Original subtitles

[wind gusting]

You know a lot of people watch TV shows or watch movies...

that's where they get their ideas about witchcraft.

[owl hooting]

[♪ gentle eerie music playing]

[car alarm beeping]

They think that's what witchcraft is when it's nothing like that.

There's no flying on fucking brooms.

I do dark magic and blood magic.

[static crackling]

I was trying to form a coven of witches.

None of my girls were witches, but...

witches can be made.

[♪ gentle eerie music playing]

[reporter 1] A 22-year-old woman says she was recruited

into a lifestyle of witches, sex and theft.

[Mike Maseth] I can say that I've never had a case like this.

[Brittney Flinn] The thought of there being these, like,

secret witches living in Wilber, Nebraska, was just mind-blowing.

What did you have to do to become into that inner circle?

-I would have had to kill somebody... -Okay.

And take their soul.

♪ Pain, you made me a, you made me a believer ♪

♪ Believer ♪

[reporter 3] She says he told her the witches had special powers.

They're treating me like a fucking criminal.

I didn't do anything! I told them what I know.

[reporter 5] Investigators scoured Wilber, Nebraska,

looking for clues as to where she might be.

♪ You made me a, you made me a believer ♪

The least I can do is quit lying

and tell the world what I did.

[♪ eerie music playing]

[phone line rings]

[Sydney Loofe's voice] Hey, this is Sydney.

[voicemail beeps]

[man's voice] Hey, Sydney. This is Charlie at Menards.

You're scheduled in at 6:30 this morning.

Just calling to see what's up.

If you could give me a call back, that'd be great.

[♪ gentle foreboding music playing]

[MacKenzie Loofe] That day, I knew something was not right.

I had gotten three or so messages on Facebook

throughout the day on the, I believe, November 16th.

That's when we found out that she wasn't answering her phone

and didn't show up for work.

[voicemail beeps]

[voice on phone] Hey, Sydney, it's Linda.

We're really worried. I-- give me a call back or text me.

We're hoping you're okay.

[MacKenzie] I texted her.

And I didn't get anything back.

I remember just being so, so worried.

[♪ tense music playing]

[police dispatcher speaking indistinctly]

[dispatcher] ...105 North Avenue, 52...

[Matt Franken] On November 16th of 2017,

Sydney's mother, Susan Loofe,

contacts the Lincoln Police Department.

Our patrol officers went to Sydney's house...

started to look through the house because they were able to gain entry,

and nothing looked normal about what had happened there.

[♪ ominous music playing]

[Mike] Her car was still parked in the driveway

and her purse and her makeup bags were still there.

She's got a cat named Mimsy,

and she really cared for the cat.

And the cat didn't have extra food out.

It was just left there.

What happened?

[Matt] We've learned as investigators it's super important

to keep your mind open to the fact that there's a lot

of different possibilities that could have happened here.

But it very much looked to me like, uh,

this was not the normal missing person case.

She had a job, she was employed. She came from a loving family.

And so, those type of people don't just disappear

in Lincoln, Nebraska.

[wind chimes tinkling]

[birdsong]

-[merry music playing] -[laughing]

She's like... [laughs]

-[snapping fingers] -♪ It's not unusual to be loved... ♪

[♪ gentle music playing]

[George Loofe] Her name is Sydney Irene Loofe.

There you are.

[Susan Loofe] Can you give her a kiss?

[George] Sydney!

[Susan laughs]

Where's my mommy and daddy?

Dinner.

[MacKenzie] So, Levi is the oldest.

Levi is two years older than Sydney.

And actually, Sydney is only 15 months older than me.

We're very close in age.

[Levi Loofe] We grew up in Neligh, Nebraska.

It's a tight-knit community.

[George] Look, Levi!

[Levi] Everybody knows everybody.

You know, you could be on the street and ride your bike around town,

and somebody else's mom

would call and tell if you were doing something you shouldn't.

Stuff like that.

[George] Now, this is Sydney in her dress clothes.

See how pretty she is in her dress clothes.

[Levi laughs]

[MacKenzie] Growing up, my sister was definitely a tomboy.

[excited shouting]

[Susan] All the way, Sydney, all the way.

[Mackenzie] She always kept up with all the guys.

[spectators cheering]

She looked up to me as a big brother.

She wanted to be like me.

And dressed in the shorts and stuff just like I did.

Hi.

Look at me.

That girl would wear basketball shorts when it was snowing out.

Just not a care in the world.

[chuckles] Basketball shorts.

Growing up, we were together a lot.

We used to always drive around, 'cause there was not much to do in town.

♪ And Blondie, and music still on MTV ♪

So, we would just get in our cars, drive around, listen to music,

and that's really what we did.

Sydney, she did date a guy

for a little while while she was in high school.

And then when we first graduated,

that's when she kind of was like,

"Eh, I just...

I'm not-- I like females." You know?

I think it just kind of came out.

And I'm like, "Okay."

