Bailey Boswell appears via video conference during her first court appearance before Saline County Judge Linda Bauer after being charged with first degree murder Sydney Loofe and improper disposal of human skeletal remains at the Saline County Courthouse in Wilber, Nebraska, Tuesday, June 12, 2018. REBECCA S. GRATZ/THE WORLD-HERALD
A change of venue request for Bailey Boswell, accused of first-degree murder in the November 2017 death of Sydney Loofe, a Lincoln woman, was granted Sept. 6.
Her trial, which was previously slated to begin next month in Saline County District Court, will now begin in March 2020 in Lexington.
Boswell’s attorney Todd Lancaster submitted a change of venue request in late July, following a guilty verdict for Boswell’s boyfriend and supposed co-conspirator Aubrey Trail in the death.
Loofe and Boswell went on a date after meeting on the dating app Tinder the week of Nov. 6, 2017.
Trail said during testimony at his trial that Loofe died in his and Boswell’s Wilber apartment, during a sexual fantasy.
“I didn’t mean for it to go that far, but it did,” Trail said.
According to court documents, Boswell claimed “deep and bitter prejudice in the venire” or jury pool, against her within the county, preventing her from a fair trial.
The amount of media coverage regarding Trail’s trial was also a concern of Lancaster’s, stating an impartial jury within Saline County could not be easily chosen.
State prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Boswell if she is found guilty.
The Seward City Council held a public hearing and budget summary Sept. 3.
Before the public hearing the council tabled approval of the final plat and dedication use of Karol Kay Boulevard, Bader to Hillcrest, and consideration of a resolution to authorize the city attorney to initiate eminent domain proceedings for acquisition of easements for Karol Kay Boulevard, Bader to Hillcrest project.
Mayor Josh Eickmeier explained that the two council members from Ward One, Jessica Kolterman and Ellen Beck, had asked to table.
“The item had to do with all of the right of ways to be dedicated for this that the city owns and I know that there is some confusion as to whether that impacted other right of ways, but this was only ours, but in order to keep clean we were going to table that,” Eickmeier said. “Item 12 had to do with the eminent domain. My understanding was with conversations with the council women from the ward that they wanted to have a meeting and to be briefed on where things stood.”
During the public hearing Linda Gierke, a Seward resident, asked the board some questions regarding line items in the budget.
Gierke asked the board about money related to the Karol Kay street project.
“An item that said Karol Kay paving and storm sewer project, is that related to the Karol Kay extension or is that something different? The amount spent was $124,000 and the next budget year is for $10,000 so I’m confused about what that refers to,” she said.
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