Sarah Boone is set to be sentenced after being found guilty of murder after putting Jorge Torres in the suitcase

CNN
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A Florida woman is scheduled to be sentenced Monday after being found guilty of second-degree murder for stuffing her boyfriend in a suitcase and leaving him inside for hours until he died.

Sarah Boone, 47, was found guilty of second-degree murder in October. She faces life in prison after prosecutors allege she stuffed her boyfriend, Jorge Torres Jr., into a suitcase and recorded a video of herself taunting him before leaving him stuck inside overnight, where he suffocated and died.

According to a press release from prosecutor Andrew Bain, the couple drank alcohol and played a game of hide-and-seek in February 2020.

According to an affidavit from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, they thought “it would be fun” to jump into a suitcase as part of the game.

Boone said Torres voluntarily climbed into the suitcase and zipped it up, the release said. She filmed herself “mocking” Torres as he asked to be let out and then going upstairs to sleep, the release said.

She assumed he could open the suitcase because two of his fingers were sticking out of the suitcase, the affidavit said.

When Boone woke up, she found Torres lifeless in the suitcase and called 911, according to Bain.

Videos found on Boone’s phone in which Torres “frantically pleaded for his release while Boone laughed and rebuffed him several times” were presented at trial, the news release from Bain’s office said.

“In the videos she recorded, the victim could be heard telling the defendant he couldn’t breathe and asking to be let out of the suitcase,” the release said. “Boone responded with ‘This is what you get,’ ‘This is how I feel when you cheat on me,’ and other taunts.”

“I can’t fucking breathe, seriously,” her boyfriend said in the phone video, according to the press release.

In the video, Torres could be seen squeezing the suitcase and trying to get out, the affidavit said.

According to CNN affiliate WESH, Boone testified in her own defense for about five hours. She and her defense team argued that she suffered from “battered spouse syndrome” and that she was afraid of Torres, WESH says.

When asked by a prosecutor why she didn’t open the suitcase, she said, “I wanted him to try to understand how I felt so that maybe he could make progress and be a better person,” according to WESH.

Boone’s attorney said his client was “shocked” and her team was “very disappointed” after she was convicted, WESH reported. Torres’ family declined to speak to the media.

She filed a motion for a new trial in early November, court documents show. The request cites alleged prosecutorial misconduct and other complaints about the process.