Like, it was more like a,

she's my friend, my best friend.

I'm not gonna feel any different about her.

[MacKenzie] My family was very taken aback

when she told us that she was attracted to women.

I think we all just kind of thought she was confused

and trying to find herself.

And so, I don't feel like it was very accepted

by my parents or myself, really.

[Brittney] In Neligh, I didn't know anyone that was gay.

But I'm sure there were people,

and they were probably just scared to say anything.

[Levi] Sydney wanted to move to Lincoln to just get a fresh start.

[♪ upbeat dance music playing]

Lincoln is where the University of Nebraska is.

It's the second biggest town.

I mean, other than Omaha,

that's the place to be.

[Brittney] In the dating scene, trying to date females in Lincoln,

you're gonna get way farther than you're gonna get in a small town.

I think once she was, like, out in the open,

she was like, okay, like,

almost like a weight lifted off her shoulder type thing.

[Levi] When she moved to Lincoln,

one of my best friends at the time worked at Menards,

and I asked, "Can you find a job for her?"

♪ You save big money ♪

♪ You save big money ♪

♪ When you shop Menards ♪

[Leah Shaw] Sydney started out as a morning stocker.

But then she transferred up to the front end as a cashier.

And that's kind of when I met her and got to know her.

She was definitely reserved at first,

but once she trusted you and figured out,

you know, "Hey, this person really does care about me,"

um, she would open up more.

[Michael Gascon] When I met Sydney, I was new to Menards.

I didn't know anybody, I would eat lunch by myself

and I'd sit in the break room by myself.

And then Sydney introduced herself to me.

You know, first thing she asked me was, do I like fishing?

And I said, "Yeah, of course."

And she's like, "Alright, cool. Let's go fishing after work."

[Sydney] He's gotta be huge, dude.

[Michael] In Nebraska, you got a lot of small-town country people,

and so it's in their blood around here to like that kind of stuff.

[fishing reel cranking]

[Sydney] Holy fuck.

When I met Sydney, I was like,

wow, she liked the same interests I liked.

And sometimes those friendships are hard to find, you know?

We would play games, and we both like collecting crystals.

And every time I got into her car,

she would always be listening to G-Eazy.

♪ Life is too short, trying to hold it all together ♪

♪ It's gone before you know it but tonight could last forever ♪

G-Eazy was more into his, like, feelings, you know what I mean?

He was always talking about, like, love

or having that deep connection with somebody.

And that's why she liked him so much, 'cause she was also the same way.

Sydney's dating life was a lot of Tinder.

[notification dings]

'Cause at that time, dating apps,

those were huge.

She was going on lots of dates...

with a lot of women.

A lot of these dates, like, the first date would go great.

She'd really be vibing with the person.

And then they would, like, by the third date would be like,

"Hey, I have a boyfriend."

[Brittney] They wanted to test the waters.

Like, they didn't know about their sexuality,

and it was almost like they kind of, in a way,

used Sydney to try to see

if they wanted to be with a female, you know?

And then they'd be like, "No."

Sydney was one of those people that was surrounded by everybody

but still alone.

[♪ contemplative music playing]

She had a great family, she had great friends that loved her.

But she was still alone.

You know, she never felt placed anywhere.

-[horns blowing rhythmically] -[spectators applauding]

[Terra Gehrig] In Nebraska, I feel like it's cookie cutter here.

Everybody has to fit the same mold.

Like, you get married, then you have a baby.

Then, you know, I just feel like that's more socially acceptable here

than somebody who's...

gay or fits outside of that mold.

I think that she was longing for that deep connection...

and I think that it made her an easy target.

[♪ soft piano music playing]

[Brooklyn McCrystal] The second week of November,

she came over, and I remember

she was standing right by my door, like, about to leave.

And she was like, "Oh yeah,

I met a girl on Tinder."

And then I asked her, like, "Let me see."

And then she showed me the pictures.

I was like, "She's cute."

She told me that they had a date planned,

and she was looking forward to meeting her.

[Brittney] So, on November 14th, 2017,

I texted her.

And she texted me back way later and said,

"Sorry I was on a date," with a heart emoji.

And she told me that "she was sexy as fuck."

I said, "Is she, LOL?" And she goes, "Yes, ma'am."

[Terra] She said, "Just got home from chilling

with this super cute girl, and we made out."

I said, "Ooh, girl!"

And she said, "She's gorgeous, brunette,

"tattoos, nice body.

Ugh, she's perf."

She said that they smoked a blunt

and cruised around for half an hour and talked

and got to know each other.

"Then she held my hand and we pulled into the driveway

and started making out."

And then I asked her for a picture.

So, it was, of course, a filtered picture.

On the Tinder thing, it had, like, her name and her age,

and it said Audrey.

And then the next day, she went on another date with her.

[Terra] She sent a Snapchat out to all of her friends.

[Brittney] You know, I figured, oh, she met her,

same person, hanging out with her again.

