Swipe Right on the Devil: Sydney Loofe Case, Episodes and Hulu Documentary Explained

Swipe Right on the Devil is a three-part Hulu true-crime docuseries about the 2017 disappearance and murder of 24-year-old Sydney Loofe in Nebraska. All three episodes premiere on October 22, 2026, on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for eligible U.S. bundle subscribers, with Disney+ carrying the series internationally. The documentary follows the investigation from a missing-person search into the convictions of Bailey Boswell and Aubrey Trail, while also examining testimony and claims involving manipulation, witchcraft, mind control and an alleged “coven.”

The key point for viewers is that this is not a fictional thriller inspired by a case. It is a documentary built around a real murder investigation, law-enforcement interviews, surviving women who encountered the couple, court records and the long legal aftermath. Hulu’s trailer deliberately foregrounds the occult language surrounding the case, but the documented criminal case rests on evidence, testimony, phone-location data and jury verdicts, not on proof of supernatural claims.

If you follow documentary and true-crime coverage, you may also want to read our American Nightmare true-story explainer, our Maternal Instinct documentary guide, and our coverage of The Perfect Wife documentary.

What is Swipe Right on the Devil about?

Hulu describes Swipe Right on the Devil as the story of a missing-person case that opens into a far more complicated investigation. Sydney Loofe disappeared after going on a Tinder date in November 2017. As investigators tried to reconstruct her final movements, attention turned to Bailey Boswell, the woman Loofe had met through the dating app, and Aubrey Trail, Boswell’s older boyfriend and roommate.

The documentary uses that investigation as its central spine. According to Hulu’s official description, investigators are drawn into allegations and testimony involving manipulation, witchcraft, mind control and black magic. The trailer also features women who say they encountered Boswell and Trail and describe a set of rules, sexual control and claims about a group or “coven.” Those accounts are part of what made the case unusually difficult to summarize in a conventional true-crime format.

The series also appears to give significant space to the people who investigated the case. Lincoln Police Department investigators Matt Franken and Bob Hurley participated after the production approached the department, and local reporting says Sydney’s family supported the department’s involvement and chose to participate in the documentary. That context matters because it suggests the series is designed to include the victim’s family and investigators rather than treating the case only as an exercise in shock value.

Is Swipe Right on the Devil based on a true story?

Yes. Swipe Right on the Devil is a documentary about the real disappearance and murder of Sydney Loofe. Nebraska Supreme Court records identify Loofe as 24 years old when she died on or about November 15, 2017. She had met Bailey Boswell through an online dating app and went out with her before Loofe failed to report to work the following day.

The investigation quickly expanded beyond a missing-person case. Authorities used phone data and other evidence to reconstruct the movements of Boswell and Trail. Loofe’s remains were found in rural Nebraska in early December 2017 after investigators traced the pair’s movements. Boswell and Trail were later prosecuted in separate cases for first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and improper disposal of human remains.

Because the case contains disturbing details, the documentary may be a difficult watch. This guide focuses on the timeline, legal outcomes and what the series is expected to cover rather than repeating graphic crime-scene descriptions that are not necessary to understand the case.

Who was Sydney Loofe?

Sydney Loofe was a 24-year-old Nebraska woman who worked at a home-improvement store in Lincoln. Public reporting from the time described a young woman whose sudden absence from work immediately concerned the people around her. She had been using Tinder and had met Bailey Boswell through the app shortly before she disappeared.

The last ordinary-looking part of the story is what gives the Hulu title its meaning. An online match and a date are everyday events for millions of people, but in Loofe’s case the encounter became the starting point for a missing-person investigation and, eventually, a murder prosecution. Hulu is framing her story as a warning about trust and vulnerability in seemingly normal interactions, although the responsibility for the crime lies with the people convicted of it, not with online dating itself.

Who are Bailey Boswell and Aubrey Trail?

Bailey Boswell was the woman Sydney Loofe met through Tinder. Aubrey Trail was Boswell’s boyfriend and lived with her. Prosecutors argued that the two were part of a plan that culminated in Loofe’s murder. Their cases were tried separately, but both were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, with convictions also connected to the disposal of Loofe’s remains.

Trail was convicted in 2019 and sentenced to death in 2021. The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence in 2022. He later sought postconviction relief, but the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the denial of that effort in 2025, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied his petition for review in April 2026. His death sentence therefore remained in place as of this article’s October 7, 2026 update.

Boswell was convicted in 2020 and sentenced in 2021 to life imprisonment for first-degree murder, along with additional sentences on the conspiracy and disposal convictions. The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed her convictions and sentences in 2024. Those court decisions are important grounding for the documentary because they separate the established legal outcome from the more sensational language used in trailers and headlines.

