Florida woman found guilty of suitcase murder

A Florida woman who said she was playing hide-and-seek with her boyfriend when she locked him in a suitcase where he later suffocated to death has been convicted of second-degree murder.

Sarah Boone, 47, of Winter Park, told police that she and her boyfriend, Jorge Torres Jr., were drinking on the evening of Feb. 23, 2020, when Torres voluntarily climbed into the suitcase and that they were joking when she zipped it up.

They argued and she went upstairs and went to bed, believing he would be able to get out on his own, she told police, according to the criminal complaint. When she got up the next morning, she found him still inside the suitcase and dead.

Prosecutors said she knew he couldn’t get out of the suitcase on his own and caused his own death. On Friday, a jury found her guilty of second-degree murder.

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“I zipped it up. We thought it was funny and joked that it was small enough to fit in a suitcase,” Boone told jurors. “We laughed about it.”

During the trial, Boone said she started filming on her cell phone and decided to talk to Torres while he was in the suitcase so she could express her feelings. She claimed that Torres had abused her in the past.

A video recording lasting about two minutes was shown in the courtroom. In the video, Torres repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe and could hear Boone laughing.

“That’s what you do when you choke me,” Boone replied.

“It’s up to you,” she replied another time when Torres said he couldn’t breathe out of the suitcase.

After she stopped filming, Boone said she and Torres argued while he was in the suitcase and things got heated. Torres threatened her, Boone said. She said she was afraid he would break free from the suitcase and he was able to get his hand out. She told the court that she was afraid he would hurt her if he got out of the suitcase and that he was angry. She grabbed a baseball bat and hit his arm to bring it back inside.

According to the criminal complaint against Boone and court testimony during the autopsy, Torres had bruises on his arm and a contusion to his skull, as well as a “shattered” lip.

Boone told jurors she did not believe he could have died in the suitcase and did not try to kill him. She said that when she woke up the next morning, she looked all over the apartment for it and then found it in her suitcase.

According to court records, Boon faces life in prison and will be sentenced in early December.