Like, you know, it'll be fine.

Nothing to worry about.

[wings flapping]

[voicemail beeps]

[Charlie's voice] Hey, Sydney, this is Charlie at Menards.

You're scheduled in at 6:30 this morning.

Just calling to see what's up.

If you could give me a call back, that'd be great.

[Leah] I came in at 9:00 that day.

I remember it being sunny, but it was November,

so it was probably cold and gross outside.

She was scheduled to be at work earlier than I was.

[sniffling] And when I came in, one of my assistants had told me

that she hadn't shown up for work,

and they couldn't get a hold of her.

I just started to get that nagging feeling

that something's not right, because it just wasn't like her.

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

I was off that evening at six o'clock...

and still nobody had heard from her.

I remember wanting to get to Sydney's apartment

as fast as I could.

And the police had just gotten there.

I remember seeing her vest and her name tag for work

on the couch.

Like she had intended to come to work. It was right by the door.

When she wasn't there, I just remember being confused.

So, then where is she?

[Brittney] As time started going by

and no one had heard from her, that's when I knew.

I was like, "Yeah, something is-- something's wrong."

And then I thought about that Snapchat that said,

"Ready for my date."

I called her sister and I was like,

"Kenzie, like, she sent me a picture of that girl,

"the girl that she was probably last with.

Maybe she would know, you know, where Sydney was."

[MacKenzie] Brittany sent me a picture

of this girl on Tinder.

And I sent that picture to Brooklyn.

I wanted to see if she knew anything about it.

[Brooklyn] When Kenzie sent me the photo,

I thought, we gotta find this girl.

Like, in order to find her, we need to find this girl.

[Matt] Sydney's friends had told us that she had been out on a date,

and there was actually a photograph of a person identifying herself as Audrey.

The photo was fairly out of focus.

It was grainy and it had filters on it.

Facial recognition wasn't really a thing for us at that point.

I think eventually our experts would have gotten there,

but Brooklyn expedited things.

My mind immediately just thought...

"Oh no, like, we need to act fast."

I was just using her name to just try to plug it

in different places, Facebook, wherever, but nothing came up.

So then, my plan was to find Audrey through Tinder.

I did not have a Tinder account, so then I made one.

I wanted to meet up with her,

so I knew I had to use a real photo of me.

I needed to do everything in my power

to get this girl to match with me,

because the only way that I can communicate with her

is if we match.

And so, then I created the profile and started swiping.

[Mike] In my interactions with Brooklyn,

she's kinda spicy. [chuckles]

I commend Brooklyn for her actions,

but I don't recommend anybody doing what Brooklyn did.

She doesn't know who Audrey is. She doesn't know what's happened.

She just knows that her friend hasn't come home.

[Brooklyn] As I was swiping, I came across one that did say Audrey.

However, it wasn't the picture. It was just some quote.

And I clicked on her profile to see more photos.

And boom, there was the photo.

I was actually so excited.

And-- and so, yeah, I swiped right.

I couldn't do anything until she matched with me.

But then waiting, it was hard for me.

So, it got later in the night, and then I went to bed.

And in the morning, I saw I had one match.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

My goal was to get her phone number.

I knew that I needed to be flirty.

"You're so beautiful."

Um, like, "I would love to get to know you."

And then she did, she sent her phone number.

[phone line ringing]

I immediately handed it to the police.

What's your first name?

Audrey.

[Matt] Once Brooklyn was able to come up with that number,

one of our investigators, Cleland, was able to call Audrey and speak to her.

So when you picked her up-

you said you picked her up around seven.

Yes, sir.

Tell me where you guys went.

We were just cruising around.

I don't know exactly where we went.

We stopped at my house for probably twenty minutes.

So where is your house?

[phone pad beeps]

My house is [beep beep]

-I don't feel comfortable talk- [beep] -[investigator] I'm sorry.

Your phone is, like, beeping [beep beep beep]

Yeah, I'm not sure that's on my end.

Are you going to provide me with any of the information?

I just need to know right now.

Are you going to provide me with any of the information that I need?

I don't know what you need.

Your name, your date of birth, your address, what you drive.

I don't want to tell you about myself.

I don't want to go to jail. I have to cover my ass because...

I smoke a lot of weed and-

I don't care about any of that.

Well, here's the thing. We have this missing person,

and you're the last person that saw her...

and you're not giving me the information that I need just to check these-

I'm telling you everything.

You're really not trying to help me.

Her tone very much when the investigator called

was everything other than being calm and cool.

I'm talking to somebody who won't tell me who she is.

You're kind of making it sound like you're making me a suspect or something.

I haven't done anything.

I don't know if you're a suspect. I don't know if she's okay.

She could be perfectly fine. I don't know.

But when we get a call like this-

I don't know anything either. I haven't heard from her.

At the end of the day, if you don't tell me who you are,

you don't tell me where you live, you don't get me a phone number...

I find this girl deceased...

