ORLANDO, Fla. – Testimony resumed Wednesday in the trial of Sarah Boone, 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.
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.
A day after Boone took the stand in her own defense, her attorneys called others to testify.
Pearl Walker, a former neighbor, said she sometimes noticed marks on Boone’s neck or arm.
Walker said she would see Boone when she was out walking her dogs and have conversations with her, and Boone would talk about being abused.
Boone claimed that she was afraid of how Torres would behave once he got out of the suitcase, and that’s why she didn’t let him out.
Dr. Julie Harper, a psychologist who has been licensed for 22 years, was also called to the stand by the defense.
Harper said she did her dissertation in couple relationships and reviewed Boone’s records before interviewing her.
“Do you think that Sarah Boone has some narcissistic traits?” Harper was asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
Harper told the jury that Boone suffers from battered spouse syndrome, which could explain her actions the night Torres died.
“The person would experience a trauma or a situation where they feared harm and, based on that fear of harm, they would react in a certain way that might not be understandable to other people,” Harper said.
On Tuesday, 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.”
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.”
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.