Video shows Nebraska man slashing own throat in court while on trial for murdering, dismembering 24-year-old Tinder date
WARNING: Distressing content
A man accused of murdering and dismembering his date with the help of his girlfriend slashed his throat during his trial while proclaiming her innocence.
52-year-old Aubrey Trail, who is believed to have suffocated and dismembered 24-year-old Sydney Loofe with the help of girlfriend Bailey Boswell in November 2017, leapt to his feet during the proceedings on Monday, June 24, and stabbed himself in the neck with an unknown object.
Before he stabbed himself at the Saline County District Court in Nebraska, he reportedly yelled, "Bailey is innocent and I curse you all," according to the Daily Mail.
He was transported out of the courtroom in a stretcher while still unconscious, and his condition is not currently known.
Judge Vicky Johnson announced in the aftermath that she and lawyers from both prosecution and defense would speak with each juror about the incident.
If he recovers, the 52-year-old will remain in handcuffs for the rest of the trial.
The dismembered body of Loofe, a store clerk from Lincoln, Nebraska, was found cut up and wrapped in trash bags in a field near Edgar, around 90 miles southwest of Lincoln, in December 2017.
During their investigation, authorities quickly narrowed down on Trail and Boswell as their suspects after finding out that Loofe had disappeared after going out on a date with the former, who she met through dating app Tinder.
While Trail reportedly told police that he had "accidentally" asphyxiated Loofe, it was alleged by the prosecution that he strangled the victim with an extension court and that he and Boswell were intent on "killing, torture, and sex."
Sandra Allen of the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office told jurors that the pair used a 'fine-toothed' saw to dismember Loofe's body and that it was "a planned abduction." She also said the coroners could not find any of her internal organs during the autopsy.
Trail's court-appointed lawyer, Joe Murray, admitted that his client was "not a particularly nice man" but stressed that he did "tell the truth" when he claimed that Loofe's death was "completely accidental."
He argued that the victim knew Trail better than how it was portrayed by the prosecution and that she consented to participate in the "sexual asphyxiation" as part of a fantasy they were planning to film together in exchange for payment.
He said Trail and Boswell had previously spent time traveling with two other young women who took part in similar fantasies and that they had found Loofe while looking for a replacement for two women who had left their group.
But Allen brushed away the claims and told the court that the pair had sought out the victim on purpose because they knew she was depressed, and that they made up the sexual fantasy story after their arrest.
Trail has already pleaded guilty to a secondary charge of improper disposal of human remains so the jury of five men and seven women would not be shown the graphic autopsy photographs of Loofe.
If convicted of his charges, Trail could face the death penalty, a fate that might similarly await Boswell following her trial in October.
The video of Aubrey Trail slashing his throat: