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[Music] Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks
00:00:44
for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me as always is a man who is a traveler of both time and space. Here is
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the captain. >> Yeah, it's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks
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for telling a friend. >> Today we are going to go dark and get out of this sun. We are drinking
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Moonlight by the adventurous brewers over at New Trail Brewing. Moonlight is an Imperial stout brewed with plenty of
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dark and English pale malts. This is a highly decadent stout, ABV, 9.1%. So, drink this one at home in your garage.
00:01:25
Our garage beer grade is four out of five bottle caps. All right, let's give some thanks and praise to our good
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friends that helped us fill up the old garage fridge. First up, a cheers to Jen in the dark Ozarks of Arkansas. And a
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big we like your jib goes out to Candace from Williamston, South Carolina. And a
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big tall cans in the air to Katisha Doyle from Tasmania, Australia from your very clueless husband, Adam. Very
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clueless, but very persistent. We like your jib. Next, we have a big Texas cheers to Cameron Gross in Houston. And
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last, but certainly not least, we have Kelly Muny in Defiance, Ohio. Everyone we just mentioned, they went to
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trueimegrage.com and helped us out with this week's beer fund. And for that we thank you.
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>> Yeah. BW are ruining beer run. Make sure you go to true crimegar.com. Sign up on
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store. And that's enough of the business. All right, everybody. Gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's
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talk some True Crime. [Music] [Music] It was November 15th, 2017, and 24year-old Sydney Lof was excited.
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She was going on a second date with someone she liked very much. She sent a Snapchat to a close friend,
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which was a photo of her face and shoulders with the caption, "Ready for my date." Sydney went on the date. Her
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friend expected to hear from her afterward, to hear all about how much she liked the person, and that it went
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as well or better as their first date. But unfortunately, that's not what happened. Sydney did not call or text.
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Sydney did not come home. This is true crime garage. [Music] [Music] Sydney Lof was born on August 21st, 1993
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in Broken Bow, Nebraska to parents George and Susan. She has a younger sister, McKenzie, and an older brother,
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Levi. Her father, George, was the assistant football coach and the principal at Nei Oakdale High School,
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where Sydney's mother was a special education teacher. Both parents were very involved in the community, and
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Sydney had the benefit of having involved, caring parents. The family was very close with movie nights, Christmas
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Eve sleepovers, bike rides, church, and so on. Sydney was in a church youth group and was an excellent fisherman and
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was involved in band, Future Business Leaders of America, and played golf, volleyball, and basketball in high
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school until a devastating scoliosis diagnosis sidelined her. As a result of this condition, she had a distinctive
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walk, but she made the best of it, graduating from high school in 2011, where her teachers saw her as
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responsible, quiet, and diligent. Two years later, Sydney moved to Lincoln where she worked at Menards. Now,
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Menard's is a DIY type of big box store. there. She made very good friends and was considered to be one of the kindest,
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most polite cashiers. She was the kind of person who took people in when they were struggling to pay their rent or
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between places to live. She helped out three different co-workers in this way. Sydney hoped to start a family of her
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own, but that dream sadly would not come to fruition. By 2017, it seems Sydney was not in a great place. Personally,
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first of all, Menard's was not her dream job. As much as I like the store, it was
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not her career. She wanted to work in a veterary clinic and she was actively job
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hunting around this time. But it was also more than that, Captain. Her mom Susie told the media that Sydney had
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some mental health struggles. specifically. She had anxiety and depression, and she had been managing
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these conditions since high school, but it was getting worse. But then she vanished. In fact, the very week that
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Sydney disappeared, her mom took her to a doctor's appointment in Lincoln, Nebraska. This to obtain a new
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prescription for anti-depressants. This was the last time that Susie saw her daughter alive. Yeah, we talk about
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this topic a lot, mental health, especially in your late teens and early 20s, but every anti-depressant
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has some side effects, and that affects everybody differently. And so, she was going down this journey to figure out
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what medication was going to work best for her. It's trial and error in a lot of those cases. Let's go to Thursday,
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November 16th. Sydney did not show up for her regular shift at Menard's. She didn't tell her friends and family that
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she was skipping work and her phone, well, it's going straight to voicemail. This was unheard of for Sydney. She was
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very responsible, very workoriented. Her worried co-workers and friends of Sydney's called her sister McKenzie, who
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they knew as well. And then in return, her sister calls the parents. So George and Susie called and text, here's one of
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the texts from Susie to Sydney that read, "Please, Sydney, you're scaring me." By 5:00 p.m. on the 16th of
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November, George and Susie had reported their daughter missing to the Lincoln, Nebraska Police Department. Well, this
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would be extra scary for a parent because you know that she's now taking a new drug and how is that drug going to
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affect her daughter? You don't know. And some of these anti-depressants can make
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people suicidal even if they weren't suicidal before. >> On Friday, the following day, they
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decided to go to her apartment. This is a 2-hour drive for them. It's not clear whether they had a key or if the
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landlord let them in. But they do get access to the apartment. Once inside, they're saying, you know, nothing seems
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a miss here with the exception of three things. One, Cydney's cat, Mimsy, had no
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food or water and appeared to be hungry, so this would be not common. Two, Cydney's car was parked outside of her
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apartment. Three. Sydney's glasses and purse were in the apartment as well, and the lights were left on. The car and
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purse and glasses of course are going to be startling. You're you're expecting to
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if you don't find your daughter, you're expecting to not find the car would be would be the scenario here when you're
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arriving. >> Exactly. And again, she didn't show up for work and she's not answering her
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phone. And I think the other problem is Okay, so you get there, you see the car.
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Okay, the cat's hungry. No big deal. Maybe she went on a walk or maybe she's out with somebody, but after 30 minutes
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to an hour or so, you have to be thinking the worst at this point. And this will be the same day that things
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are going to go from 0 to 60 very quickly in this case because we have after the parents visit the apartment.
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Lincoln police issued a statement that they didn't know for sure that Sydney was in any real danger, but they wanted
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to check on her welfare given her aw status. the police here are reaching out to the public to look for
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this young woman. And if they're doing that this quickly, I have to you have to believe that there's something there
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telling them to do this cuz this doesn't seem to be standard police protocol. Not
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only had Sydney vanished without her car and her personal items, left the cat unfed, but her bank account was
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untouched, and police IT personnel verified that Sydney's phone had been powered off. So, they're doing some work
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behind the scenes to figure some of this stuff out to confirm that, you know, she's off the grid. She's gone dark
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here. >> Question for you. Does this mean that they know somebody shut the phone off or
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is it just her phone is off and we don't know if somebody turned it off or if the
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battery's dead? >> The statement is that it had been powered off. Now I I don't I don't think
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that there would be clear indication of >> why >> what method was used to do that but I
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but the one of the problems here is her normal life her her daily she was always
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on Snapchat posting stories according to friends and family. So, she's one of those types that like if she's not
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posting anything, it's a safe assumption to assume that the the phone is off or she's sleeping or something of that
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nature. But we have law enforcement, IT personnel that have determined bank accounts not being activated or accessed
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and the phone is is off and not being used. And then they track her phone through her cell phone provider and
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found that the last ping before her phone was turned off was a tower in Wilbur, Nebraska, which is about 40
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miles away from Sydney's apartment. Immediately, the reaction is, hey, there's no reason for this young woman
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to be in this tiny town. She knows no one there. Plus, they find her car at home. It was
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evident that she that Sydney or at least her phone got to this location 40 miles
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away via someone else. Yeah. I think some of the confusing things especially for these cases when we have a young
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adult. They're not living with their parents. The parents don't know every detail of their daughter or son's life.
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They don't know their weekly schedule at that point. Like you said, she's she was
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posting a lot to Snapchat. She missed work. She hasn't fed her cat. Her car is there. But there's one good thing about
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her posting on Snapchat. She posted that she was going to go out on a date. >> Yeah. The local media was reporting a
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heavy police presence at a home near the 600 block of West 7th Street. This was a
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home that was owned by a husband and wife who were in their 60s at this time. Police wouldn't comment on what they
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were doing there or why they were there other than acknowledging that they were looking for a missing person whose final
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phone ping was in Wilbur. So, it was a quick connection to the missing person Sydney case from the onlookers. Police
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had quickly learned that they needed to talk to someone specific, someone who may have been the last person to see or
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hear from Sydney. So, getting into what you're talking about here, Captain with the Snapchat, her friend Tara was able
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to produce a text from Sydney that was sent to her on that Wednesday. And like you said, she was raving about a date
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that she had gone on on Tuesday night. She and her date were going to see each other again on that Wednesday evening.
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>> Her and her date dummy. >> On that Wednesday, Sydney went to Snapchat, sent her friend Tara a photo
00:14:04
of herself that was captioned, "Ready for my date." Right? >> Tara had either screenshotted this or
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saved it in their chat, which is how she was able to show the police. She showed
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the this to the police. Police needed to talk to whomever Sydney had planned to meet on that Wednesday night because
00:14:24
their trail for her ends there. They're tracing, retracing her steps, tracing her movements, and this is where it
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ends. So now we need to figure out who this person was and communicate with them. They learned from Tara that it was
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a woman that Sydney had met online named Audrey, someone Sydney called her dream
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girl. The two had a very successful first date, like we said, and Sydney was excited to see her again on Wednesday
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night. But police were mum about the details, confirming only that they had actually spoken to this date. But
00:15:03
Sydney's father, George, told local news, "We are afraid that she has been abducted."
