1: the nervous, jittery excitement of getting ready for a second date. Oh, yeah.
0:12
Speaker 2: That is a very specific feeling. Right.
0:15
Speaker 1: Like you've met someone on a dating app and against
0:18
Speaker 1: all odds, the first date actually went incredibly well.
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Speaker 2: Which, you know, feels like a miracle these days.
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Speaker 1: It really does. You didn't have to carry the conversation
0:26
Speaker 1: the whole time. You actually laughed at their jokes and
0:28
Speaker 1: there was a real spark. So now you're standing in
0:30
Speaker 1: front of your mirror doing the whole outfit change routine.
0:33
Speaker 2: Throwing five different shirts on the bed routine.
0:35
Speaker 1: Exactly. You throw one on, take it off, try another.
0:39
Speaker 1: You're sending giddy texts to your friends, maybe taking a
0:42
Speaker 1: quick selfie to get their approval. There is this palpable
0:45
Speaker 1: feeling that your luck is finally turning around.
0:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, that in this huge, sometimes really isolating world, you've
0:52
Speaker 2: actually found a genuine connection.
0:54
Speaker 1: But I want you to imagine a completely different reality
0:57
Speaker 1: happening at the exact same time, just miles away. What
1:01
Speaker 1: if the person you're texting, the person supposedly waiting outside
1:04
Speaker 1: in their car right now to pick you up, isn't
1:07
Speaker 1: actually looking for love at all?
1:09
Speaker 2: Right. What if they have entirely different plans?
1:11
Speaker 1: What if that person has spent their entire afternoon walking
1:14
Speaker 1: the fluorescent aisles of a hardware store, meticulously picking out
1:18
Speaker 1: a hacksaw, tin snips, a gallon of bleach, and heavy-duty
1:23
Speaker 1: 40-gallon garbage bags.
1:25
Speaker 2: I mean, it's the absolute ultimate nightmare scenario. It takes
1:28
Speaker 2: the fundamental trust that human connection actually requires, and it
1:32
Speaker 2: violently weaponizes it.
1:33
Speaker 1: It really does. And the mission of our deep drive
1:36
Speaker 1: today is to unpack a case where that exact nightmare
1:39
Speaker 1: became a reality. We are going to deconstruct the harrowing
1:43
Speaker 1: true-life case of 24-year-old Sidney Luth.
1:45
Speaker 2: Yes.
1:46
Speaker 1: Using the source material we've gathered, we are going to
1:48
Speaker 1: look at a case that sits at this utterly terrifying
1:51
Speaker 1: intersection of digital forensics, the realities of modern loneliness, and
1:55
Speaker 1: a bizarre, highly manipulative subculture.
1:58
Speaker 2: And we really need to emphasize to you, listening right now,
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Speaker 2: that this isn't just a true crime story. No, not
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Speaker 2: at all. It's an urgent, deeply practical masterclass in the
2:08
Speaker 2: realities of our digital footprints. It's exploration of situational awareness.
2:14
Speaker 2: And perhaps most importantly, we are going to break down
2:17
Speaker 2: the psychological mechanics of manipulation.
2:20
Speaker 1: Because we have to understand how this works, right?
2:22
Speaker 2: Exactly. We need to look at how predators identify a vulnerability,
2:26
Speaker 2: no matter how small, and exploit our most basic human
2:29
Speaker 2: desire to just, well, not be alone.
2:32
Speaker 1: Okay, let's untack this because the details here are staggering.
2:36
Speaker 1: To really understand what happened to Sydney, we first have
2:38
Speaker 1: to understand the environment she was in. Let's talk about
2:40
Speaker 1: the setting, because geography plays a huge role in how
2:43
Speaker 1: we reinvent ourselves.
2:44
Speaker 2: It really does.
2:45
Speaker 1: We're starting in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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Speaker 2: And the history of Lincoln itself is actually fascinating, because
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Speaker 2: it perfectly mirrors that theme of reinvention. If you look
2:53
Speaker 2: back to 1803, right around the time of the Louisiana Purchase,
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Speaker 2: President Thomas Jefferson actually described this specific area as an
3:00
Speaker 2: immense and trackless desert.
3:03
Speaker 1: An immense and trackless desert. So it was viewed as
3:05
Speaker 1: a desolate wasteland, basically.
3:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, completely. An area that was largely unsettled, completely unforgiving. Right.
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Speaker 1: It wasn't exactly a destination spot.
3:13
Speaker 2: Far from it. But fast forward to the 1930s, and
3:16
Speaker 2: the region completely transforms.
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Speaker 1: Like because of the agricultural boom. Right.
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Speaker 2: Exactly. Fueled by massive advancements in agricultural technology, things like
3:24
Speaker 2: better irrigation, drought-resistant crops, mechanized farming, the population absolutely exploded
3:30
Speaker 2: to over 75,000 people. Wow. Those trackless deserts became sprawling,
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Speaker 2: fertile grasslands. The area eventually ranked number two in the
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Speaker 2: entire United States for cattle production.
3:41
Speaker 1: That is a massive shift.
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Speaker 2: And today. Lincoln is a thriving metropolis. It's home to
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Speaker 2: over a quarter of a million people. It's a vibrant
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Speaker 2: arts and culture hub, teeming with colleges, universities, and young professionals.
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Speaker 1: I love that historical framing because I think there's a
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Speaker 1: really strong parallel there. The reinvention of the city itself,
4:01
Speaker 1: going from this vast, empty expanse to a place of
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Speaker 1: thriving possibility.
4:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is exactly the energy a young person is
4:08
Speaker 2: looking for when they move to a big city. Exactly.
4:11
Speaker 1: You want to leave your own personal trackless desert behind
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Speaker 1: and find some fertile ground to start over. And that
4:17
Speaker 1: brings us directly to Sydney. Right.
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Speaker 2: Sydney Irene Loof was born in August 1993 in Broken Bow, Nebraska,
4:25
Speaker 2: to her parents, George and Susie.
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Speaker 1: And what kind of person was she based on the sources?
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Speaker 2: By all accounts in the source material, Sydney was just
4:34
Speaker 2: a fiercely loyal, deeply compassionate person. Her brother actually referred
4:39
Speaker 2: to her as the poster child for caring about others
4:42
Speaker 2: more than herself.
4:43
Speaker 1: Which is high praise from a sibling.
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Speaker 2: It really is. The sources note that on three separate occasions,
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Speaker 2: she actually took in friends or co-workers who were down
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Speaker 2: on their luck.
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Speaker 1: Three different times. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: She offered them a place to stay, a couch to
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Speaker 2: crash on, and her complete support until they could get
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Speaker 2: back on their feet.
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Speaker 1: Which tells you so much about her baseline character. She
5:01
Speaker 1: was the one providing the safety net for everyone else.
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Speaker 2: It was.
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Speaker 1: But while she was holding other people up, she had
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Speaker 1: also faced some really severe personal disappointments of her own.
5:10
Speaker 1: Growing up, she was incredibly active. She loved golf, basketball,
5:15
Speaker 1: pole fishing.
