Sarah Boone sentenced to life in prison for killing boyfriend by locking him in a zipped suitcase
A Florida woman has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2020 suffocation death of her boyfriend, Jorge Torres, after she locked him inside a suitcase.
On Monday, Circuit Judge Michael Kraynick handed down the sentence in Orlando to Sarah Boone, 47, who was convicted of second-degree murder for the death of 42-year-old Torres. Boone's conviction came after a brief 90-minute deliberation by a jury on October 25, following a 10-day trial. Boone had argued that she was herself a victim of domestic violence at the hands of Torres and had rejected a plea deal that offered her a 15-year sentence.
Florida woman was charged for murdering his boyfriend
During the sentencing, members of Torres' family shared the emotional toll his death had caused them, with his sister, Victoria Torres, saying, “Sarah deserves to rot in jail. She has caused us a lifetime of pain.” Boone, in her statement, listed years of alleged abuse at the hands of Torres, criticized how her trial and media coverage were handled, but ultimately expressed remorse and asked for forgiveness for her actions.
Initially, Sarah Boone told investigators with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office that on February 23, 2020, she and her boyfriend, Jorge Torres, had been drinking heavily and playing a game of hide-and-seek at their Winter Park, Florida, home. In a drunken moment, they thought it would be amusing for the 103-pound (47-kilogram) Torres to climb into a suitcase. Afterward, Boone decided to go to sleep, assuming that Torres would be able to free himself from the suitcase.
On Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, Sarah Boone was in a courtroom in the Orange County, Orlando, Florida. Photo: AP.
However, the next morning, Boone woke up and couldn’t find Torres. She then remembered he had been in the suitcase and went to unzip it. Upon opening it, she discovered Torres unresponsive, according to the arrest report.
Boone was later charged with second-degree murder after investigators uncovered disturbing videos on her phone. In these videos, Torres can be heard screaming from inside the suitcase, pleading for air and repeatedly calling out Boone’s name, the arrest report revealed.
"She decided to keep (Torres) in the suitcase when he said he could not breathe in it to terrorize him", prosecutor William Jay said in a court filing. "She then struck him with a baseball bat".
Sarah Boone rejected a plea deal offered by prosecutors, which would have resulted in a 15-year prison sentence in exchange for her guilty plea to a reduced charge of manslaughter.
During her trial, Boone testified that previous violent incidents between her and her boyfriend, Jorge Torres, led her to believe that she was in imminent danger. She claimed that she acted in self-defense when she locked him in the suitcase, believing it was necessary to protect herself from harm.
"Yeah, that's what you do when you choke me", Boone said in one of the cellphone videos from that night, according to the arrest report. "Oh, that's what I feel like when you cheat on me".