-just to be honest? -[Audrey] Yes?

We're coming for you.

[♪ foreboding music ends]

[Matt] We don't know who this person is,

but basically once we've got that phone number,

we've got all this cell phone data that we could track.

[Mike] You had a cell phone.

Who did it belong to and where had it gone?

Well, it was assigned to a person named Leslie Green.

Leslie Green is a fake name.

And it's a burner telephone.

So now, what do you have left?

You have the ability to track where that burner phone went.

We could see that that phone was on the north side

of Lincoln in the days leading up

to Sydney Loofe's disappearance.

The north side of Lincoln has a ton of hotels in it.

Our patrol officers went up there with a picture from Tinder,

and with a person who was purporting herself to be Audrey,

and they started to discuss the description with the clerks.

They were able to identify

through closed-circuit television who they were looking for.

[♪ ominous music playing]

When you check into a hotel, you check in with a state-issued ID.

And then they were ultimately able to identify

that the person checked in had a real name,

and that real name was Bailey Boswell.

[♪ tense music playing]

She was traveling with an older gentleman,

and they didn't look like they were a couple really at all.

And at that point, we didn't know anything about his identity.

So, we had the monumental task of trying to find them.

[♪ tense music continues]

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Mike] After the end of the phone call with Bailey,

she shuts off the phone.

And the location information from that cell phone stopped.

But at the same time, the Lincoln Police Department

had tracked Sydney Loofe's telephone number.

And Sydney's telephone last hit a cell phone tower

near Wilber, Nebraska...

which is a small town that's southwest of Lincoln.

And so, the Lincoln Police Department

then begins to find out, is there any connection?

Like, why would Sydney be down in Wilber?

And nobody knows why.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Levi] My mom and dad were, like, driving around Wilber

and trying to figure out where she might be.

I know my dad was literally, like,

outside of the car in freezing weather,

walking through the tall grass.

Like, can we find her phone?

Maybe we find her, they don't know.

[♪ wistful music playing]

I loved Sydney. I loved Sydney from the start.

When she ended up going missing...

we were, of course, sharing everything on Facebook

and all that stuff.

But I-- I felt like there wasn't enough being done.

So, me and three of my friends went to Wilber...

and started knocking on doors...

asking people around there.

But no answers or anything.

[Matt] Wilber, Nebraska, is in Saline County, Nebraska.

The Saline County Sheriff found out that the person

that we knew as Bailey Boswell used the post office.

And they're able to tell us what address that she was using in Wilber.

When we went there to that residence...

Sydney wasn't there and Bailey Boswell was gone.

We were able to speak to the landlords.

It was upstairs, downstairs duplex.

They told us Bailey Boswell lived in the basement

of this residence...

and that she was living with someone.

[♪ ominous music playing]

[camera clicking]

And they actually had a lease

that the people that had been living in the residence had signed.

So, we knew the name Bailey Boswell.

And when they produced the lease,

we knew who the older gentleman was.

And that person was Aubrey Trail.

[♪ tense music playing]

The landlords described a fairly normal existence

for Bailey Boswell and Aubrey Trail in their basement,

not causing a lot of trouble, had paid the rent well in advance.

[Matt] Do you have some tenants that live in the basement?

-[landlord 1] Yes. -[Matt] What do you know about them?

[landlord 1] Bailey's always pretty quiet. She doesn't talk a whole lot.

Aubrey stated that they buy and sell antiques.

[Matt] Has he ever made you feel uneasy

or have you ever felt like he has violent tendencies

or anything like that?

[landlord 1] I've not ever felt that way around him, no.

[Matt] One of the things that just started screaming red flag for us

was that the landlords talked at length

about how it reeked of bleach

the day after Sydney went missing.

[landlord 1] My wife texted me while I was at work,

complaining about the bleach smell.

[Matt] Can you describe that smell to me?

[landlord 2] It was awful. It was just a very strong Clorox smell.

But as soon as I pulled in the garage...

I got in the house, it was even stronger.

It was just kind of,

"Do you smell that or is it just something that I'm smelling?"

He goes, "No, you should smell it downstairs.

It's a lot worse."

[Mike] When you look around in the apartment,

there are cleaning marks on the-- on the walls,

like somebody had wiped down the walls.

[♪ tense ominous music playing]

It's a huge red flag.

Like, something has seriously gone wrong here.

But Bailey Boswell and Aubrey Trail, they're gone.

They've left and been gone for multiple days.

[♪ ominous music intensifies]

[phone line rings]

[voice on phone] Hello?

-[Matt] Hi, Priscilla. It's Matt Franken. -[Priscilla] Hi.

[Matt] The landlords had a phone number

for Bailey Boswell's mother.

[Priscilla] I just wanna believe in my mind

that Bailey didn't-- didn't do anything.

I can't imagine her being a mean person,

but I don't know what she's wrapped up in.

[Matt] She was able to confirm

that Bailey was traveling with an older gentleman.