00:15:08
>> Yeah, I think she was pretty open. Sydney was pretty open with her friends that she was on Tinder, I believe, and
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that she was, you know, seeking out dates through Tinder. The police released a description of Sydney, 5'7 in
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tall, 135 lbs, blonde, last seen wearing a white Columbia jacket and a cream blouse. The family also released some
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photos of Sydney's tattoos, hoping they might help someone recognize her. My Antelopee County News reported,
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quote, "We feel that she could be anywhere, so we've decided to post her tattoos because they're easily
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recognizable. Please let us know if you have any information that may be useful in
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locating her. We're asking for you to please continue to share these posts and pray for her safe return. Thank you for
00:16:06
all of your kind thoughts and prayers. This was from Susie Lof, her mother. >> I see a lot of similarities between
00:16:15
Sydney and Amy Bradley. I understand the c the circumstances are different, but I
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see similarities as far as victimology. >> They're similar in age as well. And like
00:16:27
you said, there are some things that that match up in both of those cases as far as victimology goes. Susie also
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posted on Facebook, "We just wanted to let everyone know that Sydney still hasn't returned home despite outstanding
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efforts by the Lincoln and Wilbur police departments. We've had very few leads, but haven't lost our hope that she will
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return safely soon." Sydney's friends organized a vigil, desperate to bring attention to her case. In her hometown,
00:16:58
green light bulbs and ribbons sprang up on porches and trees. By the 21st of November, with nothing from Sydney in
00:17:07
five days, Susie Lof told WOWT that she was having a hard time putting her feelings into words. Of course, the
00:17:16
lack of any new information must have been incredibly devastating, frustrating, and disheartening for Susie
00:17:23
and the the rest of the family. >> But if there's one thing that people should take away from this case, tell
00:17:28
people what you what's going on in your life. She talks to her friends about that she's seeking dates through Tinder.
00:17:35
She is posting a lot of her activities on Snapchat. And that might seem a little silly to some, but these are
00:17:43
going to give us some leads because it's not a situation where it's just Sydney didn't show up for work and we have no
00:17:50
clue about her whereabouts or what she was planning on doing. We at least know. And you and even though she's been
00:17:57
missing for 5 days, like you said, at this point, you go, "Well, we know that she was planning to go on a date with
00:18:04
somebody." That is a solid lead, and we now have to talk to that person, scrub that person for information, and
00:18:12
and to see, did they go on the date? If so, where did they go? Yeah. Both the Lincoln Police Department and the Selen
00:18:20
County Sheriff's Office worked the missing person's investigation along with Nebraska State Patrol, the US
00:18:26
Marshalss, and the FBI. So, we have a big presence here, a collaboration of work being done by these different
00:18:33
agencies. Searches for Sydney were intensive. Ponds were being drained. Every inch of Wilbur was being searched.
00:18:43
Meanwhile, Sydney's family raised money for a billboard near Interstate 80 with photos of their daughter and their
00:18:53
information. There was also a name page that was set up rather quickly, two Facebook pages, and lots of local media
00:19:01
coverage that would begin to fan out from there. Sydney had snapped her friend Brooklyn Mcrist about her second
00:19:10
date with Audrey. She'd sent Brooklyn a snap with a photo of an attractive brunette and her Tinder profile, which
00:19:20
said that Audrey was her name and she was 32 miles outside of Lincoln. Brooklyn got on Tinder and created a
00:19:27
profile for herself that indicated that she liked women. She used the same hashtags or interest, whatever people
00:19:36
use on Tinder to find dates. She's using all the same stuff that Sydney had in her profile. So, she's trying to mimic
00:19:43
Cydney's profile as much as she can. >> This is very smart. >> Yeah. She specifically made an account
00:19:49
to try to match with this Audrey person. And indeed, this fishing expedition worked. Audrey found her and Brooklyn
00:19:58
was able to message her and get her phone number. She learned that she hailed from Missouri and she worked at a
00:20:06
financial institution. according to her profile. Anyway, >> you can be whoever you want to be
00:20:11
online. >> Yeah, there's a lot of people that are doing that on the streets of the country
00:20:17
as well. Uh and look, and it creates a a whole huge long list of problems. >> Yeah, definitely. But if I was going to
00:20:27
create a character online, I mean, first his name would be the captain, but I'd also my occupation
00:20:34
would be starting point guard for the Chicago Bulls. >> Yeah, cuz there's no way for people to
00:20:41
figure out if that's incorrect. The vigilant friend Brooklyn fed all of this information to the cops. Mhm.