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Speaker 2: I read her mom even joked that she could outfish
5:18
Speaker 2: most of the family.
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Speaker 1: Right. But then as a teenager, she developed severe scoliosis.
5:23
Speaker 2: And we should clarify what that means in this context
5:25
Speaker 2: because severe scoliosis isn't just, you know, a minor posture issue.
5:29
Speaker 1: No, it's incredibly painful.
5:30
Speaker 2: It is a severe, often painful curvature of the spine.
5:34
Speaker 2: The spine rotates and curves sideways, which can put immense
5:38
Speaker 2: pressure on the rib cage and internal organs.
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Speaker 1: And for an athlete, that's devastating.
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Speaker 2: Completely. It alters your center of gravity, your flexibility, and
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Speaker 2: your pain threshold. Right.
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Speaker 1: It got so bad that it completely ruined those athletic aspirations.
5:51
Speaker 1: She couldn't even comfortably swing a golf club anymore without pain.
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Speaker 2: If we think about her psychological state, having a core
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Speaker 2: part of your identity stripped away by something entirely out
6:01
Speaker 2: of your control is a profound loss. If you view
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Speaker 2: yourself as an athlete and your body betrays you, it
6:08
Speaker 2: requires a massive mental and emotional recalibration. She also had
6:12
Speaker 2: deep dreams of going to veterinary school that she ultimately
6:15
Speaker 2: had to abandon.
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Speaker 1: Though her love for animals clearly remained, she was incredibly
6:19
Speaker 1: devoted to her cat, Mimsy.
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Speaker 2: She was.
6:22
Speaker 1: So you have this young woman dealing with the grief
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Speaker 1: of lost dreams. She decides to move to Lincoln to
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Speaker 1: be near her brother and sister, looking for new opportunities,
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Speaker 1: a fresh start in a bigger pond. But she is
6:34
Speaker 1: also actively battling depression and anxiety.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a key factor here.
6:38
Speaker 1: And I want to point out, the sources make it
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Speaker 1: clear she was actively seeking help and taking medication for it.
6:43
Speaker 1: She was really trying to manage it.
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Speaker 2: Which is... Incredibly commendable, but it also highlights her vulnerability.
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Speaker 2: Managing depression and anxiety in a new, unfamiliar city is exhausting.
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Speaker 2: You're trying to build a support network from scratch.
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Speaker 1: She gets a solid job as a cashier at a
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Speaker 1: hardware store. She's a model employee, shows up on time,
7:02
Speaker 1: does great work. But the one thing missing, according to
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Speaker 1: her friends, is a romantic connection. Sydney is attracted to women.
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Speaker 1: And so, like millions of other people, she turns to
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Speaker 1: the online dating landscape. And I think we really need
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Speaker 1: to look at what that landscape actually looks like mechanically
7:19
Speaker 1: because it sets the stage for everything that follows.
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Speaker 2: The mechanics of online dating are designed around a very
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Speaker 2: specific psychological loop. You are spending hours engaged in lonely swiping,
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Speaker 2: trying to make sweeping judgments about a complex human being
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Speaker 2: based on a handful of heavily curated photos.
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Speaker 1: And maybe two sentences of text if you're lucky.
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Speaker 2: Exactly. You are constantly evaluating and being evaluated.
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Speaker 1: It's window shopping for human connection. And it can leave
7:46
Speaker 1: you feeling incredibly isolated. You swipe and swipe, and it
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Speaker 1: just reinforces the feeling that you're alone in your apartment.
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Speaker 2: Precisely. And this is where the vulnerability becomes palpable. Sydney
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Speaker 2: has a history of emotional fragility. She is in a
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Speaker 2: new city, and she's hopeful.
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Speaker 1: That hope makes her a target.
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Speaker 2: It does. It makes her incredibly susceptible to the sudden
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Speaker 2: rush of what feels like an instant connection. When you've
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Speaker 2: been swiping endlessly, feeling entirely unseen by the algorithm... The
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Speaker 2: moment someone finally seems to see you and reciprocate your interest,
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Speaker 2: your brain releases a massive dopamine response.
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Speaker 1: It feels like relief.
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Speaker 2: Exactly. It feels like relief.
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Speaker 1: And that dopamine hit arrives for Sydney in November 2017.
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Speaker 1: She matches with a young woman whose profile says her
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Speaker 1: name is Audrey. They start chatting, and according to Sydney's
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Speaker 1: texts to her friends, they hit it off instantly.
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Speaker 2: The banter is there. The spark is there.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no awkwardness.
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Speaker 2: Which moves us from the abstract psychology of dating apps
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Speaker 2: directly into a very concrete minute-by-minute timeline of events.
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Speaker 1: So let's walk through November 14th and 15th. November 14th
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Speaker 1: is the first date. Audrey picks Sydney up. They don't
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Speaker 1: do anything overly elaborate.
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Speaker 2: There's no fancy dinner.
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Speaker 1: Right. They drive around. They park the car. They share
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Speaker 1: a joint. They talk and laugh late into the night.
9:00
Speaker 1: It's casual. It's intimate. It feels authentic.
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Speaker 2: And after the date, Sydney is texting her friends, and
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Speaker 2: she is thrilled.
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Speaker 1: She says it went great. They immediately make plans for
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Speaker 1: a second date the very next night.
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Speaker 2: Then we get to November 15th. Sydney goes to her
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Speaker 2: shift at the hardware store, and her co-workers notice a
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Speaker 2: distinct change in her demeanor.
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Speaker 1: She is giddy.
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Speaker 2: She is practically radiating excitement because she has this second
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Speaker 2: date that night. She feels like she has finally struck
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Speaker 2: gold in this new city.
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Speaker 1: So she goes home, does the outfit changes we talked
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Speaker 1: about earlier, texts her friends photos of Audrey's dating profile.
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Speaker 1: which turns out to be a massively crucial detail later.
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Speaker 2: Very crucial, yes.
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Speaker 1: She settles on an outfit, posts a selfie with the caption,
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Speaker 1: ready for my date, and that is the last photo
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Speaker 1: she will ever post.
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Speaker 2: It's heartbreaking.
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Speaker 1: She leaves enough kibble in the bowl for her cat, Mimsy,
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Speaker 1: just for the evening. And then at 6.55 p.m., she
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Speaker 1: gets the text from Andre out front. Sidney says goodbye
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Speaker 1: to Mimsy, walks out the door, and vanished.
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Speaker 2: The alarm bells start ringing almost immediately the very next day,
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Speaker 2: November 16th.
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Speaker 1: Because she misses work, right? Right.
10:07
Speaker 2: Sidney does not show up for her shift at the
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Speaker 2: hardware store. She doesn't call in. Her co-workers know this
10:12
Speaker 2: is highly, highly out of character for her.
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Speaker 1: She was a reliable model employee. She doesn't just no call,
10:19
Speaker 1: no show.
10:20
Speaker 2: Furthermore, she had an agreement to text or call her
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Speaker 2: mother every single day. And her mother hasn't heard a word.
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Speaker 1: So her mom, Susie, who lives in Neely, Nebraska, immediately
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Speaker 1: gets in the car and drives two and a half
10:32
Speaker 1: hours south to Lincoln to check on her daughter.
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Speaker 2: And what does she find when she gets there?
10:37
Speaker 1: Well, when she gets to Sidney's apartment, she finds Sidney's
10:40
Speaker 1: car is there. Her purse is there. But her wallet,
10:43
Speaker 1: her keys, and her cell phone are gone. But the
10:46
Speaker 1: detail that truly shatters Susie, the ultimate red flag, is
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Speaker 1: Mimsy's empty food bowl.
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Speaker 2: That is such a deeply profound behavioral clue. Isn't it?
10:56
Speaker 2: If you understand pet owner psychology, especially for someone who
10:59
Speaker 2: relies on an animal for emotional support like Sydney did,
11:03
Speaker 2: you know, they structure their lives around that animal's well-being.
11:06
Speaker 1: They don't just forget to feed their cat.
11:08
Speaker 2: Exactly. The empty food bowl. communicates more than a missing
11:12
Speaker 2: phone ever could. It means Sydney didn't come home the
11:14
Speaker 2: night before, and she didn't plan to be gone. It
11:18
Speaker 2: instantly prompts Susie to call 911.
11:20
Speaker 1: And to the credit of the Lincoln police, specifically investigators Bog, Hurley,
11:25
Speaker 1: and Lacey Reha, they do not brush this off.
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Speaker 2: They don't give the family the standard, she's an adult,
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Speaker 2: maybe she just slept off a hangover at a friend's
11:34
Speaker 2: house routine.
11:35
Speaker 1: Right. They treat it with immediate, severe seriousness.
11:38
Speaker 2: Because they know the statistics. The first 40 hours of
11:42
Speaker 2: a missing person's case are the most crucial.
11:45
Speaker 1: The survival raid drops off a statistical cliff after that window, right?
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Speaker 2: It does. The clock is already aggressively ticking against them.
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Speaker 1: So the family and the police mount this massive public
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Speaker 1: awareness campaign. They blanket the state with her face. They
11:58
Speaker 1: specifically highlight her tattoos to help identify her.
12:01
Speaker 2: Can you describe the tattoos?
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Speaker 1: Yeah. She has a yin-yang on her leg, the word
12:05
Speaker 1: belief on her wrist, and on her upper right arm,
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Speaker 1: a cursive tattoo that reads, Everything will be wonderful someday.
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Speaker 2: It is a heartbreakingly optimistic tattoo, especially given the struggles
12:15
Speaker 2: she had faced with her health and her mental well-being.
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Speaker 1: It really is. Meanwhile, the police are trying to trace
12:21
Speaker 1: her digital footprint. But they have a massive problem.
12:25
Speaker 2: They don't have Sydney's physical phone.
12:27
Speaker 1: Exactly. All they have is the information from her friends
12:29
Speaker 1: who have the screenshots of the profile picture of Audrey
12:32
Speaker 1: that Sydney sent them. But there's no last name. There's
12:35
Speaker 1: no phone number attached to a screenshot.
12:37
Speaker 2: Enter Brooklyn.
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Speaker 1: Oh man, Brooklyn. This is Sydney's friend. And what she
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Speaker 1: does next is wild. She takes matters entirely into her
12:45
Speaker 1: own hands.
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Speaker 2: Brooklyn creates a fake dating profile of her own to
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Speaker 2: try and bait Audrey.
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Speaker 1: And it works. She matches with Audrey, starts texting her,
12:53
Speaker 1: learns that Audrey lives 32 miles away from Lincoln. And then,
12:57
Speaker 1: in a stroke of absolute amateur brilliance, she uses social
13:00
Speaker 1: engineering to successfully extract Audrey's actual phone number.
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Speaker 2: She gets off the app and into a direct text thread.
13:07
Speaker 1: Yes, and then immediately hands that number over.
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Speaker 2: To the police. Now, as resourceful as that is, we
13:12
Speaker 2: have to pause and look at the reality of what
13:14
Speaker 2: Brooklyn did.
13:15
Speaker 1: Wait, hold on. We're calling her brilliant, but wasn't Brooklyn
13:18
Speaker 1: taking a massive reckless risk here? I mean, she's engaging
13:21
Speaker 1: in digital vigilantism.
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Speaker 2: That's the exact tension here. You are entirely right to
13:26
Speaker 2: call that out. It is an immense, incalculable risk.
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Speaker 1: She had absolutely no idea who she was actually texting.
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Speaker 1: For all she knew, she could have been baiting a
13:35
Speaker 1: serial killer right to her own front door.
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Speaker 2: The source material explicitly highlights that Brooklyn was terrified for
13:42
Speaker 2: her own safety because she had just proven to herself
13:45
Speaker 2: how incredibly easy it is to hide behind a fake profile.
13:48
Speaker 1: Right.
13:49
Speaker 2: She knew Audrey might not be a young woman looking
13:51
Speaker 2: for a date. However, you have to balance that objective
13:54
Speaker 2: danger against the desperate, urgent love for a friend who
13:58
Speaker 2: has vanished into thin air. It's a tough call. It is.
14:01
Speaker 2: But Brooklyn walked right up to the edge of extreme danger,
14:04
Speaker 2: got the actionable intelligence, the phone number, and then made
14:08
Speaker 2: the smartest possible move. She stepped back. She didn't try
14:12
Speaker 2: to arrange a real-world meetup. She gave the data to
14:14
Speaker 2: law enforcement.
14:15
Speaker 1: So let's look at what law enforcement does with that data.
14:19
Speaker 1: Because the moment the police get that phone number, the
14:21
Speaker 1: entire investigation pivots. The police call the number. Audrey actually
14:26
Speaker 1: picks up.
14:27
Speaker 2: And how does she sound?
14:28
Speaker 1: She is calm. She's collected. She tells them, yeah, I
14:31
Speaker 1: know Sydney. We had two dates. We drove around. I
14:34
Speaker 1: dropped her off at a friend's house. And that's it.
14:36
Speaker 1: I liked her. Hope to see her again.
14:38
Speaker 2: It sounds completely plausible on the surface.
14:40
Speaker 1: It sounds plausible, yes. But investigators don't rely on plausibility.
14:44
Speaker 1: They rely on data.
14:45
Speaker 2: And this is where the mechanics of digital forensics come
14:48
Speaker 2: into play. They subpoena Sydney's cell phone records from her
14:51
Speaker 2: provider to triangulate the pings from the cell towers.
14:55
Speaker 1: Okay, pause for a second. We always hear about pinging
14:58
Speaker 1: a tower or triangulating a signal on TV shows, but
15:01
Speaker 1: how does that actually work in reality?
15:04
Speaker 2: It's a great question.
15:05
Speaker 1: Especially in rural Nebraska where there aren't cell towers on
15:08
Speaker 1: every single city block?
15:10
Speaker 2: It's much more complex than TV makes it look. Even
15:14
Speaker 2: when you aren't making a call, your phone is constantly
15:17
Speaker 2: shaking hands with the nearest cell towers to ensure you
15:19
Speaker 2: have service. The network records which tower your phone is
15:23
Speaker 2: talking to.
