A con artist who slashed his own throat in court while on trial for the murder of a Nebraska woman has shown off his gruesome scars as he testified that the initial story he told investigators and his own lawyers about the killing was ‘all bulls**t’.
Aubrey Trail, 52, and his girlfriend Bailey Boswell, 25, are accused of killing 24-year-old Sydney Loofe and cutting her up into 14 pieces before dumping her body in garbage bags near Omaha in December 2017.
Trail appeared in court for the first time on Tuesday since he cut his own throat in the middle of a dramatic hearing last month. He was escorted into the courtroom in handcuffs and a wheelchair with his bright red scars clearly visible on the side of his neck.
Trail then took to the stand and shocked his own attorneys when he said he had previously lied to authorities and his own legal team about Loofe’s death.
Aubrey Trail, 52, appeared in a Nebraska court on Tuesday for the first time since he slashed his own throat in the middle of a dramatic murder trial hearing last month
Prosecutors had previously told the court that the pair had used Tinder to lure Loofe to her death after plotting her abduction and murder.
Three women have already testified about how Trail lured women into his sex cult via the dating app and convinced them he was a vampire who could fly and read minds. They said Trail tried to convince them they could gain more ‘powers’ if they killed people.
The women participated in group sex with Trail, Boswell and other women in exchange for a weekly allowance and helping him with a scam antique business he was running.
Trail’s own attorneys, however, had previously argued that Loofe’s death was an accident during a consensual sexual fantasy.
The defense said Loofe had agreed to participate with Trail in a ‘sexual asphyxiation’ as part of a fantasy that would be filmed. Loofe needed money at the time and she agreed to participate in exchange for payment, the defense said.
But Trail admitted during his testimony that none of that was true and that he accidentally strangled Loofe during rough sex involving just him and Boswell.
‘I can’t bring Sydney back. I killed her. I didn’t mean to, but I did,’ Trail told the court.
‘It was only me, Bailey and Sydney there the night Sydney died. I’ll get into how it happened I guess, but there was no two other girls there, there was no sexual fantasy, there was no $15,000 paid for sexual fantasy.’
Prosecutors slammed Trail’s latest version of events, saying that his testimony was one of his ‘biggest cons’ to date.
Trail and his girlfriend Bailey Boswell, 25, are accused of killing 24-year-old Sydney Loofe and cutting her up into 14 pieces before dumping her body in garbage bags near Omaha in December 2017
Trail was escorted into the courtroom in handcuffs and a wheelchair with his bright red scars clearly visible on the side of his neck. He then took to the stand and shocked his own attorneys when he said he had previously lied to authorities and his own legal team about Loofe’s death
Trail said he met Loofe months before when she entered into a romantic relationship with Boswell in early 2017.
He said they tried to get her to be part of their group but she did not want to rip people off with the antique scam.
Months later, Trail said Boswell found Loofe on Tinder and arranged a date. He said that Loofe initially didn’t recognize Boswell because she was wearing lots of make up in her profile photos.
Trail told the court that Loofe ‘freaked out’ when she met up with Boswell but later agreed to a second Tinder date on the night she ended up dead.
Sydney Loofe, 24, was found dead in December 2017 near Omaha, Nebraska, about a month after she disappeared following the Tinder date
He said the date ended up becoming a ‘sex party’ involving all three of them.
Trail said he was choking Boswell with an electrical cord while she had sex with Loofe before the roles were reversed. He claimed that Loofe was handcuffed while he choked her as she had sex with Boswell.
He said Loofe’s lips then turned blue and she started coughing.
Trail, who initially denied any involvement, said he lied to investigators to throw them off the scent.
He denied they had a plan all along to dispose of her body and said they panicked after she died. Trail admitted cutting up her body using a bow-type saw.
During Trail’s trial on Monday, the court heard that Loofe had been cut into 14 different pieces.
A forensic pathologist also testified that Loofe’s body showed signs that she had struggled prior to her death.
Dr Michelle Elieff said she found Loofe’s earlobe was torn and she had bruising on her wrists, the back of her head and on her inner thighs.
She added that the wrist bruises showed Loofe had been restrained and that she struggled before dying of suffocation.
Defense attorneys argued that the injuries sustained in the struggle could have resulted from ‘rough, consensual sex’.
Dr Elieff agreed when she was asked if that could be the case.
Trail he slashed his neck and fell from his wheelchair in the middle of a hearing. Deputies were filmed (above) rushing to help as Trail lay bleeding on the floor
Aubrey Trail, 52, and his girlfriend Bailey Boswell, 25, are both charged with first-degree murder in Loofe’s death. Right photo courtesy of 1011 News
Three women had testified earlier about how Trail would lure females into a so-called sex cult via Tinder and convince them he was a vampire who could fly and read minds.
The women said they were all recruited via Boswell’s Tinder account between July and November of 2017.
They described how Trail made them call him ‘daddy’ and how they engaged in group sex with him, Boswell and other women. The woman said Trail also referred to Boswell as the ‘queen witch’.
The last time anyone heard from Loofe was on November 15 when she posted a picture of herself to Snapchat, captioning the image: ‘Ready for my date’
One woman testified that Trail had a group of witches and that for her to become one of them she had to kill someone and ‘take their last breath’, the Omaha Herald reports.
She would gain more ‘powers’ if the person killed was tortured for hours beforehand, the woman testified.
The woman described going to a Walmart with Trail and Boswell to grocery shop. She said they asked her if she was ready for her first ‘kill’.
The woman said a potential Tinder date showed up but they ended up leaving her at the grocery store and Trail later said they would ‘save her for another time’.
‘It all sounded like it was real, very convincing,’ she told the court.
The woman said she left the group before Loofe was killed. The woman said Trail and Boswell threatened to kill her family if she told anyone about what had happened.
Another woman testified that Trail and Boswell made her follow strict rules, including that she had to make contact every three hours to let them know where she was.
She also wasn’t allowed to wear clothes in Trail’s home.
The woman told the court she was punished if she broke the rules, including once where he choked her with a belt and another time where he slapped her in the head more than 10 times.
She testified that Trail and Boswell would often speak about killing and torturing other victims because they needed to strengthen their powers.
They allegedly spoke of cutting out people’s eyelids, scalping them, cutting holes in people during sex, pouring acid on them and setting them alight.
Loofe had been cut into 14 different pieces when she was found. Her body also showed signs that she had struggled prior to her death, including a torn ear lobe and bruising on her thighs, wrists and head
She said Trail and Boswell had a killing bag – which they called ‘Bailey’s killing bag’ – that included a sauna suit, hammer and pliers.
The woman said she initially agreed to take part in a killing. She also left the group before Loofe was killed.
Another part of being involved in Trail’s sex cult was to help the couple swindle others by buying and selling antiques.
The third woman testified that she was only interested in the antique side of it and was never interested in having sex with the couple.
She said she never believed Trail when he spoke about vampires and witches but testified that they regularly spoke about killing and torture.
Trail on Tuesday dismissed the conversations they had in their group with other women about vampires and killings as just talk.
The last time anyone heard from Loofe was on November 15 when she posted a picture of herself to Snapchat, captioning the image: ‘Ready for my date’.
She was reported missing by her mother the following day when she failed to show up for her cashier job at a home improvement store.
Her dismembered body was found a month later stuffed into garbage bags that had been dumped in a field.
Closing statements in Trail’s trial are expected on Wednesday.
If convicted, Trail could face the death penalty.
Boswell could also be faced with the death penalty if she is found guilty but her trial doesn’t begin until October.