00:20:51
>> Police days before learned that the phone ping in Wilbur, approximately 30 m from Lincoln or so. And guess what?
00:20:59
Bingo bango jingo jango. Audrey lived there and she lived there with her boyfriend.
00:21:06
>> Yes. >> Investigators went to the home where the couple were renting a basement. So they
00:21:11
basically had a basement apartment that they were renting. This has got to be from that 60-year-old couple that we had
00:21:18
mentioned earlier. The couple had lived in this home since June of 2017. >> Yeah. But I think that shows you the
00:21:27
technology that they got a ping on this house, not not just within that area. >> This couple presented themselves as
00:21:38
antique dealers. When police entered the apartment in the basement of the home, they found
00:21:45
everything was neat and tidy, but it rire of bleach. >> And even when police returned the
00:21:53
following day, this time armed with a search warrant, they found nothing necessarily incriminating. Later, when
00:22:00
the apartment was cleaned out, among the items collected were 56 Beanie Babies, antique toys, a lion rug, a pair of
00:22:10
shackles, and over 20 phones. Then on November 28th, we've got some big news. Two people were publicly named persons
00:22:21
of interest in Sydney's disappearance. Police named them publicly because they could not find them and needed the
00:22:28
public's help in tracking them down. Lincoln PD said they are asking for the public's assistance searching for Aubrey
00:22:40
Trail, 51 years old. Trail is 6 feet tall, 284 lbs with brown hair and blue eyes. And Bailey Boswell, age 23.
00:22:50
Boswell is 5'8 in tall with brown hair and hazel eyes. Lincoln PD said the two people have connections in multiple
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00:27:20
All right, we are back. Cheers, mates. Tall can hands in the air. Cheers to you, Colonel. Cheers to you, Captain.
00:27:26
So, let me get this straight. We have a cell phone ping to this house. There's owners of that house. They live
00:27:33
upstairs. We have a couple that lives in the basement. >> Mhm. >> We believe that the female is possibly
00:27:42
the individual that was talking to Sydney on Tinder and possibly went on a date with Sydney before. They searched
00:27:51
their house. You say it's clean. It's neat. They have some items. They claim they're antique dealers. They sound more
00:27:58
like garage sale dealers. But then these two individuals, this couple now are missing.
00:28:04
>> Yeah. They cannot locate this couple. They've been to the apartment at least twice. You know, they returned with the
00:28:11
search warrant and then publicly announced that they're looking for these two individuals and that they they
00:28:19
publicly say that they're persons of interest in this missing person's case. diving into some of the details of this
00:28:28
and we're going to try to sort this out the best we can because remember we have
00:28:32
Tara and Brooklyn who are Sydney's friends and they're the ones that informed police that the date was with
00:28:42
this so-called Audrey and now police are looking for two people but they're not looking for anyone named Audrey they're
00:28:50
looking for an Aubrey who's not a woman he's a man and they are looking for Bailey Boswell and this has to lead back
00:28:58
to the date even though the the names are not lining up. So once once they got the name Audrey and the phone number
00:29:06
from Brooklyn, police investigated this Audrey, a Lincoln detective called the number and after a couple of tries got
00:29:15
Audrey to call him back. this air quotes Audrey was evasive, saying she didn't want to talk to the police because she
00:29:22
had warrants and did say that she had gone on a date with Sydney, but had actually dropped her off at a friend's
00:29:29
house in Wilbur afterwards. But a little >> Yeah, a little digging by police into
00:29:34
this Audrey revealed that her name was not Audrey at all. It was in fact Bailey Boswell. Her Tinder date with Sydney was
00:29:44
confirmed by social media post made by Bailey and 140 plus messages on the Tinder app between Bailey and Sydney. In
00:29:54
one of the final Tinder messages confirming their first date on the 14th, Cydney messaged Audrey. Just going to be
00:30:02
me and you, right? Okay. Yes, of course, responded Audrey. Police tried to talk to this Audrey/Bailey
00:30:10
person, but she was missing an action. Police declared her and her 51-year-old boyfriend Aubrey Trail, also missing an
00:30:19
in action, official persons of interest. The two apparently split town immediately after they were labeled as
00:30:26
such. >> That's not suspicious or anything. >> Oh, no. Aubrey and Bailey denied that
00:30:31
they had suddenly left Nebraska because they were on the run from the cops. Aubrey posted online, "As far as I know,
00:30:39
I'm not wanted for anything. I'm a person of interest and I'm not really running from anything." He said, "Well,
00:30:47
yeah. Well, listen to this." He says, "I'm this quotes from from Aubrey. >> I'm a crook. I'm a thief. Have been my
00:30:56
whole life, but I'm not what you are trying to make me out to be. I've never killed anyone in my whole life." End
00:31:03
quote. Yeah. So, I've been a piece of [ __ ] my whole life, but um I didn't do this one.