15:24
Speaker 1: Okay, that makes sense.
15:25
Speaker 2: Now, a cell tower isn't just one antenna sending a
15:27
Speaker 2: signal in a perfect circle. It's usually divided into sectors.
15:30
Speaker 1: Like slices of a pie.
15:32
Speaker 2: Exactly. Usually 320-degree slices. So right away, the provider knows
15:38
Speaker 2: not just the tower, but the general direction your phone
15:41
Speaker 2: is in relative to that tower.
15:42
Speaker 1: Okay, so they have a wedge of an area. Right.
15:45
Speaker 2: And to narrow it down further, they use something called
15:47
Speaker 2: time advance or signal strength delay.
15:50
Speaker 1: That is fascinating. It's literally just invisible geometry happening in
15:53
Speaker 1: the air around us.
15:54
Speaker 2: It really is.
15:55
Speaker 1: So what did the geometry tell them about Sidney's phone?
15:59
Speaker 2: The cell tower data completely contradicted Audrey's story. They discovered
16:04
Speaker 2: that Sidney's final cell phone ping on November 15th did
16:07
Speaker 2: not happen in Lincoln, where Audrey claimed she dropped her off.
16:11
Speaker 1: Where did it happen?
16:12
Speaker 2: It happened in Wilbur, Nebraska, a small rural town about
16:15
Speaker 2: 40 miles southwest of Lincoln. And concurrently, When the police
16:20
Speaker 2: run the phone number Brooklyn provided through their databases, it
16:23
Speaker 2: does not belong to an Audrey.
16:25
Speaker 1: Of course not.
16:26
Speaker 2: It registers to a 23-year-old woman named Bailey Boswell.
16:29
Speaker 1: So the fake identity is blown. Let's look at Bailey
16:32
Speaker 1: Boswell's actual profile because this helps us understand the psychology
16:35
Speaker 1: of the people involved.
16:36
Speaker 2: Let's do it.
16:37
Speaker 1: Bailey grew up in small-town Iowa, and her childhood was
16:40
Speaker 1: marked by severe foundational trauma. Her father was actually murdered
16:44
Speaker 1: when she was just one year old.
16:46
Speaker 2: That is a profound trauma to carry. It is.
16:48
Speaker 1: In high school, she was an athlete, a track star
16:51
Speaker 1: who excelled in the 200-meter relay. But things derailed as
16:55
Speaker 1: she got older. She had a daughter named Nola in
16:58
Speaker 1: 2016 with a former high school football player who, according
17:01
Speaker 1: to Bailey, was highly abusive. She even had to file
17:04
Speaker 1: a protection order against him.
17:06
Speaker 2: And then things spiraled from there.
17:08
Speaker 1: Yeah. After that, she falls into drug use, gets arrested
17:11
Speaker 1: for possession in 2016, misses a court date. And has
17:14
Speaker 1: an active warrant out for her arrest.
17:17
Speaker 2: What you're describing is a psychological profile of instability, victimization,
17:22
Speaker 2: and a descent into criminality. She is a prime target
17:26
Speaker 2: for someone looking to exert control.
17:28
Speaker 1: Right. And where is she living at this point?
17:30
Speaker 2: She is renting a basement apartment in Wilbur, Nebraska, the
17:33
Speaker 2: exact town where Sidney's phone last pinged. So, instantly, Bailey
17:38
Speaker 2: Boswell becomes person of interest number one.
17:40
Speaker 1: Here's where it gets really interesting. The police don't just
17:42
Speaker 1: wait around. They start pulling CCTV footage from the commercial
17:45
Speaker 1: areas surrounding Wilbur and Lincoln to track Bailey's movements.
17:49
Speaker 2: And they hit the absolute jackpot at a Home Depot.
17:52
Speaker 1: They find high-definition footage of Bailey shopping. But the crucial
17:56
Speaker 1: detail is the timestamp.
17:58
Speaker 2: The timestamp changes everything.
18:00
Speaker 1: This footage is from hours before the second date with Sydney.
18:03
Speaker 1: Hours before Audrey texted out front. In this video, Bailey
18:07
Speaker 1: is at Home Depot buying a hacksaw tin snips, cleaning products,
18:12
Speaker 1: heavy-duty 40-gallon garbage bags, and a utility knife with replacement blades.
18:17
Speaker 2: The implications of that timestamp are staggering. It entirely destroys
18:21
Speaker 2: the narrative of an accidental encounter or a date gone wrong.
18:25
Speaker 1: Because you don't buy those things for a normal date.
18:27
Speaker 2: When you buy a hacksaw and heavy-duty garbage bags hours
18:30
Speaker 2: before a person arrives, you are looking at meticulous, cold-blooded premeditation.
18:35
Speaker 2: And the CCTV reveals another vital piece of the puzzle.
18:38
Speaker 1: She isn't alone in the store.
18:40
Speaker 2: No, she is accompanied by an older Caucasian man.
18:42
Speaker 1: So the police realize they aren't just looking for Bailey.
18:45
Speaker 1: They rush to Bailey's basement apartment in Wilbur to try
18:49
Speaker 1: and find them both, but they are too late.
18:51
Speaker 2: The apartment is empty.
18:52
Speaker 1: The landlord tells them that Bailey and the older man
18:54
Speaker 1: have already vacated the property. But the landlord mentions a
18:58
Speaker 1: detail that completely changes the scope of the investigation.
19:01
Speaker 2: What did he say?
19:03
Speaker 1: He says the tenants were surprisingly great about moving out
19:07
Speaker 1: because they did an incredibly thorough job cleaning. In fact,
19:11
Speaker 1: they scrubbed every single inch of the apartment with bleach.
19:15
Speaker 1: They even wiped down all the drywall and the walls
19:18
Speaker 1: with strong disinfectant.
19:19
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the mechanics of bleach in a forensic setting.
19:22
Speaker 1: Right, because to a landlord, bleached walls are just a
19:25
Speaker 1: pleasant surprise. It means he doesn't have to hire a cleaner.
19:28
Speaker 2: But to a homicide detective... Bleached walls are a massive,
19:31
Speaker 2: flashing neon sign pointing to a catastrophic bloodletting event.
19:36
Speaker 1: Why bleach specifically?
19:37
Speaker 2: Bleach, specifically sodium hypochlorite, destroys DNA. It degrades the molecular
19:42
Speaker 2: structure of genetic material so severely that forensic labs can't
19:46
Speaker 2: amplify it to get a profile. Right.
19:48
Speaker 1: You don't bleach the walls of a runny nose. apartment
19:50
Speaker 1: unless you are desperately trying to destroy evidence that's splashed
19:53
Speaker 1: onto them.
19:54
Speaker 2: Exactly. This discovery completely escalates the situation for the police.
19:59
Speaker 2: The hope of finding Sidney alive evaporates. It is no
20:03
Speaker 2: longer a missing persons case. It is a homicide investigation.
20:07
Speaker 2: And they are now hunting two fugitives who know how
20:09
Speaker 2: to clean a crime scene.
20:10
Speaker 1: Which brings us to the older man in the Home
20:12
Speaker 1: Depot video and honestly the darkest part of this entire story.
20:16
Speaker 1: Who is this guy?
20:17
Speaker 2: His name is Aubrey Trail.
20:18
Speaker 1: He is 50 years old. He met Bailey, who is 23,
20:22
Speaker 1: on an internet listing service for sex workers.
20:25
Speaker 2: Aubrey Trail's background is a case study in how profound
20:28
Speaker 2: early childhood trauma can metastasize into highly predatory behavior later
20:33
Speaker 2: in life.
20:34
Speaker 1: The sources outline a really grim childhood for him.
20:36
Speaker 2: Extremely grim. He was born in 1967 in southern Iowa
20:39
Speaker 2: into abject poverty. He was abused and abandoned by his parents,
20:43
Speaker 2: removed from his home at just two years old.
20:45
Speaker 1: Just two years old?
20:46
Speaker 2: Yeah. He was placed in a group home in Tennessee,
20:48
Speaker 2: an institution that was later completely shut down by the
20:51
Speaker 2: state due to severe abuse allegations against the staff.
20:53
Speaker 1: So he went from abuse at home to abuse in
20:55
Speaker 1: the system.
20:56
Speaker 2: Exactly. His adult life was a string of criminal activities, theft,
21:00
Speaker 2: passing bad checks, fraud. He spent five years in prison.
21:04
Speaker 1: But on paper, if you looked at his rap sheet,
21:07
Speaker 1: he was a nonviolent fraudster, a small-time con man.
21:10
Speaker 2: That's what the records said. But investigators soon uncovered that
21:14
Speaker 2: beneath the financial crimes, he had a deeply devious, sadistic,
21:19
Speaker 2: psychological side.
21:20
Speaker 1: The mechanics of the relationship between Aubrey Trail and Bailey
21:23
Speaker 1: Boswell are horrifying, but they make a sick kind of
21:26
Speaker 1: sense when you look at how cults operate.
21:29
Speaker 2: They do.
21:30
Speaker 1: The source material reveals that Trail wasn't just a guy
21:33
Speaker 1: with a girlfriend. He was operating what he called a
21:34
Speaker 1: vampire sex cult.
21:36
Speaker 2: And over time, he had recruited a stable of young women,
21:39
Speaker 2: up to 12 at one point, whom he referred to
21:42
Speaker 2: as his witches.
21:43
Speaker 1: The term cult gets thrown around loosely, but let's break
21:46
Speaker 1: down the actual mechanics of coercive control he used.
21:49
Speaker 2: It follows a very specific, well-documented predatory playbook. First, he
21:54
Speaker 2: established financial dependence. He paid these women $ 200 a week.
21:58
Speaker 1: For a young woman struggling to pay rent or buy groceries,
22:01
Speaker 1: that is a lifeline.
22:02
Speaker 2: But in exchange for that money, the rules were absolute
22:06
Speaker 2: and designed to strip away their autonomy. They were required
22:10
Speaker 2: to check in with him every three hours, day or night.
22:12
Speaker 1: Every three hours. That prevents them from ever sleeping deeply
22:16
Speaker 1: or forming normal routines.
22:17
Speaker 2: It's forced exhaustion.
22:18
Speaker 1: Yes, forced exhaustion.
22:20
Speaker 2: They were strictly banned from having any contact with other men,
22:23
Speaker 2: cutting off potential support systems. He demanded they call him Daddy.
22:27
Speaker 2: infantizing them while establishing himself as the supreme authority figure.
22:31
Speaker 1: And then he introduced the delusions to cement his power.
22:35
Speaker 1: He claimed to possess supernatural abilities.
22:38
Speaker 2: Right. Telling them he could read their minds, that he
22:40
Speaker 2: knew when they were lying and that he could literally fly.
22:43
Speaker 1: It sounds absurd to us on the outside. Why would
22:46
Speaker 1: anyone believe a guy from Iowa can fly?
22:48
Speaker 2: Because he's mixing financial dependence with extreme isolation. Once you
22:53
Speaker 2: cut someone off from reality, They start to adopt your reality.
22:56
Speaker 1: That makes sense. He would talk to them about torture.
22:59
Speaker 1: He told them they could gain special powers by taking
23:01
Speaker 1: a soul through blood sacrifice.
23:03
Speaker 2: He would routinely choke the women to the point of
23:06
Speaker 2: unconsciousness during sex, assorting physical dominance.
23:09
Speaker 1: And the most disturbing dynamic of all is how he
23:12
Speaker 1: utilized Bailey Boswell. He didn't just control her. He promoted her.
23:17
Speaker 2: Right. He designated her as his queen witch.
23:19
Speaker 1: And he used her to help lure in other vulnerable women.
23:23
Speaker 2: This is where we see textbook grooming and trapping mechanisms
23:27
Speaker 2: evolve into something even more dangerous. How so? Think about it.
23:31
Speaker 2: Aubrey Trail is a 50-year-old career criminal. If he approached
23:35
Speaker 2: a 24-year-old woman like Sidney in a bar, her defenses
23:38
Speaker 2: would instantly go up. He is an obvious threat.
23:41
Speaker 1: Right.
23:42
Speaker 2: But a 23-year-old woman like Bailey... offering a friendly, romantic
23:46
Speaker 2: connection on a dating app that completely bypasses all of
23:50
Speaker 2: a victim's internal alarm systems.
23:51
Speaker 1: The outline calls in a reverse Trojan horse, which is accurate.
23:55
Speaker 1: Instead of sneaking the danger inside your walls, the seemingly safe,
23:58
Speaker 1: approachable wooden horse, Bailey, gains your trust.
24:01
Speaker 2: And then gently leads you out of the safety of
24:03
Speaker 2: the city gates, right into the waiting arms of the
24:06
Speaker 2: actual monster.
24:07
Speaker 1: I also think of it like the anglerfish. You know
24:10
Speaker 1: the fish that lives in the absolute pitch black depths
24:13
Speaker 1: of the ocean?
24:13
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, with the little glowing light.
24:15
Speaker 1: Exactly. It has that little glowing, inviting lure dangling in
24:18
Speaker 1: front of its face. The prey sees this warm, glowing
24:22
Speaker 1: light in the darkness and swims right up to it,
24:24
Speaker 1: completely ignoring the massive jaws hiding just behind the light.
24:28
Speaker 2: Bailey was the glowing lure.
24:30
Speaker 1: Sydney was looking for a spark in the dark, and
24:32
Speaker 1: she swam right into it.
24:35
Speaker 2: That is a very apt, chilling analogy. It forces us
24:39
Speaker 2: to ask a difficult question about Aubrey Trail's psychological shift.
24:43
Speaker 2: How does a man go from being a check forger,
24:46
Speaker 2: a guy writing bad checks for coin collections, to a
24:49
Speaker 2: cult leader actively fantasizing about blood sacrifices and murder?