But Bailey's mom didn't know him as Aubrey Trail.

[Priscilla] She has never called him Aubrey to us.

He's always been Alan.

And she had concerns about sex and sex trafficking.

[Priscilla] He wooed her in the beginning

because he knew she was vulnerable...

making her think he had all this money.

[Matt] She just made it seem like he was very dominant towards Bailey

and that he had given off this aura of being fairly threatening.

[Priscilla] Today, I tried calling Alan's phone,

and he answered.

And he said that she wouldn't be able to talk very long, but she was okay.

And he handed her the phone

and she's like, "Yeah?"

I said, "Bailey, are you okay?"

And she said, "Yeah, I'm fine."

And I said, "Where are you?"

And she said, "It doesn't matter."

[Matt] Did she sound scared to you? Is that kind of how she sounded?

[Priscilla] I-- I can't say that she sounded scared,

but something wasn't right with that phone call today.

She was doing everything that she could to help us find Bailey at that point.

She just didn't have any information. She had no idea where she was.

[Priscilla] I just want her safe,

and I would like her out of the situation that she's in.

[Mike] The Lincoln Police Department

is trying to get in touch with and bring in Aubrey Trail

and Bailey Boswell for questioning,

but they don't know where they're at.

The investigation starts looking for people

who had interacted with Aubrey Trail and Bailey Boswell.

[camera clicking]

During the initial search of the apartment,

law enforcement found some paperwork to a antique mall.

And there was a contract...

with an individual named Ana Golyakova.

[Matt] We also had a photograph

of somebody that appeared to be a younger female.

[Mike] And so, there's a clue, right?

Who is this person?

[Matt] While we're on the way to the station,

she told us that she's 18 years old.

She wasn't going to college.

She didn't really have a job, that she had financial trouble.

All these things making her vulnerable

to somebody who might prey on her.

You know that person...

Yeah.

...and you know that person.

-Yeah. -[Matt] Okay.

And I know that you know those two people because we served

a search warrant and I found that inside of their house.

We were very soft with how we treated Ana to begin with

because we didn't know if she was a victim.

We didn't know if she was a suspect.

So let's back all the way up...

and tell me the story about these people

like you don't think that I know anything at all.

Alright.

Can you cover his face? Thank you.

You had what I would consider to be a visible response to this photo.

What was I reading there?

Was it...

Was it disgust?

On him?

Yeah.

No, just fear.

[Ana Jaya Golyakova] When the law enforcement showed up...

it felt like someone was trying to get me,

um, for something I didn't do, for something I wasn't involved in.

And I did not want to be involved in this story to begin with.

See, all I can tell you, though, like this girl right now-

like the 24-year-old one...

like personally, I know like she vanished and stuff like that...

but I don't think she's in any danger

because they don't force anything on people.

As far as you know.

In the initial interview, she tells us basically,

"I-- I don't know Sydney, I don't know where she's at,"

and saying, "I don't think Aubrey Trail and Bailey Boswell

had anything to do with this."

And so, we're-- we're very suspicious of the fact

that she's not telling us the truth.

Let me be honest with you, okay?

Yeah.

This could very easily be you.

She's been missing since last Wednesday.

Okay.

She is close to her family, just like yours.

And looking at her- she looks like you.

That is actually a little bit creepy.

That's a lot creepy.

[Matt] That was her first of what turned out to be many interviews.

And she was kind of the linchpin for what really started things rolling for us,

and to give us insight into...

who Bailey Boswell and Aubrey Trail were.

I'm worried. Like...

You should be worried. This could be you.

[Ana] I've had a lot of PTSD to unravel.

So, to be able to talk about what happened

without emotionally putting myself back in those shoes,

I talk about it from a third-person perspective.

So...

[sighs, clears throat]

Anastasia was born in Russia.

Put down the apple. We've got a little one.

Are you enjoying making the pie?

Yes!

[Ana] And left when she was 12 years old

to move to United States.

At that time, she didn't know where United States was at on a map. [laughs]

Behave yourself.

Not knowing the language

and not understanding the culture was difficult for her.

♪ I feel like I'm out of my mind ♪

♪ I feel like my life ain't mine ♪

I don't want to get too deep into my attractions or who I date,

but women were always a preference.

But that was meant not necessarily

from a place of understanding,

because the way that their parents grew up and grandparents grew up,

gay people is just something you're born with, and it's a flaw.

You just need to fix it.

There were a lot of conflicts.

And Anastasia didn't believe there will be any adults

that would give her guidance and support that she needed.

I had to learn how to navigate very different worlds,

just doing it alone, yeah.

But then turning 18, in a way was also exciting for her

because that girl was excited to just start dating her preference again.

I matched with someone whose name was Jenna.

And, of course, it was not her actual name.

She just gave me a very...

a very free-spirited, fun vibe about her.

That's initially what attracted me to her, of course,

and that was, I guess, the hopes of... [chuckles]

...the young, naive teenager back then too, right?