00:31:08
>> From tracking their movements here, Captain, what they're doing is the two are they hastily leave town, which
00:31:17
cannot be a coincidence, >> right? >> They're out on the road. They're staying in cheap motel and they are working
00:31:24
their way down south. But these two like felt the need to talk about what was going on. In fact, they posted two the
00:31:34
two of them posted a 9-minute Facebook live stream complaining about being chased around by police like dogs. In
00:31:43
their live stream, a close-up video filmed in a vehicle. Aubrey said it was time for them to share their side of the
00:31:52
story. This video was posted for just about two hours before it was deleted >> and was posted on none other than the
00:32:01
Finding Sydney Lof Facebook page. So they they went right to the Sydney Lof Facebook page and posted this. In this
00:32:09
video, Bailey admitted to going on the date with Sydney, but said that she was innocent of any wrongdoing and that she
00:32:16
had simply driven around and smoked some pot. that the two they were hanging out,
00:32:20
driving around smoking pot. And she said, "I gave her a quarter ounce of really good weed. She asked me to drop
00:32:27
her at a friend's house. I did so. I have not heard from her since." She said the two women had planned to go to a
00:32:35
casino that weekend, but Sydney had never contacted her since then. Aubrey claimed he like chimes in during the
00:32:44
video. He's saying that he was praying Sydney would be found safe. And then Bailey concluded with quote, "I
00:32:52
just want the family to know I am truly sorry. I didn't have anything to do with
00:32:56
this. I hope Sydney is found. She is a sweet, amazing girl." Yeah. I don't know how much these two are antique dealers.
00:33:04
I I think they opened up a canning operation where they're canning tuna because this is fishy as fishy gets, my
00:33:13
friend. Well, and to add to it a little bit, like this this stream, this live stream.
00:33:20
>> Yeah, >> it looks like they're deliberately trying to obscure their faces, which is
00:33:26
all kinds of weird because, you know, we know who you are from the live stream, but I maybe it's possible that they're
00:33:32
on the run and their look is a little different at the time and they kind of want to keep it that way.
00:33:39
>> They want to voice it. They want to voice it out there and throw that out there, but they also don't want police
00:33:44
to catch up with them at the same time. >> What a guy have like 21 different charges against him.
00:33:50
>> That might be conservative. Yeah. >> In like a 50-year period, like you're a lifetime loser. You're a lifetime piece
00:33:58
of [ __ ] That's what you are. Of course, we're going to look at you. And by the
00:34:02
way, the cell phone ping puts her at your house. So this story of you driving around and smoking pot and you dropping
00:34:09
her off somewhere just doesn't make a lot of sense. >> Well, we know some of their movements
00:34:13
during this time, right? So Bailey and Aubrey travel to Omaha. They picked up a woman whom they say Bailey was seeing.
00:34:22
Her name is Caitlyn Brandell, but we'll learn more about Caitlyn and and some other people that they were associates
00:34:31
with. Let's say they had checked into a Holiday Inn at the Amerar Casino in Council Bluffs. They stayed until
00:34:40
November 19th using Caitlyn's vehicle for what they told her was a cocaine drop from a plane.
00:34:48
>> On Grand Island that would net them about 25K. >> Jesus. >> Surprise, surprise.
00:34:56
The drop never happened. Sorry, that's my impression. It's from a Pink Floyd album and the the cool folks will get
00:35:04
it. And there the three moved to onto Carney where Bailey and Aubrey wanted to abduct and kill an exchange student.
00:35:14
They told Caitlyn, we know this because Caitlyn tells us about this. They told Caitlyn that she had to participate or
00:35:22
Aubrey threatened her family. But at the motel in Carney, Caitlyn receives a message from the Lincoln Police
00:35:28
Department because her mother had filed a missing person's report on her. >> She's gone. Her car's gone.
00:35:35
>> Yeah. >> This seemed to scare the couple that were on the run, Bailey and Aubrey, who
00:35:41
told her that another young woman was missing and that Bailey was being falsely blamed because she was the last
00:35:49
person seen with this missing woman. According to this, Caitlyn, Bailey cried and insisted she did not hurt the
00:35:57
missing woman. Caitlyn left the duo and returned to her home. Smart move by Caitlyn.
