A Florida woman, Sarah Boone, 47, has been sentenced to life in prison for zipping her boyfriend, Jorge Torres, 42, into a suitcase and leaving him to suffocate during what she claimed was a game of "hide-and-seek". The incident occurred in 2020.
During her trial, Boone rejected a plea deal for a reduced 15-year sentence for manslaughter and claimed she was a victim of long-term domestic violence inflicted by Torres. She expressed remorse, saying, “I forgive myself for falling in love with a monster. I tried breaking the spell ... I never stopped loving him. I didn’t mean for this to happen. Forgive me Jorge. Forgive me Torres family."
Boone told police she and Torres had been drinking heavily the night of the incident and decided it would be amusing for him, who weighed 47 kg, to climb into a suitcase as part of the game. She recorded videos on her phone in which Torres could be heard yelling for help, saying he couldn’t breathe, and calling her name.
In one video, Boone responded mockingly, saying, “Yeah that’s what you do when you choke me. Oh, that’s what I feel like when you cheat on me."
Boone claimed that she thought Torres could get out of the suitcase on his own and went to sleep, only to wake up the next morning and find him unresponsive. She called for help but was later charged with second-degree murder after investigators found incriminating videos on her phone.
The prosecution argued that “she decided to keep (Torres) in the suitcase when he said he could not breathe in it to terrorise him. She then struck him with a baseball bat". Torres' sister condemned Boone's actions, saying, “Sarah deserves to rot in jail. Sarah has caused a lifetime of pain."
