Sarah Boone, a 42-year-old American woman, was charged with second-degree mu*rder after her boyfriend, Jorge Torres Jr., died of suffocation inside a suitcase.
Torres, who was also 42 years old, was trapped in the suitcase at their home in Winter Park, Florida, on February 24, 2020. Boone claimed it was a prank gone wrong, but the police found evidence of domestic violence.
The Beginning
Boone had been abused by Torres in the past, before he died in the suitcase. It was said that Boone strangled Torres in July 2018, but the case was later dropped. On the other hand, Torres had been arrested four times for allegedly hitting Boone. Boone always paid his bail to get him out of jail.
When Boone was arrested in 2018, Torres told a deputy that Boone tried to choke him by putting her hands around his neck.
On February 25, 2020, Boone called 9-1-1 to say that her boyfriend Torres had died. She said they played hide-and-seek and drank a bottle of wine. Before she closed the bag, she said that she put Torres in it as a joke, and they both laughed. She said she went upstairs, fell asleep, and left Torres in the suitcase.
When police arrived at the house, they found Torres’s dead body on the floor next to a blue suitcase.
Body-worn camera footage from the police shows Boone talking to them when they got to the scene.
Someone asked, “Who zipped him up?”
Boone said, “I did, but then I fell asleep.”
It didn’t happen right away, but Boone had to go to the police station the next day for an interview. When the forensic investigators asked for her phone, she gave it to them right away. They found two videos that Boone had made the night before on her phone. Boone said she didn’t remember making the videos, which could be why she didn’t get rid of them. “For everything you’ve done to me!” she can be heard in one of the videos.
On her phone, police also found another video of Torres pleading for help from inside the suitcase while Boone accuses him of abuse. From the night of February 24, Torres had many wounds on his body. He had cuts and scratches on his back, a bump on his forehead, and damage to his left shoulder.
Boone told the police that his de*ath was an accident during the interview. This is part of the investigation…
“I didn’t k*ill him,” Boone said.
“So you left him there to teach him a lesson?” an investigator asked.
“I didn’t mean to leave him there,” Boone responded.
“Sarah,” Torres says.
“For everything you’ve done to me…” Boone responds.
“Sarah, I can’t breathe,” Torres said.
“Yeah, that’s what you do when you choke me,” Boone said.
Boone later told investigators that Torres was often v*iolent with her.
“I didn’t touch him, I didn’t touch him.” He always talks back to me, and I don’t think you all get it. “He hits me,” she said.
The police said it was a murd*er case.
Due to the de*ath of Torres, Boone was charged with second-degree mur*der after the interview. She was held in Orange County jail without the chance of getting out on bail.
Boone expressed her concerns about receiving fair representation in letters addressed to the trial judge. It is anticipated that she will employ the defense of being a battered woman during her trial, which is slated to commence on December 11, 2023.