24:53
Speaker 1: Do you think the financial crimes just stop giving him
24:55
Speaker 1: a thrill?
24:56
Speaker 2: It's deeper than thrill-seeking, I think. It's about the evolution
24:58
Speaker 2: of control.
24:59
Speaker 1: What do you mean?
25:00
Speaker 2: What you see is a man who learned early in life,
25:02
Speaker 2: through severe abuse in the system, that he had zero
25:05
Speaker 2: power over his own existence. As an adult, he seeks
25:09
Speaker 2: absolute unchecked power over others to compensate for that foundational wound.
25:13
Speaker 1: So fraud wasn't enough power.
25:15
Speaker 2: Financial fraud gave him a small taste of outsmarting people.
25:18
Speaker 2: But it wasn't enough. He identifies vulnerable women, often with trauma,
25:23
Speaker 2: in their own backgrounds. Exactly like Bailey, whose father was
25:27
Speaker 2: murdered and who survived domestic abuse.
25:29
Speaker 1: He exploits that trauma.
25:30
Speaker 2: Yes. He offers them a twisted kind of safety, a family,
25:34
Speaker 2: financial support, and in return... He demands absolute, unquestioning loyalty.
25:40
Speaker 2: And eventually, the ultimate test of that loyalty is seeing
25:44
Speaker 2: if he can command them to become accessories to murder.
25:47
Speaker 1: It is the darkest progression of power. Now, let's look
25:50
Speaker 1: at how the police pursue them. Because once the police
25:52
Speaker 1: link the Wilbur apartment and the Home Depot video to
25:55
Speaker 1: Sidney's disappearance in November, Bailey and Aubrey go on the run.
25:59
Speaker 2: Their behavior while on the run is incredibly bizarre.
26:02
Speaker 1: They flee through Selene and Gage counties, and despite knowing
26:05
Speaker 1: they are wanted, they are still being caught on CCTV.
26:08
Speaker 2: They are seen in an antique mall buying a food
26:10
Speaker 2: grinder and weed cutters.
26:12
Speaker 1: They bounce between various hotels in Grand Island and Kearney
26:15
Speaker 1: before temporarily vanishing from the grid. Now, I do want
26:18
Speaker 1: to pause here for a quick piece of housekeeping on
26:20
Speaker 1: the sources.
26:21
Speaker 2: Oh, right. The timeline issue in the reporting.
26:23
Speaker 1: Yeah. The source material we have mentions a specific date,
26:26
Speaker 1: August 28th, 2017, as the day detectives put out a
26:29
Speaker 1: press release naming Bailey and Aubrey as persons of interest. Now, obviously,
26:34
Speaker 1: Sidney's dates and murder happened in November of 2017.
26:38
Speaker 2: Right. Which is a chronological impossibility.
26:40
Speaker 1: Exactly. It's a quirk in the reporting of the source material.
26:44
Speaker 1: It happens sometimes in deep research. A typo in a
26:47
Speaker 1: police blotter gets syndicated, or a reporter mixes up the
26:50
Speaker 1: timeline of an older warrant Aubrey had with the current manhunt.
26:54
Speaker 2: It's important to clarify that.
26:55
Speaker 1: But regardless of that specific date glitch in the source,
26:58
Speaker 1: the sequence of events is clear. They are fugitives in
27:01
Speaker 1: late November. And they don't just lay low in the woods.
27:05
Speaker 1: They decide to manage their own PR campaign while actively
27:08
Speaker 1: fleeing a massive multi-state manhunt.
27:11
Speaker 2: They post a video to social media from inside their car,
27:14
Speaker 2: and they title it Our Side of It.
27:16
Speaker 1: It is surreal to watch. Aubrey is sitting in the
27:20
Speaker 1: driver's seat, looking straight into the camera, complaining that the
27:23
Speaker 1: police are chasing them like dogs and whining that law
27:26
Speaker 1: enforcement has ruined his life.
27:28
Speaker 2: Bailey's right there next to him.
27:30
Speaker 1: Bailey chimes in, completely deadpan, wearing sunglasses, claiming, I just
27:34
Speaker 1: met her on a Tuesday. We smoked weed, had a
27:37
Speaker 1: great time. I dropped her off at a friend's house.
27:39
Speaker 1: I'm truly sorry for the family, but I didn't have
27:41
Speaker 1: anything to do with this.
27:43
Speaker 2: If you analyze the psychology of that video, it is
27:45
Speaker 2: a staggering, almost breathtaking display of narcissism. It really is.
27:50
Speaker 2: You are on the run for the premeditated murder and
27:53
Speaker 2: dismemberment of a young woman, and your primal instinct is
27:56
Speaker 2: to post a social media vlog complaining about how unfair
28:00
Speaker 2: the police are being to you. Right. It perfectly reflects
28:03
Speaker 2: Aubrey Trail's absolute delusion of control. He truly, deeply believed
28:08
Speaker 2: he could manipulate the entire public, the media, and law enforcement.
28:12
Speaker 2: using the exact same gaslighting techniques he used to manipulate
28:16
Speaker 2: the vulnerable young women in his cult.
28:18
Speaker 1: He thought he was smarter than everyone watching that screen. Meanwhile,
28:21
Speaker 1: the police are not watching YouTube videos to find them.
28:24
Speaker 1: They're doing the grueling mathematical work of digital forensics we
28:28
Speaker 1: talked about earlier. Officer Bob Hurley is conducting a massive
28:32
Speaker 1: analysis of Bailey Boswell's cell phone pings.
28:35
Speaker 2: He is tracking the time duration and the location of
28:38
Speaker 2: every single ping off the rural cell towers in the
28:41
Speaker 2: hours and days after Sidney vanished.
28:43
Speaker 1: And that meticulous triangulation slowly, painfully draws a map. The
28:48
Speaker 1: Pings lead them on a winding roundabout journey that finally
28:51
Speaker 1: stops at a highly remote gravel road north of Edgar, Nebraska,
28:55
Speaker 1: in Clay County.
28:56
Speaker 2: It is an area filled with deep ditches, marshes, and cattails,
29:00
Speaker 2: roughly an hour away from the Wilbur apartment.
29:03
Speaker 1: On December 4th, police are scouring those ditches, and they
29:06
Speaker 1: make the gruesome discovery.
29:08
Speaker 2: An officer spots what looks like a body part sticking
29:11
Speaker 2: out of a black garbage bag in the frozen mud.
29:13
Speaker 1: When they get closer, they realize it is an upper
29:15
Speaker 1: right arm, and on that arm is the cursive tattoo.
29:18
Speaker 1: Everything will be wonderful someday.
29:19
Speaker 2: It's just devastating.
29:20
Speaker 1: Over the next few hours, they eventually recover 14 separate
29:24
Speaker 1: 40-gallon garbage bags scattered in the area. Inside are Sydney's
29:28
Speaker 1: dismembered remains, her smashed cell phone, her keys, pieces of
29:33
Speaker 1: her identification that had been deliberately cut up, and a
29:36
Speaker 1: chopped up extension cord.