00:36:04
>> Yeah, but let's pause for a second. Okay, so they're at this hotel motel Holiday Inn. Caitlyn's around these two
00:36:12
awful pieces of [ __ ] people. They're going to go to an island to get some cocaine that's going to be dropped
00:36:20
from a plane. And oh, by the way, you have to be involved in killing this exchange student. And if you don't,
00:36:28
we're going to harm your family. Bailey has the nerve to put on a Oscar winning performance of crying
00:36:38
and saying, "Well, there's this other girl missing and well, I have nothing to do with that." I mean, think about how
00:36:45
nuts that is. The the craziness that they're trying to get this girl involved in and then to have the the the nerve or
00:36:55
the balls or whatever to then cry and say, "We're not involved in this other stuff." There's no way that Caitlyn is
00:37:03
believing anything coming out of their mouths. >> Yeah. And it may not have had to have
00:37:08
been much of an act. I mean, you can spin it and say why you are crying or why you're upset, but she is very likely
00:37:17
crying because she knows that the police are after her, >> right, >> for a very serious crime, murder, and
00:37:26
they are closing in. And so I I think she's just spinning it. And you're absolutely right there, Captain. It's
00:37:33
It's pure insanity. It's insane >> the the juxaposition between their movements and what they're saying
00:37:41
publicly to what's going on behind closed doors with this third wheel here. After Caitlyn leaves them, Bailey and
00:37:48
Aubrey continued on their odd journey, checking into motel in Spencer and Ames, Iowa, and then they moved on to Branson,
00:37:58
Missouri. The cops seem to be about two steps behind them all the while. They're
00:38:04
trying to track a digital trail left by the two, but the two are using burner phones. So, they're speed bumps for the
00:38:12
police that are behind them and on their trail. >> Well, I have a question. So, when
00:38:16
Caitlyn gets dropped off, is she talking to police at this point or is she just too scared? Because I mean, like like
00:38:24
you said, they said you're going to help kill this exchange student and if you don't, we're going to harm your family.
00:38:31
So, I wonder when they dropped her off, did they say, "You better keep your mouth shut or we're going to harm your
00:38:37
family?" >> That's a great question. I don't know. We know that Caitlyn communicated
00:38:42
everything or we believe everything >> to law enforcement. >> Yeah. To her knowledge about these two
00:38:47
to law enforcement. We just don't we don't know when that happened, right? >> Place. And if they're moving city to
00:38:56
city then state to state, it it still leaves them leaves law enforcement behind. But see, the FBI, they're able
00:39:04
to use that Facebook live stream video to hone in on the digital source because they're using these phones, but the the
00:39:15
Facebook live stream video, they they used a phone registered to Bailey Boswell. That phone had called a number
00:39:22
at the Windmill Inn in Branson, Missouri. Naturally, you're going to go there hoping to either A find this
00:39:30
couple there or B sitting there waiting for them when they arrive. And that is where the two of these the
00:39:38
two will be arrested on November 30th. So, they're nabbed on federal persons of interest warrants as well as charges
00:39:46
unrelated to Sydney Lof's case. completely. So, Aubrey was wanted for possession of a firearm by a felon.
00:39:55
Bailey was wanted on failure to appear on a minor drug charge in Lincoln, Nebraska. When the two were arrested,
00:40:03
found in their possession were maps, hiking and camping gear, a supply of bottled water, sleeping bags, and so on.
00:40:11
Every indication is that they were on their way to Mexico. Bailey and Aubrey agreed to speak with police
00:40:17
investigating Cydney's case. The short of it is they're going to stick to their story that was on the live stream video,
00:40:24
right? >> That Sydney was last seen by them alive and well in Wilbur. Bailey had dropped
00:40:31
her off at someone's house and went about her life. She had no idea what happened to Sydney. Neither did Aubrey.
00:40:40
You know, at the top of the show, we were giving out some toast. I should probably mention here the shout out that
00:40:46
is in order. We we could not have written this episode without the incredible reporting by the Grand Island
00:40:53
Independent in cooperation with the Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha World Herald, all on omaha.com's
00:41:02
website. Using phone tracking information from two of Baileyy's cell phone accounts and a flip phone
00:41:09
registered to Aubrey, Lincoln police detective Bob Hurley and the FBI track the movements made by the phones on
00:41:18
Wednesday, November 15th and Thursday, November 16th. So keep in mind this is this is at the time when Sydney is first
00:41:27
missing, >> right? This is 14 to 15 days before the two who are seemingly on the run are apprehended
00:41:37
in another state. They looked at the pings and considered the length of time it appeared the phone spent in different
00:41:46
locations. They started looking at a very specific location, then methodically did a foot search 25 miles
00:41:54
of remote roadways using cadaavver dogs. So Sydney's missing. Two weeks later, these two are apprehended who said they
00:42:03
had nothing to do with her, even though it appears at least Bailey may have been
00:42:08
the last person to see Sydney. But then it's on December 4th. Body parts were found in in spilling out of black trash
00:42:18
bags scattered in overgrown ditches along a gravel road outside of Edgar. This is in rural Clay County. The
00:42:28
location was an hour's drive from Wilbur and had been visited by Bailey's and Aubrey's phones
00:42:37
on November 16th. Then more remains were found the following day. The the total number of body parts recovered was 14.