Was that crazy love or whatever,

something that's seen in stories and movies.

Where did you meet originally?

Olive Garden.

And how did that interaction go?

It was pretty good.

I mean, she just took me out to eat...

Then she took me out shopping. She bought me new clothes.

Then what happened?

Nothing really. She was just like, 'I really really like you...

I would really like to date you.'

And I was just like, 'oh, cool okay...

I really like you, too.'

[Ana] Being with a woman for the first time and going on dates

not even the intimate part,

but hanging out and being able to be in public together

was exhilarating in a way.

Because again, it was some kind of feelings

that were suppressed as a teen for a very long time,

and it just gave a sense of freedom.

[voice 1] What are your predictions for the new iPhone?

[♪ merry piano music playing]

[voice 2] It's expensive.

[Ana] Bailey was always mostly paying for things

when we were together and hanging out.

It was just me and her,

shopping together.

It was really fun.

Okay, fuck me. We're not buying this stuff.

In the beginning, I didn't know the way she was making income.

At some point...

she talked about being,

you know, financially supported by a different guy

that was sponsoring her lifestyle and what she was doing.

And she was actually the one that taught me about,

you know, the term "sugar daddy."

And during that time, it was a popular concept

from what I can remember.

A lot of younger girls, they were either laughing about it

or were pretty serious about that.

It was-- it was, of course, interesting. [laughs]

Anastasia was looking for a different place

outside of her home, because it was not a healthy environment

for a teenager to live in at that point.

So, the goal was just to make it out...

[chuckles]

...and get away from the place.

The first time Bailey talked about Anastasia

meeting her sponsor,

she told me that Aubrey would take care of both girls,

Anastasia and Bailey.

And what did he say the requirements were going to be?

He wanted me to call him 'daddy,'

and I was just like 'that's awkward'...

and just be, like- sexually interacted with him and her.

Jenna would always talk to me-

she was just like 'if you want him to, like...

to take care of everything, like your college,

and you don't want to work ever again...

we can do that.'

Honestly, he's a cool guy. He wanted to, like-

He had high hopes for me. He wanted to teach me.

[♪ ominous music playing]

[Ana] The very first time when me and Bailey,

you know, went to the Wilber apartment...

they did get intimate with each other.

I recall-- Anastasia recalls

that Bailey kind of liked a rougher life

when it came to intimacy and sex.

Moving forward, it was very common

for me and Bailey to be intimate with Aubrey being there.

He was telling me about how he sponsors Bailey

for her basically being intimate with women in front of him.

And he just liked to watch

because he's an old guy.

[laughs] Men, right?

It's weird how far Anastasia,

the dynamic almost seemed a little bit normal.

[in helium voice] If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.

[Ana] There were great times with Aubrey and Bailey.

[Aubrey] Tell me you love me, princess.

-I love you, Daddy. -[Aubrey chuckles]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Ana] There were several times when Aubrey, Bailey,

and Anastasia went on different trips.

Hey, guys, I'm in Silver Dollar City.

What up?

The rides are great. It's really green up here.

[Ana] That's how relationship developed.

At the same time, Aubrey started talking more

to Anastasia about if she wanted to learn how to make money herself.

So, that's how she got deeper into the relationship.

[♪ foreboding music playing]

[Mike] They put a scheme together.

They would go to antique shops or to antique auctions...

and straight-out steal things.

Or they would purchase a lot of items

and pay for the items with a check.

And it was bad. And so, then what they would do is,

is they'd have those items and they'd resell them on eBay.

At first, I thought I was doing a legit thing.

I didn't thought anything was illegal.

[Ana] After a certain amount of time,

they wanted me to be a part of their schemes.

It was scary for someone who's 18

to be thinking that you could be caught,

trying to take something very valuable.

But I was just looking for a new way to live

and make money,

and the means to support myself.

In the beginning, there was just three of them,

Anastasia, Bailey, and Aubrey.

However, there was always...

There was, for some reason, a want to bring in more people.

Aubrey and Bailey mostly relied on social media

and dating apps to bring in more girls.

And from my understanding, it was always Bailey.

I've seen her use different names

and different personas.

I've seen her taking pictures in the mirror

with different wigs on and different clothes on,

trying to portray herself as someone that she wasn't necessarily.

She knew how to attract other girls

and how to make them be in a relationship

with someone who's like Aubrey, right? [chuckles]

Anastasia heard of two other girls

and met one in person.

It was me, Ashley- I believe that's her real name- and Bailey.

-Okay. -And, um...

Ashley, I know she was with them before me

and she was doing some kind of jobs for him.

Have a seat, Ashley.

[Matt] We were able to locate Ashley Hills.

And she was eight hours away, like,

quite a long way away from Lincoln.

She was terrified of Aubrey Trail in every way.

She did not want to be here anymore, so she left.

It makes me feel crazy talking about it.

Why?

