The Murder of Brandin Princole

Source: ketv.com

Brandin Princole was only 17 years-old when his life was tragically cut short on October 12th, 2012. The teen lived in Omaha, Nebraska at the time of his death. He was killed in broad daylight while walking down the street.

Brandin was traveling on foot along 46th and Larimore Avenue when a passing vehicle pulled up near him. The occupant(s) of said vehicle began firing several shots in Brandin's direction. He was struck by gunfire before the car drove away from the scene. 

Omaha Police were called, and first responders arrived around 2:40 PM. Once there, they found a teenage boy, later identified as Brandin, suffering from gunshot wounds. He was quickly placed into an ambulance and sent towards University of Nebraska Medical Center. Medics attempted CPR while transporting Brandin to the hospital, but he unfortunately succumbed to his injuries shortly thereafter.

Brandin's death has inevitably left a void for his loved ones. Those closest to Brandin remember him as a caring and funny person. Despite this, he experienced some struggles before his death as well. Reports state that, approximately a month before the shooting, Brandin was expelled from his local high school after bringing a handgun on school property. He was also arrested at the time of the incident and charged with possession of a firearm on school grounds.

Brandin was released on bail after his arrest. He was also transferred to an alternative school in Omaha. Although it had only been a few weeks since the incident, it appeared that Brandin had stayed out of trouble since his expulsion.

Brandin was killed on a Friday. By all accounts, it began as a typical day. Brandin was walking to a friend's house that afternoon but was tragically shot before he could make it there. It's unknown if he was targeted or if his death was completely random. 

There is a monetary reward of up to $25,000 in exchange for information that could help solve Brandin's murder. If you have any information that could help the investigation, please contact Omaha Police Cold Case Homicide Unit at 402-444-5656 or submit a tip online.

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Sources:
ABC 7 KETV
Omaha Police Department
Uncovered

The Disappearance of Ryan Larsen

 

Ryan Larsen has been missing since May 17th, 2021. The 12-year-old was last seen at La Vista West Elementary School in La Vista, Nebraska. Ryan walked off the school's campus between 11:55 AM and 12:05 PM. He never returned to the school or to his home, and he has not been seen or heard from since that day.

This was not the first time that Ryan ran from the school. He has autism and a history of running off—particularly while frustrated. In fact, reports state that local police were called numerous times about Ryan running out of the school unsupervised. Due to his history of running off, police referred to Ryan as "the king of hide and seek." Police were able to successfully locate Ryan during these previous incidents, but this time around, they have been unable to find him. 

On the day he vanished, Ryan had become frustrated with a math problem. He went to another room to calm down by himself. A staff member from the school was supposed to be in the room with Ryan, but he was left unsupervised for a ten-minute time period—during which he was able to leave the building. The school called 911 approximately 25 minutes later, and a search for Ryan began very shortly thereafter.

Throughout the investigation, it was revealed that a neighbor saw Ryan around 1:30 PM at the Southfield Apartment complex on 84th and Harrison. He was holding an umbrella outside of the apartment building. Ryan lived at an apartment in the complex with his mother and sister, but he did not have a key to the apartment at the time. His mother and sister were not home at the time, and their door was locked, so he would not have been able to enter the apartment. The umbrella Ryan was seen holding was found over six weeks later, behind a dumpster at the complex.

Before Ryan went missing, he reportedly made online searches about how to hide from police. Given his history of running away, these searches may not seem surprising; however, he has never been gone for this long. Police have not ruled out a criminal aspect in Ryan's disappearance. On the one-year anniversary of Ryan's disappearance, La Vista police Chief Bob Lausten told reporters, "We've had people that haven't been totally forthcoming with us regarding information. We've had people that have lied to us about information, so it's been frustrating." While Lausten did not further elaborate on these people, he suggested that someone possibly was not speaking up out of fear of getting in trouble.

Ryan's case remains open. If you have any information that could lead to his whereabouts, please contact the La Vista PD at 402-331-1582.
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UPDATE (January 2023): Ryan's mother Tammi Larsen has filed a petition to have Ryan legally declared dead. The law in Nebraska states that "a person who is absent for a continuous period of five years is presumed to be dead." However, a missing person can be declared deceased prior to that five-year period if enough evidence is provided that the person is no longer alive. 

The court documents state that Tammi intends to sue the Papillion La Vista school district for her son's wrongful death, but a death certificate is required in order to do so. The documents also state that La Vista police told Tammi that Ryan's case was no longer active in their department; the Omaha Cold Case Unit was handling it instead. La Vista police Chief Bob Lausten has denied these claims but did confirm that several agencies are investigating Ryan' disappearance.

Tammi's filing is currently pending, and Ryan's case remains unsolved. Anyone with information that could lead to his whereabouts is encouraged to contact authorities.