00:42:45
The body was not complete. An upper arm was never located and it was Jesus. at the time. Obviously, it's not yet
00:42:54
confirmed to be Sydney, but the cops were pretty much >> Yeah. >> sure that she had been disposed of and a
00:43:02
lot of this basing a lot of this on phone locationational data. >> Yeah. I'm guessing the FBI, like you
00:43:07
said, they're able to track down these pings, look at the location, look at the time spent. the chances of them. I mean,
00:43:17
this is somewhat of a Hail Mary, but obviously there was some detective work, some Sherlock Holmes stuff going on
00:43:24
here, but then to find body pieces like like you said, it's not confirmed, but what are the chances? It's going to be
00:43:31
somebody else or just some random person. Well, that wasn't the only thing found in the ditches. Wrapped inside
00:43:37
30gallon trash bags were sex toys, a cat leash, a size seven women's boot, duct tape, tarps, a sauna suit with the
00:43:48
crotch missing, a glove, men's underwear, two socks, and a size 4XL green shirt with a bleach stain on it.
00:43:58
Also found were Sydney's slip bra and shirt. The shirt was the one she was wearing in the last Snapchat photo she
00:44:07
sent to her friend saying, "Ready for my date." The cops told the media, quote, "By their own statements on social
00:44:15
media, we believe that Aubrey Trail and Bailey Boswell were the two of the last people to see
00:44:23
Sydney before her disappearance. Thus, they remain persons of interest." End quote. Remember, they had not been
00:44:29
arrested for anything related to Sydney at this time because they had outstanding warrants, but that's going
00:44:35
to change. >> But it's good that they have these other charges because it it places these
00:44:40
suspects in holding basically. >> Yes. The autopsy told us that she had been cut into 14 pieces by at least two,
00:44:48
possibly three different instruments. The doctor, a forensic pathologist said there were indications of a struggle
00:44:55
before death with deep bruises on the back of her head, down the middle of her back, and on her inner thigh. She had
00:45:04
been restrained at the wrist and had freshly torn a freshly torn earlobe at the piercing site. As for the cause of
00:45:13
death, Sydney's hyoid bone had been crushed. Other evidence concluded that she had been strangled. Sydney's body
00:45:20
also showed indications that around the time of death, she experienced blunt force trauma. The autopsy was
00:45:28
complicated by the absence of most of the organs of Sydney's torso and abdomen, as well as the absence of other
00:45:37
body parts such as the upper part of the trachea, windpipe, linex, and veins and
00:45:42
arteries of the neck. These appear to have been removed postmortem by the use of a sharp blade. None of these items
00:45:52
were ever found. Well, the thing about this ruse we're going to get on a dating website were a couple. They're
00:45:59
essentially looking for a female, but they this female doesn't have to be willing. But hey, I go on this date. I
00:46:08
try to present myself as best I as I can to the version of the person I'm telling
00:46:13
you I am online >> that will drop your guard a little bit trust. Hey, you don't need to drive.
00:46:21
I'll come pick you up. And we don't know if they drugged to her when she got in the car. Hey, I got I picked up a drink
00:46:29
for you at the gas station. Here you go. And all of this was just a ruse to find
00:46:37
a victim. >> Well, and yes, let's talk about what we do know happened because there is a
00:46:42
digital paper trail here, >> right? >> So, Sydney met this Audrey on Tinder on November 11th. They exchanged
00:46:52
140 plus messages on the dating app in which Sydney relayed that her family lived two hours away, that she lived
00:47:00
alone, and she worked at Menard's in Lincoln. It was evident she was lonely and alone. On Bailey's half of the
00:47:08
conversation, posing as this Audrey, no mention was ever made of a male in Audrey's life. The two arranged for this
00:47:16
first date on Tuesday the 14th. So Cydney gave Audrey her home address and within moments Bailey had searched the
00:47:25
location and found a hotel. On the 14th, Bailey and Aubrey, her bow, checked into
00:47:33
that motel or that hotel. Bailey picked Sydney up and they drove around and smoked some pot and they
00:47:40
>> Yeah, they smoked some pot and then she dropped her off back at home. >> Aubrey never made an appearance on this
00:47:46
date. Now, after the date, Bailey met Aubrey at the hotel. They spent the night together. Then, the two women
00:47:54
agreed to meet up the next evening after that first date. On the morning of Bailey's second date with Sydney, so
00:48:04
remember this is November 15th. Bailey and Aubrey went to a Lincoln Home Depot. They're captured on video. There's no
00:48:13
disputing this. and purchased tin snips, hacksaws, and tarps. Then they went to the Menards where Sydney worked. She's
00:48:22
actually working at this time. It's unclear if this was so Aubrey could check Sydney out, but what we figured
00:48:30
out is there's no sign that Bailey ever went inside, but there's security video from Menard's showing Aubrey walking
00:48:38
past Sydney in the other direction as she walked outside. She was going to do a shift at the lumber yard shack. So the
00:48:47
video captures this Aubrey walking past the victim. >> Yeah. Almost stalking their prey.