What did witchcraft, the “coven” and mind-control claims have to do with the case?

This is likely to be the most searched and most easily misunderstood part of Swipe Right on the Devil. Hulu’s trailer includes women describing Trail’s claims about witchcraft, a group of women and a need for another person to “complete” a coven. The Nebraska Supreme Court record in Boswell’s appeal confirms that the trial included evidence concerning witchcraft, the occult and alleged supernatural powers. That means these subjects were genuinely part of witness testimony and the evidence presented around the defendants’ relationships and stated beliefs.

What the court record does not establish is that supernatural forces caused or explained the crime. The legal case was about human decisions and criminal conduct. The jury verdicts and appellate opinions concern murder, conspiracy and disposal of remains. For readers and viewers, the safest way to understand the occult material is as evidence about what Trail and Boswell allegedly said, believed or used in their relationships with other women, not as proof that magic or mind control existed.

That distinction is important for an AEO-style explainer because search results around the series will likely mix court-established facts with dramatic trailer language. The documentary can explore the claims and their psychological effect without asking viewers to accept them literally.

What does the Swipe Right on the Devil trailer reveal?

The trailer broadens the story beyond Sydney Loofe by introducing other women who encountered the couple. ABC’s October 6 coverage of the trailer says the series follows accounts from four women who became connected to the pair through Tinder. Interview footage describes rules, sexual control and claims about occult practices. Investigators are shown trying to determine how those stories fit into the disappearance and murder investigation.

That approach suggests the three episodes will not function simply as a chronological retelling. The documentary appears interested in the mechanism of manipulation: how trust was built, how boundaries were changed and how unusual claims may have been used to create influence over vulnerable people. It also gives the series a broader question than “who did it?” because the convictions are already public. The dramatic tension comes from understanding how the situation developed and why investigators said the case was unlike others they had handled.

Swipe Right on the Devil episodes and release schedule

Swipe Right on the Devil has three episodes, and all three are scheduled to premiere on October 22, 2026. This is a full-season drop rather than a weekly release, so viewers should be able to watch the complete documentary in one sitting or across several days.

Hulu had not publicly listed individual episode titles or runtimes when this article was updated on October 7. Those details should be added to this same page when they appear rather than creating separate thin episode pages unless an individual episode generates a distinct search topic.

Who made Swipe Right on the Devil?

Brian Biegel directed Swipe Right on the Devil and also serves as an executive producer. The series is executive produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Sara Bernstein, Christopher St. John and Justin Wilkes for Imagine Documentaries. Biegel and Pete Kasko also executive produce for Carousel Films NYC, with Craig D’Entrone serving as an executive producer.

The Imagine Documentaries involvement gives the project a major nonfiction production pedigree, but the more important editorial question is whose voices are included. Local reporting from Lincoln says the police department chose to participate only after Sydney Loofe’s family supported participation, and investigators Matt Franken and Bob Hurley sat for interviews. That gives the documentary access to people directly connected to the search and case.

Where can you watch Swipe Right on the Devil?

In the United States, Swipe Right on the Devil premieres October 22 on Hulu and on Hulu on Disney+ for eligible bundle subscribers. Internationally, Hulu Press says the series will be available on Disney+. Availability can vary by country and subscription package, so the Disney+ listing in a viewer’s local region is the best place to confirm access outside the U.S.

For another streaming true-crime title built around a real case and the difference between public assumptions and documented facts, see our American Nightmare Netflix true-story guide. You can also browse our Bad Surgeon Netflix review for another nonfiction series centered on allegations, investigation and accountability.

The biggest questions the Hulu documentary should answer

Because Boswell and Trail have already been convicted, Swipe Right on the Devil does not need to manufacture a mystery about the legal outcome. The most useful version of the documentary will instead explain how investigators moved from a missing-person report to the people responsible, how other women’s accounts fit into the evidence, why the occult language became part of the trial record and how Sydney’s family experienced a case that drew intense public attention.

Another key question is how the series handles online dating. The case began with a Tinder connection, but millions of people use dating apps without encountering serious harm. A responsible documentary can discuss digital trust and personal safety without turning Sydney’s decision to meet someone into victim-blaming. The focus should remain on the conduct of the people who deceived and harmed her.

Finally, viewers will likely want clarity about the legal aftermath. Trail’s death sentence survived his direct appeal, a later state postconviction challenge and, in April 2026, a denied U.S. Supreme Court petition. Boswell’s life sentence was affirmed by the Nebraska Supreme Court in 2024. Those outcomes mean the documentary arrives years after the trials, allowing it to tell the case with a much more complete legal record than a series made during the original investigation could have done.