Sources:
Charley Project
KETV Omaha
WLWT
WOWT, 2

The Murder of Sydney Loofe

24-year-old Sydney Loofe’s final Snapchat, taken and sent on November 15th, 2017.

On the day this Snapchat was taken, Sydney planned to go on a second date with 23-year-old Bailey Boswell, a woman she had met on Tinder. Sydney never returned to her Lincoln, Nebraska home after meeting with Boswell. She was reported missing after she failed to show up to work on November 16th. 

Around two weeks later, on November 28th, Lincoln Police announced that they wanted to question two persons of interest in Sydney’s case. One of those persons of interest was Bailey Boswell. The other was Boswell’s boyfriend, a 51-year-old man named Aubrey Trail.

Between November 29th and 30th, Boswell and Trail posted two videos to the Find Sydney Loofe Facebook page, declaring their innocence in the case. In the first video, Boswell says that when she went to drive Sydney home after their date, Sydney requested to be dropped off at a friend’s house instead. 

After allegedly dropping her off at the home of this unidentified friend, Boswell claims she has not seen or heard from Sydney again. That first video was deleted a few hours later and the joint Facebook account that Boswell and Trail had been using was deactivated. 

Trail posted the second video on the following day. He once again declared their innocence in Sydney’s case and angrily called out people who accused them of wrongdoing. At the end of the video, Trail explains that, despite having warrants for other unrelated charges, he and Boswell were going to turn themselves in because it was the “only viable option” in order to clear their names in Sydney’s case. The two were taken into custody in Taney County, Missouri and were taken back to Nebraska on December 1st. 

After the Lincoln Police were able to speak with Trail and Boswell, they announced on December 2nd, 2017, that the two remained persons on interest in the case, but they had still had not been charged with anything related to Sydney’s disappearance. The two remained behind bars on the aforementioned unrelated charges.

On December 4th, 2017, Sydney’s body was found in a rural area of Clay County, Nebraska. In a press conference held the following day, authorities said that they had been following a “digital footprint” that prompted a search of that area and subsequently lead to the discovery of Sydney’s body.  Sydney had been strangled to death and dismembered.

Bailey Boswell and Aubrey Trail remained the only suspects in Sydney's murder, however they were not immediately charged with anything related to her case. Then, in February 2018, Trail reportedly admitted to killing Sydney. 

In a phone interview with a local news station, Trail said that Bailey Boswell was not in the room when Sydney was killed. “When she was told what happened, she freaked out so badly she had to be sent out with a bag of weed to try and calm down,” he told reporters. 

Finally, on June 11th, 2018, Boswell and Trail were finally charged with first-degree murder and improper disposal of human skeletal remains in the killing of Sydney Loofe. As the case progressed, the truth about what truly happened to Sydney was finally revealed.

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Probable cause.

After Trail and Boswell were charged with murder, court documents revealed even more information pointing to their guilt. According to the documents, Sydney and Boswell met for their first date on November 14th, 2017. At the end of that date, they decided to meet up the following night for a second date. 

Around 10:35 AM the following day, hours before the planned second date, Boswell and Trail were captured by surveillance footage at Home Depot purchasing the tools and supplies believed to have been used in the dismemberment and disposal of Sydney. This particular clue indicates that the killing was premeditated, because Sydney was still alive at the time the purchase was made.

The trials.

Aubrey Trail went to trial in June 2019. During the trial, he exhibited odd behavior in court. After a witness left the stand during testimony, Aubrey immediately screamed "Bailey is innocent, and I curse you all!" before slitting his throat with an object that appeared to be a blade. 

He was immediately taken to the hospital where he recovered, and the trial was able to continue. Eventually, in July 2019, Aubrey was found guilty of all charges.  

Bailey Boswell later went to trial, during which it was revealed that both she and Trail had fantasies of sexual torture. It was also revealed that both Boswell and Trail attempted to get numerous girls involved in their sexual relations. Both were also interested in witchcraft and the pair spoke numerous times about "gaining witchcraft powers" by killing someone.

This evidence, in addition to the physical evidence, pointed to Boswell's guilt. The jury ultimately convicted her on all charges as well. The death penalty was being considered for both Trail and Boswell, and the sentencing phases began in 2021.

The sentencings.

In June 2021, Aubrey Trail was sentenced to the death penalty. During the sentencing hearing, Aubrey spoke directly to Sydney’s family. He said, “Almost everything I’ve said before was a lie unless it benefitted me. I lured her there to try and pull her into our group. But once I sat Sydney down and explained to her our criminal activities and group sex, I knew I had made a big mistake. The truth is I killed her because of her reaction to what I had told her. I had no doubt she’d tell people what I told her. She did nothing but reject my lifestyle and threaten to expose it and I killed her for it.” The judge stated that the crime was committed with “exceptional depravity” which fit the criteria for a death sentence.