00:48:55
>> Yeah. And so right after the victim passes him, he turns around and looks at her, maybe does a double take, and then
00:49:04
he makes a call on his cell phone. We now know that that call went to Bailey Boswell. So, after stalking Sydney at
00:49:13
the Menards, Aubrey went to a hardware store and bought chemical drain cleaner and an extension cord. Meanwhile, Bailey
00:49:22
purchased bleach, trash bags, duct tape, and roasting pans. Throughout the day, Bailey texted Sydney to ask how her day
00:49:32
was going and to communicate that she was looking forward to their date. Later that day, after Sydney got off work and
00:49:41
got home, Bailey messaged Sydney at 6:54 saying, quote, "I'm outside." So, she picked Sydney up and brought her to the
00:49:51
Wilbur apartment. Aubrey was, we're guessing, waiting inside this apartment. Some of this can be sorted
00:50:01
out through cell phone records, >> right? Sydney's phone shut off at 8:32 p.m. They're communicating at 6:54.
00:50:10
Let's call it 7:00 p.m. They make they drive this distance. It's a considerable distance to get to the apartment in in
00:50:17
another city in in Wilbur in the town of Wilbur. Sydney's phone shuts off at 3 at
00:50:24
8:32 after pinging in Wilbur at that location at 8:30. >> Yeah, this is a setup. And there would
00:50:33
be no way of Sydney knowing. We have to speculate because we don't know. Like I said, did
00:50:40
did did they give Sydney a drink to incapacitate her before she got back to this uh basement apartment? Or was it
00:50:50
just a complete ambush once they got her back? Because she wouldn't have known what she was walking into or who she was
00:50:58
going to walk into. Well, if if the pings and the cell phone information is accurate to the second is it's 2 minutes
00:51:08
from arriving at that location to the phone being turned off. And I can't believe that the victim walks into a
00:51:14
place and goes, "You know what? I'll turn off my phone while I'm here." I I think that the that the trauma to her
00:51:21
back and head are, like you said, probably an ambush takes place and the phone goes off right away. And it wasn't
00:51:28
Sydney that turned it off. Now, as far as torture or whatever that that followed, we don't know anything about
00:51:34
that, but based on what we have learned since about the proclivities of these two, we can sort out that that's
00:51:43
probably part of it. The bruises and the restraint marks on Sydney's body spoke for themselves. Then, one or two, one of
00:51:52
the two, Bailey or Aubrey, held Sydney down while the other strangled her with an extension cord.
00:51:58
Then they drove the parts 60 miles away to Klay County using Aubrey's Ford 500 sedan. Cell phone records placed them in
00:52:10
remote Klay County on the afternoon of November 16th, leaving the parts and trash bags behind when they leave. Back
00:52:18
at the apartment, 621 West 7th Street, Bailey and Aubrey went crazy with the bleach. They even wiped down the walls
00:52:27
with it. They use so much bleach to clean up the basement that the owner remember so the owners are living above.
00:52:34
>> Right. That's my question is they're in the basement apartment. We don't have
00:52:39
any eyeball witnesses or earball witnesses. >> Well, you can access the basement. You
00:52:46
don't have to go through the main home. >> It's essentially a a like a duplex. >> But what I'm wondering is like do they
00:52:54
do they hear somebody scream? Do they hear any commotion? Do they hear anything?
00:53:03
>> We don't have statements from them indicating that they heard anything or saw anything that was suspicious.
00:53:09
>> They might not have even been home at the time. While they were at home for part of this
00:53:15
because before the couple goes on the run between the killing and going on the run, they they wipe down the entire
00:53:22
basement with bleach. And the the smell is so bad that the act that the wife actually had a physical reaction. She
00:53:29
got sick from the amount of bleach that was used. And the odor of that will can cause people to to get sick,
00:53:38
>> right? And when news of Sydney's disappearance made headlines, made news, and these two
00:53:46
are named persons of interest, they left town. So much more to get to. Join us back
00:54:00
here in the garage. Same bat time, same bat channel. Until then, >> be good, be kind, and don't litter.
00:54:07
Heat. [Applause] Heat.