29:38
Speaker 2: It is a scene of unspeakable... clinical horror.
29:41
Speaker 1: And then the autopsy confirms the worst.
29:44
Speaker 2: When the medical examiner conducts the autopsy, the findings add
29:47
Speaker 2: a layer of intense physical tragedy to the situation. The
29:51
Speaker 2: bruising on Sydney's body proves that she did not go
29:54
Speaker 2: quietly into the dark.
29:55
Speaker 1: She fought back.
29:56
Speaker 2: She fought incredibly hard for her life. The autopsy concludes
30:00
Speaker 2: she was strangled to death and that the fatal physical
30:02
Speaker 2: struggle lasted a grueling 20 to 30 minutes before she
30:06
Speaker 2: was finally overpowered and dismembered.
30:08
Speaker 1: Hearing that time frame, 20 to 30 minutes of fighting
30:11
Speaker 1: for your life, that is a waking nightmare.
30:13
Speaker 2: It is.
30:13
Speaker 1: But from an investigative standpoint, the police now have a body.
30:17
Speaker 1: They have the cause of death. They know who did
30:18
Speaker 1: it based on the video and the phone pings. The
30:21
Speaker 1: problem is they have to physically catch them. Then they
30:23
Speaker 1: have to make the charges stick in a court of law.
30:26
Speaker 2: The police finally track Aubrey and Bailey across state lines
30:29
Speaker 2: to a motel in Branson, Missouri.
30:32
Speaker 1: But law enforcement faces a massive, immediate legal hurdle.
30:36
Speaker 2: They have the CCTV footage from Home Depot, and they
30:39
Speaker 2: have the cell phone data placing Bailey's phone near the body.
30:43
Speaker 2: But because the apartment was bleached so thoroughly, they lack immediate,
30:48
Speaker 2: direct forensic DNA evidence tying Aubrey and Bailey specifically to
30:53
Speaker 2: the physical act of murder. Right.
30:55
Speaker 1: They can't just arrest them for murder on the spot
30:57
Speaker 1: without the lab results confirming it.
30:59
Speaker 2: Exactly. If they simply bring them in for questioning and
31:01
Speaker 2: on the murder and the suspects demand a lawyer, the
31:05
Speaker 2: police might have to let them walk right out the
31:06
Speaker 2: front door while they wait weeks for the forensic lab
31:09
Speaker 2: results to process.
31:10
Speaker 1: Because of habeas corpus, right?
31:11
Speaker 2: Yes. The concept of habeas corpus means you can't just
31:14
Speaker 2: hold someone indefinitely without charging them with a crime.
31:17
Speaker 1: So the police use a brilliant legal strategy. I call
31:20
Speaker 1: it the Al Capone strategy.
31:21
Speaker 2: Because of the tax evasion.
31:23
Speaker 1: Exactly. You know, Capone wasn't ultimately taken down for murder
31:26
Speaker 1: or bootlegging. He was taken down for tax evasion. The
31:30
Speaker 1: police dig into Aubrey Trail's recent past, looking for anything
31:33
Speaker 1: they can use right now. And they find that months earlier,
31:36
Speaker 1: he had purchased a valuable coin collection from an auction
31:39
Speaker 1: house using a fraudulent check.
31:42
Speaker 2: So instead of going in guns blazing with a murder warrant,
31:45
Speaker 2: they swoop in and arrest Aubrey on a federal charge
31:48
Speaker 2: of transporting stolen goods over $ 5, 000 across state lines.
31:52
Speaker 1: It is a completely unrelated charge to Sidney's disappearance.
31:56
Speaker 2: But it is a perfectly legal loophole because it's a
31:59
Speaker 2: federal charge. It allows them to lock him in a cell,
32:02
Speaker 2: deny him bail, and buy the homicide detectives the weeks
32:05
Speaker 2: of time they need to process the DNA, build the
32:07
Speaker 2: murder case, and secure the indictment.
32:09
Speaker 1: And the pressure of confinement begins to fracture their alliance.
32:12
Speaker 1: In February 2018, while sitting in jail, Aubrey Trail makes
32:16
Speaker 1: a confession.
32:17
Speaker 2: He claims that Sidney's death was a tragic accident that
32:19
Speaker 2: occurred during a consensual... rough sexual encounter gone wrong.
32:23
Speaker 1: He claims he alone is responsible for her death, and
32:26
Speaker 1: he explicitly asks for Bailey to be released, saying she
32:29
Speaker 1: had no part in the killing.
32:31
Speaker 2: It's a very calculated move. He is trying to take
32:34
Speaker 2: a manslaughter charge for himself while protecting his queen witch,
32:39
Speaker 2: maintaining that delusion of control and protection over her.
32:42
Speaker 1: But the prosecution is not buying the accident defense for
32:45
Speaker 1: a single second. When Aubrey's trial begins in June 2019,
32:49
Speaker 1: The state systematically dismantles his story using the mechanics of
32:53
Speaker 1: his own actions.
32:54
Speaker 2: How can it be a spontaneous sexual accident when you
32:57
Speaker 2: are on high-definition video at Home Depot buying a hacksaw,
33:00
Speaker 2: tin snips, and bleach hours before the victim even arrives
33:04
Speaker 2: at your apartment?
33:05
Speaker 1: Right, that is the literal legal definition of premeditation.
33:08
Speaker 2: To further establish this pattern of premeditated predatory behavior, the
33:12
Speaker 2: prosecution brings in a devastating witness. They call a 22-year-old
33:16
Speaker 2: woman to the stand, a former member of Trails cult.
33:19
Speaker 2: The jury knows her only as Witch 13.
33:21
Speaker 1: And her testimony is chilling because it is a near-exact
33:24
Speaker 1: blueprint of what happened to Sydney.
33:26
Speaker 2: It is the exact same hunting methodology. Witch 13 testifies
33:30
Speaker 2: that she also met Bailey Boswell on Tinder. Bailey lured
33:34
Speaker 2: her in with romantic conversation, then slowly introduced her to
33:38
Speaker 2: Aubrey Trail.
33:39
Speaker 1: And then the financial control started.
33:41
Speaker 2: Trail then promised to pay her rent, make her car payments,
33:44
Speaker 2: and put her through school if she joined his family.
33:47
Speaker 2: On the stand... She confirmed all the rules we discussed earlier.
33:51
Speaker 1: The $ 200 a week allowance being forced to call him daddy.
33:54
Speaker 2: The choking during sex. The occult talk about gaining supernatural
33:59
Speaker 2: power by taking a human soul. It proved beyond a
34:02
Speaker 2: shadow of a doubt to the jury that this was
34:04
Speaker 2: an established, rehearsed trap.
34:06
Speaker 1: The evidence against Aubrey is an absolute avalanche. He is
34:09
Speaker 1: backed into a corner, and he knows it. Which leads
34:12
Speaker 1: to one of the most shocking courtroom stunts imaginable.
34:15
Speaker 2: It's hard to believe this actually happened.
