Florida woman, who zipped boyfriend in suitcase fatally, to be sentenced for second-degree murder

Trigger warning: Some readers may find the details of this report disturbing. Discretion is advised

A Florida woman is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday (Dec. 2), after she was found guilty of second-degree murder for zipping her boyfriend in a suitcase and leaving him inside for hours until he died.

47-year-old Sarah Boone, who was found guilty in October, now faces up to life in prison. Her prosecutors said that she zipped her boyfriend Jorge Torres, Jr., into a suitcase and recorded a video of herself taunting him before leaving him stuck inside the suitcase overnight to die.

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State Attorney Andrew Bain issued a news release, stating that the couple was drinking alcohol and playing a game of hide-and-seek in February 2020.

They then thought "it would be funny" to get in a suitcase as part of the game, according to an arrest affidavit from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Boone said that Torres voluntarily hopped into the suitcase, and she zipped it, the news release read. She then recorded herself "taunting" her boyfriend as he asked her to let him out. However, she then went upstairs to sleep, the release added.

Boone thought that since two of his fingers stuck out from the suitcase, he would be able to open it, according to the affidavit.

When Boone woke up in the morning, she found Torres unresponsive in the suitcase and called 911, a release from Bain's office stated.

Videos found on Boone’s phone that included Torres “frantically pleading to be released while Boone laughed and rebuffed him several times” were presented at trial, it added.

“In the videos she recorded, the victim could be heard telling the defendant he could not breathe and asking to be let out of the suitcase,” the release read. “Boone responded with, ‘That’s what you get,’ ‘That’s what I feel like when you cheat on me’ and other taunts.”

According to the release, her boyfriend was seen saying, "I can't f*****g breathe, seriously." He was also pushing in the suitcase and trying to get out, the video showed, as per the affidavit.

Boone testified in her own defence for around five hours, according to CNN affiliate WESH. Her defence team argued that she suffered from "battered spouse syndrome" and was afraid of Torres, WESH reported.

(With inputs from agencies)