The gruesome case made global headlines four years ago. Sarah Boone had her boyfriend Jorge Torres Jr. locked in a suitcase. The Florida woman then used her cell phone to record the 42-year-old woman begging for his life – before choking in pain. It took a jury in Orlando just 90 minutes to find the suspect guilty of murder.
Her own video recordings, which the prosecutor played for the jury, were Boone’s undoing. At first you will only see a medium-sized blue suitcase moving. Then a man’s voice is heard. It is Torres who, in a still very calm tone, begs his girlfriend to release him: “Sarah, I can’t breathe.”
Victim: “I can’t breathe anymore!”
Then Boone’s voice from behind the camera says, “This is for everything you did to me.” Then, after a spiteful laugh, he adds, “Fuck you. Stupid!” Torres keeps trying to get her to open the zipper in a pleading tone: “Sarah, Sarah, I can’t breathe!” She replies with complete disdain, “It’s your fault. This is how I feel when you cheat on me.
In this message, prosecutor William Jay explains how the victim fit into the medium-sized suitcase:
At the end, Torres’ voice becomes increasingly desperate and louder: “Sarah, please, I beg you!” But she only responds with a “Shhh” and then left the room for several hours while Torres choked. It wasn’t until the next morning that Boone alerted emergency services – emergency services were only able to determine that Torres was dead.
The suspect had a lot of trouble with lawyers
Boone was charged with murder, but the trial has been postponed a total of seventeen times (!) since 2021. The reason: eight criminal defense attorneys had resigned after being insulted or dismissed by Boone during hearings as “idiots” or “intellectually inferior.”
Boone was talking about drunken hide-and-seek
When the trial finally began in mid-October, Boone insisted on taking the stand himself. The 35-year-old claimed that on the night of February 23, 2020, she and her lover decided to play hide and seek “while drunk.” According to her statement, Torres put himself in the suitcase and pulled the zipper until it cracked. Under cross-examination, prosecutors said Torres later tried to unzip it — and the defendant used force to stop him.
Boone also had to show the court how she locked her boyfriend in the suitcase:
The victim’s hand was assaulted with a baseball bat
Boone was confronted with autopsy photos showing the victim’s bruised hand. She admitted that she repeatedly hit her boyfriend on the hand with a baseball bat to prevent him from opening the zipper. Her reason: “He threatened me and scared me. So I turned the suitcase upside down so he couldn’t come out. But I never wanted to kill him.”
Boone turned down a deal for “only” 15 years in prison
The jury didn’t believe that. Boone accepted her guilty verdict stone-faced. The verdict will be announced on December 2: she could spend a lifetime behind bars. Shortly before the trial began, Boone rejected the prosecution’s offer to plead guilty to manslaughter. She would have received ‘only’ 15 years in prison for that.
After the verdict, prosecutor Andrew Bain told Fox35 that justice had been served: “It was a terrible murder. No one should ever have to endure such a fight for their life and ultimately die so painfully alone.”
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