In November 2021, Boswell's sentencing proceedings were held. A three-panel jury was tasked with whether or not to sentence Boswell to death. While some voted in favor of the death penalty, others did not. As such, Bailey Boswell was sentenced to life in prison. 

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Sources:
1011 Now
3 News Now
Heavy
Oxygen
WOWT

The Disappearance & Presumed Murder of Tyler Marie Thomas

Tyler Marie Thomas vanished at the age of 19 on December 3rd, 2010. 

At the time of her disappearance, Tyler was a student at Peru State College in Peru, Nebraska. She vanished while walking back to campus after attending an off-campus party. Tyler was reportedly intoxicated at the party, and she was asked to leave after getting into a fight with a friend. 

Tyler sent a text shortly before 1:30 AM to say that she was lost - despite the fact that someone had spotted her just a few hundred feet away from her dorm building around the same time. Tyler never made it back into the building. Her friends were immediately concerned when she did not return - not only because she was intoxicated, but also because it was frigidly cold outside, and Tyler was not wearing a coat. She was reported missing by 3am--just an hour and a half after she was last seen. 

Searches for Tyler along the route where she was last seen ended unsuccessfully. Investigators began to question her friends/dorm mates, and it did not take long before the name Joshua Keadle appeared on their radar. 

Joshua was also a student at Peru State. He had taken Tyler on a date at some point before her disappearance, but afterwards Tyler said that she was not interested in him. In fact, she had told many of her friends that she was trying to avoid him. Joshua was questioned about Tyler's disappearance, but he denied any knowledge of her whereabouts. Just days later, though, Joshua was arrested for providing false information to the police. 

After his arrest, another student came forward and said that Joshua had sexually assaulted her three times on Halloween--which was roughly a month before Tyler disappeared. Joshua was then additionally charged with false imprisonment and felony rape. Then, yet another young girl came forward and said that Joshua had sexually assaulted her in 2008--when she was just 15 years old. He was charged with rape for that case as well. 

Meanwhile, Joshua continued to deny involvement in Tyler's disappearance. However, his story had dramatically changed. Joshua initially told investigators that he saw Tyler walking on campus before her disappearance, but he did not talk with her at that time. He later admitted that Tyler actually got into his car with him, and he drove them to the Peru boat dock.

By Joshua's account, the two smoked marijuana at the dock before Tyler offered to perform a sexual act on him in exchange for a ride to Omaha. Joshua explained to investigators that, after the sexual act, Tyler accused him of rape and the two got into an argument that turned physical. He then claimed that he left Tyler at the dock around 2am before returning to his dorm to shower.

The dock where Joshua claimed to have left Tyler happens to be the same place where the other Peru student said that Joshua raped her on Halloween. Based on this information, and all of the other accusations against Joshua, it became clear that many people did not believe his version of events regarding Tyler's disappearance. In fact, many believed that Joshua killed Tyler and dumped her body in the Missouri River.  Joshua continuously denied this, and the search for Tyler seemingly went stagnant. It would take years before Tyler's family would receive justice. 

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The other charges for Keadle.

In March 2012, Joshua pleaded guilty to the 2008 rape charges. He was sentenced to 15-20 years in prison but would be eligible for parole after serving 8 years.

Joshua Keadle

The wrongful death suit.

That same year, Tyler's mother filed a wrongful death suit against both Joshua and Peru State College. After Joshua's initial arrest, Tyler's family learned that Joshua had been in trouble with the school before Tyler disappeared. The week prior, the school's director of campus security recommended expulsion for Joshua. He had caused property damage after kicking the door of his dorm room, he was failing his classes, and he had been accused by two other students of sexual harassment.

Despite all of this, the school administration opted to allowed Joshua to finish the semester before expulsion. The lawsuit filed by Tyler's mother claimed that Joshua should have been expelled before Tyler's disappearance--but because the school allowed him to stay, Tyler became the next victim of Joshua's predatory behavior. 

Although Tyler remained missing, a judge officially declared Tyler dead in 2013.  In 2015, the judge dismissed the lawsuit against the school, citing that "there was no way the institution could have foreseen that he was a risk for violent behavior." The judge did, however, rule in favor of Tyler's family in the suit against Joshua. The family was awarded $2.64 billion in damages--but since Joshua is incarcerated without any solid income, it is unlikely that Tyler's family will ever receive any pay out. 

The 2017 arrest.

By this point, it was widely believed that Joshua murdered Tyler before dumping her body in the river. Still, investigators did not have a body and enough evidence or witnesses to prosecute. Joshua remained behind bars on his other conviction, but his 2020 parole eligibility was quickly approaching. 

