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 took 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.
Boone said the suitcase had been moved downstairs about a week prior to Torres’ death because they were going to do some “spring cleaning” and donate items to Goodwill in the luggage.
Boone testified that Torres got into the suitcase himself and was trying to get himself flat, so she couldn’t tell he was in there.
“He was 5 feet, 3 inches tall, roughly, and he weighed like 100 pounds,” Boone said. “I just kind of zipped him up. We thought it was funny. We were joking that he was small enough to fit inside the suitcase.”
She said she zipped the suitcase at some point.
“He just thought it was funny,” she said. “From there, I moved it around a couple of times on the wheels and, at that point, it was still funny. We were joking and laughing about it.”
She said she moved the suitcase around and it ended up with the zipper-side down.
“That’s when I decided to videotape to see the jest in it, for him to understand that right now I feel safe and I can speak to you in the manner in which I normally can,” she said, admitting that she was intoxicated.
“Could you tell the jury what you were feeling, what your feelings were, explain to jury, you said it before he was in that confined space,” Boone’s attorney said.
“I want you to know that a majority of the time I’m always afraid and always scared,” Boon replied. “I just wanted him to understand that was the whole point of the video.”
“After you hit him with the bat, was he not trying to get out anymore?” her attorney asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“Did you believe he could breathe?”
“Yes.”
“Did you believe he could die?”
“No.”
“Did you try to kill him?”
“No, never.”
“Did you want to kill him?”
“No, i didn’t know.”
“Did you walk upstairs?”
“I did, yes.”
“Why didn’t you let him out before you went upstairs, were you afraid?”
“Terrified is more the word.”
She later said that she believed Torres was going to try to kill her.
“He was going to f***ing end me,” she said.
“End you?” her attorney asked.
“Yes,” she said.
The state continued its case earlier Tuesday, 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.
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.
Following Tuesday’s hearing, the jury is set to return on Wednesday at 9 a.m.
ClickOrlando.com will livestream the trial at the very top of this story.