Because it's something that is... out of this world, just...

that it's like a cult.

I feel crazy.

[Ashley Hills] Talking about this was very hard.

It was very exposing.

Um...

I kinda just feel like I'm laying on a table

and people can pick at me,

and I just have to people-please and give them the answers,

because I'm the only one with the answers.

Can you tell me how you met them?

Tinder.

Okay, on Tinder.

Okay. And what happened?

[Ashley] 2017, I think I'm around 20,

and I matched with who I thought to be Jenna...

which turned out to be Bailey.

I think that it was like a sexy lingerie picture.

Not saying that you know somebody by their picture,

but I think that, you know, our little atoms

start doing what they do in the body,

and then you react.

And for some reason, I said,

"Yep, let's swipe right on the lingerie girl."

I felt like we clicked. I felt like we had a lot in common.

We both grew up playing sports and...

you know, had been in a couple bad relationships.

We chatted a little bit,

and then she brought up her having a sugar daddy.

I definitely thought it was a little weird,

but at the same time for some reason, it made sense and I didn't question it.

Everywhere on the apps is, you know, they're looking for their unicorn,

their third.

"It's for my husband," or, "My husband's just gonna watch," or...

It's everywhere, it's insane.

She called him Daddy.

And she said that, "We'd like to take care of you.

We'd like to meet you."

Every month I would get, oh God, I think it was like $400 or something.

Um, and then on top of that,

anything I asked for or needed, he would pay for.

We set up a time to have him pick me up

and bring me out to Wilber to meet both of them.

He was flipping through his phone showing me women,

saying that these were all his girls,

and that he provides for all of them,

and that his ladies don't have to worry about anything.

And so, then he asked, if I could have anything in the world,

what that would be?

And I think we were, you know,

about halfway through the car ride, I would say,

when he brought it up, so we had talked, you know,

gotten a little comfortable with each other.

Then I told him that, you know,

my wish at that time was for my adopted father

to no longer be alive.

I was molested by my adopted father for 10 years.

When I was 16, I came out about it.

You know, he did his five years in prison.

And at that time, I was still very, very angry

with my adopted father.

So, my one wish was for his life to not be anymore.

Um, and Aubrey loved that.

He said that we could make that happen,

that that was no issue.

It definitely sounded like just talk.

And I think he was trying to overcompensate

to get me to be with them.

I was so angry, so I just said,

"Okay, heck yeah, you can take care of my problem.

Whatever you need."

[car tires crunching gravel]

[♪ ominous music playing]

When I got to the apartment,

I met Bailey for the first time.

It seemed like there was a very natural connection.

Being with them, it was great.

Most of the time, we were just hanging out.

Very simple, basic things.

And I definitely did enjoy the-- the sexual relationship.

I don't-- I don't know if I would call it a family,

a throuple, a couple at all, um...

but it definitely felt like I was a part of, like,

a relationship where I was valued,

where I was wanted, where, you know, my feelings and thoughts mattered.

How'd you get to know Anastasia?

Because she was around a lot more...

She was going through the same process as me.

When we hung out in Wilber with the four of us,

it was definitely...

Ana and Aubrey hanging out

and Bailey and I hanging out.

But it seemed like overall, Aubrey was in charge.

What he says goes.

And we listened to him,

and there was no way around that.

And if I didn't...

Aubrey would decide how I would get punished.

There were certain rules in the households

that people were supposed to abide to.

You had to call him Daddy.

You had to, um, be naked while you were in the house.

Would that go for them too?

Her. Not him.

Okay. Do you know why that was a rule?

Because it's what he wanted.

There was a rule of no talking to other men,

you had to ask him for anything.

I had to ask, 'can I go out with my friends?

Can I do this? Can I do that?'

Like, even if you had to go to the bathroom,

you would have to ask, "Daddy, can I go to the bathroom?"

It was more and more - like, at first they were just implying it.

The tempo was increasing.

Yeah, at first they were just implying it. Like, 'are you okay with this?'

But then they were literally like

you have to be prepared to listen to everything we say...

and do everything we say.'

I was supposed to check in every, I think, two hours.

And I went over that by, like, half an hour or an hour one time.

So, I got hit with the belt three times.

It left welts for, like, three or four days.

After that, I tried to do everything in my power

to stay away from being on his bad side

and stay away from being punished.

But I was still being seen, heard, and paid for.

Um, so I think that-- that just kept me there.

At first they don't tell you anything.

They don't tell you, like, what it's about.

But then slowly they let you know stuff about the cult.

There was one incident where he had his arms up around my head...

and told me to focus on his voice

and listen very closely.

I couldn't make out anything that he was saying,

um, but it seemed like my vision

and my hearing almost went blurry.

He would say things to me and...

you'd have to have complete eye contact

and it just felt like I got a hazed-over look.

Like, my eyes got blurry and it was like he was in my head.

I felt like he knew what I was doing, like my every move.

