The first witnesses will be called Monday in the murder-dismemberment trial of 26-year old Bailey Boswell.
Jury selection concluded Friday and both sides made their opening statements later that day.
Boswell and her boyfriend, 54-year old Aubrey Trail, are accused of killing 24-year old Sydney Loofe of Lincoln in Nov 2017 – luring her to them them via social media and after killing her cutting up her body and leaving it in more than a dozen trash bags along remote gravel roads in south-central Nebraska.
Trail was convicted in July of last year of 1st-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He continues to await sentencing. Boswell faces the same charges and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against both defendants.
The prosecution’s opening statement lasted nearly an hour and walked the jury of 8 men and 7 women, with 3 alternates, through the state’s timeline of the crime – from Boswell meeting Loofe on a dating app until the discovery of the dismembered remains in Clay County.
Defense attorney Todd Lancaster spoke for only about 10 minutes, reminding the jurors their responsibility is to focus on the facts and to critically analyze the prosecution’s case and not to be distracted by the graphic images that will be shown by the prosecution.