Man charged in missing Florence woman’s murder caught on camera 3 weeks prior trying to lure UNA student

FLORENCE, Ala. (WHNT) — Phone video shows a man trying to lure a young University of North Alabama student to come home with him. That man was Logan Rogers, and the video was taken just three weeks before he would be accused of killing a missing woman and arrested.

But on May 1, he had an encounter with Trinity Bradley. It was a typical college night for Bradley. She was walking back to her dorm for the night when she encountered a man who she thought was a student when he pulled up and asked to use her phone.

She told News 19, he was saying erratic things, making her fearful, so she began recording and tried to keep the situation from escalating.

“He calls out to me and says, ‘Hey, can I borrow your phone? I’m low on gas and need to call somebody,’” Bradley said.

But then the man’s tone changed, and that’s when Bradley realized he didn’t need to use her phone.

“He told me he didn’t call me over there because he needed my phone, but he said ‘I thought you were attractive and I wanted to get your number,’ and I said ‘No, I’m sorry, I’m not interested,’” Bradley said.She said she turned away, and the man came up behind her.

“He came up behind me and put his arms around me, and said, ‘I just really need a hug.’ It freaked me out, and he had crossed that boundary,” Bradley said.She broke free from the man and then headed towards the staircase to get to her dorm. That’s when she caught the next interaction on her phone, with it recording while tucked into her waistband.

In the video, you can hear the man saying these exact words:

“I swear, take a chance, and let me show you some stuff, take the time to go with me to the house and just sit down and us talk, let me show you everything that I know.”

You can then hear Bradley in the video, telling the man that what he did was not okay.“I don’t know who you are, I wouldn’t recommend touching women again, doing this, I just wouldn’t talk to girls right now,” Bradley said.Florence Police Department confirmed with News 19 that the man in the video is Rogers.

“Now looking in hindsight, it was definitely a ploy to get women to go with him, obviously it freaked me out, but after a few minutes of me saying no, he finally backed away,” Bradley said.

When she made it to her dorm, Bradley filed a police report.Florence Police said they put out a BOLO on Rogers’ truck but were unable to locate him that night. Police asked if she wanted to press charges, but Bradley told News 19, she thought Rogers was having a mental health episode, so she told officers no.

A few weeks later, she saw the same man’s face on social media, charged with crimes involving a missing woman, Strickland.

“I looked at the mug shot and then compared to my picture and I didn’t even have to compare it like I just immediately knew… it was just a surreal moment because that moment that it happened to me I was scared but then I just took it to a whole different level of like wow I escaped something so much worse than I could’ve even imagined,” Bradley said.

Bradley says she feels lucky, but she feels like she could’ve possibly saved Autumn’s life.“I know it wasn’t necessarily in my control that somebody did get murdered and I didn’t, but it definitely made me feel like I could’ve pursued it further so he could’ve gotten caught,” Bradley said.

The Florence Police are still investigating Strickland’s death, and as for Rogers, he is currently being held in the Lauderdale County Detention Center without bond.