SARAH BOONE FOUND GUILTY OF SUFFOCATING BOYFRIEND TO DEATH BY LEAVING HIM INSIDE LOCKED SUITCASE

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Sarah Boone Found Guilty of Suffocating Boyfriend to Death by Leaving Him Inside Zipped Suitcase

Jorge Torres, Jr., 42, died in 2020 after Sarah Boone zipped him inside a suitcase while they were playing a drunken game of hide-and-seek, she claimed

By KC Baker  Updated on October 26, 2024 10:26AM EDT

 

The Florida woman accused of zipping her boyfriend in a suitcase and leaving him to suffocate to death while trapped inside it has been found guilty of murdering him.

 

Sarah Boone, 47, learned her fate on Friday, Oct. 26, when a jury found her guilty of second-degree murder in the Feb. 2020 death of Jorge Torres, Jr., 42, the Orlando Sentinel, WFTV and WKMG report.

 

Torres was found dead on the morning of Feb. 24, 2020, inside a suitcase in their Winter Park apartment after they were playing what she claimed was a drunken game of hide-and-seek.

 

At first, she claimed the two found it funny that he could fit inside the suitcase.

 

But when his “tone” changed while he was talking to her from inside the bag, she testified that she feared he would hurt her, as she claimed he had done in the past, Law & Crime reports.

 

She captured parts of the chilling incident in two videos she recorded on her phone that night, showing Torres begging her to let him out of the suitcase, Court TV reports.

 

Boone took the stand in her defense on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, saying she initially ran to an upstairs bathroom to hide in the shower. After waiting for "quite some time,” she said she decided to "start wrapping up the evening" so she could go to bed.

 

She went downstairs to look for Torres and she saw him "settling himself into a suitcase," later adding that "he was trying to get himself flat so I couldn't see that he was in there."

 

Then, she testified, "I zipped him up. We thought it was funny.”

 

After wheeling the suitcase around for a bit, she said it “flopped over.”

 

That’s when her account turned even more bizarre.

 

Claiming that Torres had been abusive to her before, she testified that she decided this would be a good time to talk frankly to him since Torres “was not able to get out.”

 

At one key point, "His tone changed, and I knew the tone, and we ended up, I guess, arguing back and forth with one another," Boone said.

 

She began videotaping her conversation with Torres, who was still inside the suitcase.

 

He can be heard begging her to let him out, while she taunts him.

 

When he managed to get his hand outside of the suitcase, she picked up a baseball bat and hit his hand with it until he put it back inside, testifying that she feared he was “going to break out of the suitcase,” Newsweek reports.

 

Saying she thought he would be able to get out of the suitcase himself, she said she went upstairs to sleep, leaving him inside.

 

When the prosecution asked her if she did anything to help Torres get out of the suitcase, she said, “No.”

 

Prosecutors say she never mentioned any alleged abuse while she was being interviewed by police.

 

She made further headlines when she changed lawyers nine times and asked for her hair and makeup to be professionally done for the trial.