Murder suspect to face trial accused of leaving boyfriend to die in zipped suitcase

Sky News

Updated 7 June 2024 at 7:44 pm·2-min read

A woman charged with murdering her boyfriend after allegedly leaving him to die in a zipped suitcase at their US home is to go on trial in October.

Sarah Boone initially told detectives she and her boyfriend Jorge Torres, 42, had been playing hide and seek at their property in Winter Park, Florida, when he got into the suitcase.

Boone claimed they had been drinking and she decided to go to sleep, thinking he would be able to get out of the suitcase on his own.

When she woke up the next morning, on 25 February 2020, she could not find Mr Torres but remembered he was in the suitcase.

When she unzipped it, she found Mr Torres unresponsive, the arrest report said, and she rang 911. She was then arrested.

Boone denies second-degree murder but detectives charged her after they found videos on her phone showing Mr Torres trapped in the suitcase, yelling that he could not breathe and calling out her name, the arrest report said.

After a hearing on Friday, the 46-year-old faces a trial starting on 7 October.

In one of the videos, Boone responded: "Yeah, that's what you do when you choke me," according to the report. She added: "Oh, that's what I feel like when you cheat on me."

A post-mortem found that Mr Torres had scratches on his back and neck, and contusions on his shoulder, skull and forehead from blunt force trauma as well as a cut near his busted lip.

Since her arrest, Boone has had several lawyers which has contributed to the delay in her trial.

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