He told me that 'I don't have to be there to know that you were talking about me.'

[Matt] Okay.

Kind of like Voldemort in Harry Potter?

Yeah.

See? It's crazy.

It's not crazy. No, it's not. I believe you.

[♪ ominous music playing]

[Ashley] And then he was talking about how Bailey was a witch.

And I remember just kind of sitting there thinking,

"What the fuck?"

He said that they knew witchcraft and they had powers.

I remember him telling me that Bailey could heal people.

You know, I remember him saying something about how he could control people's minds

and make them forget anything that he wanted them to forget.

I think I was open to it because I think anything's possible.

I thought it would be cool to be different than everyone else,

to be able to live a secret life,

and I just wanted a little bit of an escape of my own life.

There is a higher power that moves us from within.

You can call it magic, science, or spirituality.

God, goddess, whatever you want to call it.

Witchcraft.

[Ashley] He talked about there being other witches.

He called them his girls.

Was Bailey one of the witches?

She was like the leader of the... queen.

From what he told me on his own, there's thirteen girls altogether.

He had 12 women, that he needed a 13th

to complete his-- I think he called it a coven.

And that with me,

it would be a complete coven.

Before they met me there were only twelve, and then I finished the circle.

The circle would be complete and the coven would be

as strong as the most powerful.

What did you have to do to become into that inner circle?

Um...

I would have had to kill somebody and take their soul.

He said that to become one of them,

that you had to, um, kill your first person.

And that was how you would gain your power.

They were asking me about my morals and how far I was willing to go...

and I was like, 'look guys, like no matter what

I can't touch an innocent person.'

They said that they like to get people that deserve it...

like people that abuse people like child molesters.

To me, at the time, that meant killing my adopted father.

It was the amount of anger that I had built up

and was just bottling within myself.

It felt good to talk like that about him.

It definitely intrigued my mind.

Well, the killing, those talks were not just one-time thing.

They started to get more often.

Like, if we did it, how would we do it?

Like, "Would you be okay doing this? Would you be okay doing that?"

Where would they do this?

Somewhere out in the woods that he would pick.

The person would be over a tarp.

Over a tarp?

Yeah, like they'd be set up and tied up over the tarp.

Why tie them up?

So that they can't leave.

Oh, they'd be- so they're not dead yet?

No, you take them out there alive and torture them.

They were really big on having me think of ways

that I would want to torture somebody,

uh, because they believed that the more pain

that you inflict on somebody, the more power that you receive from them.

You could pull their teeth out. You could scalp them. You could...

cut open their eyelids so they had to watch you.

Once I started telling myself

that I would be doing it to my adopted father, it was fine.

And I just thought of everything that I would want to do to him.

Did they...

Did they talk about that they had done this before?

Mm-hm.

When they talked about killing people and torturing people,

they were very happy.

Like, it put a spark of joy in their eyes.

They'd laugh and smile

and just think it was the most exciting thing ever.

The part that made me really realize

that I need to leave and get out is understanding that,

because of the worldview that Bailey and Aubrey had...

they were okay with hurting somebody.

And...

I was against it.

Didn't wanna have part of it at all.

[Ashley] It was all becoming very real.

Plans were in motion.

But I think the second that it got a little too real

and it seemed like they were going to go and kill somebody,

I stepped out.

And it felt like...

I don't know, like the hypnosis broke.

You're still worried they're gonna come after you?

Oh, yeah. Terrified.

Why?

They can, like, leave their body and go anywhere.

Their soul or presence or whatever can go anywhere,

and they can be in the room with you, listening.

Like if it's real they can have someone in the room right now...

and that makes me sound fucking insane. I hate it. But... yeah.

There's nobody here.

Maybe.

[♪ tense music playing]

[Matt] By this point, we had had interviews with Ana,

we had had interviews with Ashley Hills.

We're starting to see a pattern.

A recruitment through Tinder,

a certain type of person that they're recruiting,

and some vulnerabilities

that the girls had that they were capitalizing on.

I was on Tinder looking for a new friend after I left them

and I did see Jenna's profile on there.

I knew she was looking for another girl...

like me.

We are very desperate to find Sydney at that point,

because the days had started to tick by.

[reporter 1] 23-year-old Bailey Boswell and 51-year-old Aubrey Trail

being called persons of interest by Nebraska Police.

We had gotten a sense of who Aubrey Trail and Bailey Boswell were,

and we very much were hunting them.

[Mike] Both Bailey Boswell and Aubrey Trail are on the run.

We don't know where they're at,

and we have no idea what has happened to Sydney.

[news anchor 1] The search for a missing Lincoln woman continues.

[reporter 2] 24-year-old Sydney Loofe was reported missing last Thursday.

[news anchor 2] As investigators continued the search for her,

it seems that they're turning up more questions than answers.

What's your opinion about this missing girl?

What do you think happened?

No clue.

She's either dead or they have her still.

[♪ gentle contemplative music playing]