LINCOLN — Bailey Boswell, one of two people accused in the death and dismemberment of Lincoln store clerk Sydney Loofe, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of first-degree murder and improper disposal of a body.
Boswell, 24, entered the plea in writing, which cancels a planned Dec. 17 arraignment in Saline County District Court. The plea comes a week after District Judge Vicky Johnson rejected Boswell’s motion to nullify the state’s death penalty.
Both Boswell and her 52-year-old boyfriend, Aubrey Trail, face the death penalty if convicted.
The pair had been living at an apartment in Wilber, Nebraska, at the time of Loofe’s disappearance. Loofe, who worked at a Menard’s store in Lincoln, disappeared a year ago after arranging a date via Tinder with Boswell. The clerk’s body was found three weeks later in a rural area about 50 miles west of Wilber following extensive searches by local, state and federal law enforcement officers.
Trail, in calls to reporters, has claimed that he was responsible for Loofe’s death and that Boswell was not in the room when it happened.
Trail is scheduled to go on trial in June in Saline County. A trial date for Boswell has not yet been set.