Finally, in October 2017, Joshua was charged with the first-degree murder of Tyler Thomas. After news of his arrest circulated, a man named Cory Pfeifer came forward and said that he had been housed in the same jail as Joshua during 2011. While behind bars together, Joshua reportedly told Cory that he killed Tyler and disposed of her body. He also reportedly told Cory that "they would never convict him because they would never find her body."

The conviction.

Joshua pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and went to trial in early 2020. A jury deliberated for nine hours before convicting him of the lesser offense of second-degree murder. He was due to be sentenced in April 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed his sentencing until July 2020. Then, Joshua was sentenced to 71 years in prison. 

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Sources:
3 News Now
Charley Project
Omaha World-Herald (2)
Our Black Girls

The Disappearance of Cindy Valle

15 year-old Cindy Valle was five months pregnant when she mysteriously disappeared from her family’s home in Omaha, Nebraska on August 26th, 2011. Shortly after she vanished, Cindy’s family found a note that she had left under her pillow; it said “I’m living with a lady.” That note is the last known trace of Cindy—she has not been seen or heard from again after that.

Authorities classified Cindy as a runaway from the get-go, but they still appealed to the public looking for tips. According to Cindy’s mother, no tips ever came in concerning her daughter’s whereabouts. Cindy’s baby was due in December 2011, however there is currently no known record of that child being born.

Cindy’s disappearance remains unresolved. If you have any information about Cindy/her whereabouts, please report it to Omaha Crime Stoppers here.

Lists including this case:

[Missing & Pregnant][Mysteries with a Paper Trail]

The Murder of Kelcey Fike

source: Crime Wire

Kelcey Fike was 21 years old when she was brutally murdered inside her own home during the early morning hours of June 17th, 2008. 

At the time, Kelcey and her boyfriend Alex Young lived in a mobile home in Kearney, Nebraska. Alex was a reservist in the Nebraska National Guard and was out of town the night of Kelcey’s murder. Kelcey usually stayed with her parents when Alex was out of town, but this time she decided to stay at her place as she was preparing for an upcoming trip to visit her best friend. Kelcey sent her final text message to Alex around 1:00 AM.

Alex Young & Kelcey. (source: Darkmatter)

Just a few hours after that final text, at 4:30 AM Kelcey’s home erupted into flames. The flames were so intense that first responders had to force the neighbors who wanted to help to stay back. The entire rear side of the trailer, where the back bedroom was located, was engulfed in fire. 

The firefighters were aware that a resident was inside the home, and they made their best efforts to extinguish the fire and potentially save a life. Unfortunately, when they finally were able to put out the flames, it was too late. Kelcey’s lifeless body was found on the floor outside of her bedroom. 

At first, both investigators and Kelcey’s family members thought the fire was an accident. Kelcey lived in an old trailer with a faulty furnace, so it was initially believed that the furnace had caught fire. However, as investigators took a closer look, they noticed that both the front door and the back door of the trailer were unlocked; making it possible for an intruder to enter. Additionally, investigators noted that Kelcey’s body did not appear to be badly burned by the fire.

The outside of Kelcey's trailer, post-fire (source: Kearney hub)

Due her lack of severe burns, investigators initially thought that Kelcey died from smoke inhalation–but once again, as investigators took a closer look, they determined that was not true. Kelcey’s body was covered in bruises, her nose was broken, and she had suffered blunt-force trauma to the head. An autopsy determined was strangled by hand and by a ligature. It was then determined that Kelcey had been murdered, and her killer had set her house on fire afterwards as an attempt to cover it up.

The inside of Kelcey's home after the fire--including all the destroyed evidence (source: Crime Wire)

 

Investigators quickly cleared Alex of suspicion in the case, as he had an alibi with the Nebraska National Guard. Still, police believe that Kelcey was killed by somebody she knew. There were no signs of forced entry in the home, so it is likely that Kelcey let the killer into her house herself. According to friends and family, Kelcey would not allow somebody she did not know into her home. Investigators have extensively interviewed those closest to Kelcey, but no suspects or persons of interest have been publicly named. 

The only additional clue that investigators have found came from surveillance cameras located across the street. Footage from the morning Kelcey was murdered shows a car leaving the trailer park just 10 minutes before the fire at her house was reported. Unfortunately, the video is too far away to get a license-plate number or any other defining details about the car. It remains unidentified today. 

Now, investigators are relying on DNA to help solve Kelcey’s murder. DNA from the crime scene has been collected and sent to various crime labs in hopes of finding the identity of a suspect. There is also a $30,000 reward in place for any information leading to the capture and conviction of a suspect in Kelcey’s death. If you have any information, please submit a tip here. 

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Sources:
The Crime Wire
Kearney Hub
Omaha World-Herald
True Crime Daily