34:16
Speaker 1: I want to paint the scene for you. It's June 24th,
34:19
Speaker 1: right in the middle of the trial. Aubrey Trail somehow
34:22
Speaker 1: manages to sneak a razor blade into the courtroom, which
34:25
Speaker 1: is a massive security failure in itself.
34:26
Speaker 2: A huge failure.
34:27
Speaker 1: Right in the middle of the proceedings, while witnesses are present,
34:31
Speaker 1: he suddenly stands up out of his chair. He screams
34:34
Speaker 1: at the top of his lungs, Bailey is innocent and
34:36
Speaker 1: I curse you all. And then right in front of
34:39
Speaker 1: the judge, the jury, and the gallery... He slashes his
34:43
Speaker 1: own throat with the razor.
34:44
Speaker 2: It is the ultimate theatrical manipulation.
34:47
Speaker 1: What goes through someone's mind to do that?
34:49
Speaker 2: When you analyze the psychology of a control freak who
34:52
Speaker 2: realizes he has finally completely lost control of his narrative
34:56
Speaker 2: and his environment, they often resort to extreme violence to
35:00
Speaker 2: reclaim the center of attention.
35:02
Speaker 1: So it's just a tantrum.
35:03
Speaker 2: A very calculated one. He is trying to traumatize the jury,
35:07
Speaker 2: to force the judge to declare mistrial, to hijack the
35:10
Speaker 2: justice system one last time.
35:12
Speaker 1: But it doesn't work. The system doesn't bend to his stunt.
35:15
Speaker 1: He survives the self-inflicted wound. It takes 100 stitches to
35:18
Speaker 1: close his neck at the hospital.
35:20
Speaker 2: And while he is recovering, the judge orders the trial
35:23
Speaker 2: to continue without him being present.
35:25
Speaker 1: Weeks later, Aubrey is wheeled back into the courtroom in
35:28
Speaker 1: a wheelchair with a massive bandage on his neck to
35:31
Speaker 1: hear his fate. On July 10, 2019, the jury finds
35:35
Speaker 1: Aubrey Trail guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder,
35:40
Speaker 1: and improper disposal of human remains.
35:42
Speaker 2: And ultimately, on June 9th, 2021, a three-judge panel sentences
35:48
Speaker 2: him to death. He became the 12th inmate on Nebraska's
35:52
Speaker 2: death row.
35:52
Speaker 1: Which leaves Bailey Boswell. Her trial takes place over a
35:55
Speaker 1: year later, in September 2020. Her defense strategy hinges entirely
35:59
Speaker 1: on portraying her as just another victim of Aubrey Trail's
36:01
Speaker 1: coercive control.
36:02
Speaker 2: Her lawyers argue that she was completely brainwashed, trapped in
36:05
Speaker 2: the cold through fear, and that she only participated in
36:09
Speaker 2: luring Sidney out of a desperate need to survive Aubrey's wrath.
36:12
Speaker 1: Do you buy that defense even a little bit?
36:14
Speaker 2: The psychology of coercion is complex, but the jury rejected
36:17
Speaker 2: that narrative for a very specific reason.
36:19
Speaker 1: Which was?
36:20
Speaker 2: The testimony of the other women, like Witch 13, established
36:23
Speaker 2: that Bailey wasn't just a terrified captive. She was the
36:26
Speaker 2: Queen Witch. She actively managed the other women.
36:29
Speaker 1: She was the one physically at the store buying the
36:32
Speaker 1: tools of dismemberment. Yes.
36:34
Speaker 2: She was the one gauging in the hours of deceptive
36:37
Speaker 2: texting to lure Sidney. The law recognizes a difference between
36:41
Speaker 2: being manipulated and being an active, willing accomplice to a
36:45
Speaker 2: premeditated murder.
36:46
Speaker 1: The jury agrees. They find her guilty in all counts.
36:50
Speaker 1: At her sentencing in July 2021, she is spared the
36:54
Speaker 1: death penalty, but solely for the sake of her young daughter, Nola,
36:58
Speaker 1: so the child wouldn't have to grow up knowing the
37:00
Speaker 1: state executed her mother.
37:01
Speaker 2: Instead... Bailey is sentenced to life in prison without the
37:04
Speaker 2: possibility of parole, plus an additional 20 to 40 years
37:08
Speaker 2: for the conspiracy charge.
37:10
Speaker 1: So as we look at the aftermath of this deep
37:12
Speaker 1: dive into the source material, the perpetrators are locked away.
37:16
Speaker 1: The mechanism of justice worked.
37:18
Speaker 2: But that justice is entirely hollow for Susie Loof, who
37:21
Speaker 2: is left only with the memories of her daughter's boundless
37:24
Speaker 2: compassion and the bitter irony of a tattoo that promised
37:27
Speaker 2: everything would be wonderful someday. It's just awful. The source
37:30
Speaker 2: material emphasizes a very practical takeaway from this tragedy regarding
37:33
Speaker 2: our digital safety. If you are meeting someone online, keep
37:36
Speaker 2: the initial interactions strictly in the public domain.
37:39
Speaker 1: And share your live geolocation data with trusted friends.
37:43
Speaker 2: Exactly. Never assume the person smiling on the screen is
37:46
Speaker 2: who they claim to be until you have verified it
37:49
Speaker 2: in the real world, in broad daylight, in a crowded space.
37:53
Speaker 1: It's all about verifying the data in reality. So what
37:57
Speaker 1: does this all mean for us? We started this deep
37:59
Speaker 1: dive by putting you in the shoes of someone getting
38:02
Speaker 1: ready for a date, feeling that rush of hope, looking
38:05
Speaker 1: at a screen and believing the promise it's making.
38:07
Speaker 2: And I want to leave you with a final thought
38:09
Speaker 2: that builds on everything we've just discussed about technology and vulnerability.
38:13
Speaker 1: Okay, let's hear it.
38:14
Speaker 2: If we look at the era we live in, we willingly,
38:17
Speaker 2: voluntarily surrender our personal data, our geographic locations, our intimate desires,
38:23
Speaker 2: and our deepest emotional vulnerabilities to algorithms.
38:26
Speaker 1: We do it every single day in the desperate search
38:29
Speaker 1: for human connection.
38:30
Speaker 2: But in doing so, are we outsourcing our basic survival
38:34
Speaker 2: instincts to an app? When a glowing screen tells you
38:38
Speaker 2: that a total stranger is a 99% match, how much
38:41
Speaker 2: of your own primal intuition, that tiny, quiet voice in
38:45
Speaker 2: your head that tells you something just isn't right, How
38:48
Speaker 2: much of that intuition do you silence just because you
38:50
Speaker 2: so desperately want the algorithm to be right?
38:53
Speaker 1: It's a terrifying question. We are letting the code override
38:56
Speaker 1: our gut because as we saw with Sidney Loof, sometimes
38:58
Speaker 1: the person waiting outside your door isn't bringing flowers.
39:00
Speaker 2: Sometimes they've just come from the hardware store.
39:02
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us on this deep dive. Stay curious,
39:06
Speaker 1: trust your instincts before you trust an app, and please
39:09
Speaker 1: stay safe out there.