ORLANDO, Fla. – A Florida woman on trial for murder after her boyfriend died in a zipped-up suitcase during an apparent drunken game of hide-and-seek is expected to take the stand Tuesday in her own defense.
Sarah Boone, 47, faces a charge of second-degree murder, accused of leaving her boyfriend — Jorge Torres Jr., 42 — to die of asphyxiation in a zipped-up suitcase in 2020 during what she called a drunken game of hide-and-seek.
The state will continue its case Tuesday morning, a day after jurors were shown video of Boone being interrogated by authorities.
“He’s begging for you to let him out and you’re laughing at the beginning, and then you’re like, ‘No,’” a detective said in the video.
“It was not intentional,” Boone replied. “I will put my hand on the Bible. It was not intentional.”
Earlier in the day, the state called Dr. Sara Zydowicz, a forensic pathologist for Orange County, to the stand.
Zydowicz performed the autopsy for Torres and said she’s only seen a handful of cases like this.
“Keep in mind that while he’s in (the suitcase), every time he’s exhaling, he’s pushing out carbon dioxide, so whatever oxygen is there is most likely diminished because it is in an enclosed space. It doesn’t have to be no oxygen, but it’s decreased from what we would have in a normal room,” she said.
The state is expected to rest its case Tuesday. Defense attorneys would then present their case, with Boone expected to testify.
Orange County Circuit Judge Michael S. Kraynick last week swore in a jury of six, with eight alternates, while opening statements were presented and testimony began on Friday in Boone’s murder trial.
The jury heard opening statements Friday morning, with the state claiming that Boone murdered her boyfriend, while the defense said it was self-defense.
The prosecution’s opening statement was delivered by Assistant State Attorney William Jay, who said, “She did this with the malicious intent to punish him and then she went up to sleep and left him to take his final breaths on this Earth alone.”
He also spoke about Boone’s 911 call the next day.
“What you will not hear are tears. (...) You will not hear sorrow,” Jay said.
Prosecutors said Boone showed no regard for Torres’ life, but her attorneys claimed that she was the victim of battered spouse syndrome and locked Torres in the suitcase because of prior abuse.
The state said Boone never mentioned self-defense when first questioned by authorities.
ClickOrlando.com will livestream the trial at the very top of this story.