Suitcase Murder Trial: Verdict, Life Sentence, and Appeal

Sarah Boone was convicted of second-degree murder in October 2024 and sentenced to life in prison for the February 2020 death of her boyfriend, Jorge Torres Jr., whom she zipped inside a suitcase and left to suffocate while recording video of him pleading for help. The Sarah Boone suitcase murder case, tried in Orange County, Florida, drew attention both for the cell phone recordings at its center and for a pretrial saga in which Boone cycled through at least nine attorneys over more than four years before facing a jury.¹

The Night Jorge Torres Died

On the evening of February 23, 2020, Boone, then 47, and Torres, 42, had been drinking at their Winter Park, Florida apartment. Boone told investigators the couple began playing hide-and-seek and that she suggested Torres climb into a large blue suitcase. She said she zipped it shut, fell asleep on the couch, and found him unresponsive the next morning.²

After finding Torres lifeless, Boone called her ex-husband, who lived nearby. He saw the body and told her to call 911. Orange County Sheriff’s Office deputies found Torres near the front door. Boone initially denied that any physical altercation had taken place. She was arrested the following day and charged with second-degree murder.²³

The Videos That Decided the Case

Boone consented to a search of her cell phone. Investigators recovered two videos, recorded about eleven minutes apart shortly after 11 p.m. on February 23. The recordings showed the suitcase with Torres inside, pushing against the fabric trying to escape, and captured him calling out, “Sarah, I can’t breathe, babe” and “I can’t f—ing breathe, seriously.”³

Boone could be heard laughing and taunting Torres. She told him “That’s on you,” said “That’s what you get” and “That’s what I feel like when you cheat on me,” and told him to “shut up” as he called her name. The second video showed the suitcase flipped into a different position. These recordings became the centerpiece of the prosecution’s case.⁴

What the Autopsy Showed

The Orange County Medical Examiner determined that Torres died of positional asphyxia with environmental suffocation consistent with prolonged confinement, and ruled the manner of death a homicide. The examiner estimated he had been inside the suitcase for up to eleven hours or more. His body showed a black eye, bruises and cuts on his head, abrasions and cuts on his back and hands, and a small laceration on his lip. Toxicology showed alcohol in his system.⁵

A History of Violence

Court and police records described a volatile, mutually violent relationship. Both Boone and Torres had been arrested in Orange County for battery against the other. In July 2018, Boone was charged with battery by strangulation after an incident where deputies could not identify a primary aggressor. Torres was charged with battery three times in 2019. That September, he was arrested after Boone accused him of punching her in the left ear while a temporary injunction for protection was in place. Neighbors reported repeated police visits.⁶

That history became the foundation of Boone’s eventual defense.

Why the Trial Took More Than Four Years

More than four and a half years passed between Boone’s arrest and her trial. The biggest driver was her inability to keep a lawyer. She went through at least nine attorneys, seven of them court-appointed, with lawyers citing irreconcilable differences, ethical conflicts, and Boone’s hostility toward her own counsel. She walked out of conferences and launched personal attacks on her attorneys.⁷

In July 2024, Judge Michael Kraynick ruled that Boone had forfeited her right to court-appointed counsel through her conduct and ordered her to represent herself. “It has become apparent to the court that the defendant will not permit herself to be represented by anyone,” the judge said. He set trial for October 7, 2024, and warned that the date would “not be continued for any reason” related to hiring new counsel.⁸

Boone placed a handwritten advertisement seeking a private attorney. In late August 2024, James Owens filed a notice of appearance as her ninth lawyer. Beyond the attorney churn, the case was delayed by COVID-19 closures, court backlogs, potential mental health evaluations, and Hurricane Milton, which pushed the start date to October 14. By one count, the trial had been delayed at least sixteen times. A defense motion to dismiss on speedy-trial grounds was denied.⁹

The Self-Defense Pivot

For four years, Boone had maintained that Torres’ death was an accident caused by intoxication and her falling asleep. Weeks before trial, the defense pivoted. Boone would claim self-defense, arguing that she suffered from Battered Woman Syndrome and that leaving Torres in the suitcase was a justifiable use of force and “the only way out of an abusive relationship.”¹⁰

Judge Kraynick noted the “circular logic” of spending four years calling the death accidental and then claiming it was intentional but justified. Prosecutors objected, pointing to Boone’s earlier statements to detectives that she and Torres were on good terms that night and that “Nobody touched nobody.” The judge nonetheless allowed the battered spouse syndrome defense to proceed and permitted the defense to retain experts.¹⁰

The week before trial, prosecutors offered a plea deal: guilty to manslaughter and a fifteen-year sentence. Boone rejected it. According to Owens, she was “determined to go to trial” and did not believe she was criminally responsible.¹¹

Inside the Trial

The trial began in mid-October 2024 in Orange County Circuit Court, with Assistant State Attorney William Jay leading the prosecution and James Owens for the defense.

The Prosecution

Prosecutors built their case on the phone videos and the medical examiner’s findings. Prosecutor Jay read transcripts of the recordings during opening statements. The state also presented text messages recovered from Boone’s phone and videos of prior altercations where police had been called about alleged violations of a no-contact order. State Attorney Andrew Bain framed the evidence as a “horrific homicide” in which Torres was left to die while “begging for his last breath.”¹²³

The state’s rebuttal psychiatric witness, Dr. Tonia Werner, agreed that Boone had Battered Spouse Syndrome but testified that the syndrome did not apply to the circumstances of Torres’ death. Werner said Boone had difficulty recalling details about the killing and did not provide enough information to support a PTSD diagnosis. Werner also testified that Boone admitted to becoming angry, shaking the suitcase, and hitting Torres’ hand with a baseball bat after he was zipped inside.¹³

The Defense

Forensic psychologist Dr. Julie Harper, who had evaluated Boone nine times between 2020 and 2024, diagnosed her with PTSD, anxiety, depression, and Battered Spouse Syndrome. Harper testified that individuals with the syndrome develop heightened sensitivity to cues of “impending danger” based on past violence, and described Boone’s perception on the night of the incident as a “darker, trauma-induced version” of the intimate knowledge partners have of each other. She acknowledged that Boone had narcissistic traits but said they did not rise to the level of a personality disorder.¹⁴

The prosecution’s expert, forensic psychologist Michael Brannon, argued that narcissistic traits should be considered when assessing the credibility of abuse claims, and that a Battered Spouse Syndrome finding can be undermined if symptoms predate the relationship at issue.¹⁴

Deputy Jessica Ramirez Delgado of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office testified for the defense about a prior incident in which both Boone and Torres were arrested, recalling that Boone had asked, “Why? Because I f—ing fought back?”¹³

Boone on the Stand

Boone testified on October 22, 2024. She said she and Torres had been playing hide-and-seek and that he “settled” himself into the suitcase. The mood, she said, felt lighthearted at first but shifted when Torres became threatening from inside, referencing past threats to leave her “unrecognizable.” Asked whether she was in fear that night, she answered, “Always.” She said she believed Torres was going to try to take her life and did not believe she could kill him by leaving him zipped inside.¹⁵

On cross-examination, Boone admitted she did not try to help Torres escape. Asked if she had been trying to “teach him a lesson,” she denied it but told the jury, “I wanted him to try to understand how I felt so maybe he could progress and be a better person.”⁴

Closing Arguments

Prosecutors told the jury that Torres was “murdered in this box” and could not have posed a threat to anyone while trapped inside. “Jorge Torres took his last, panicked breaths in this box,” the state argued, calling the suitcase a “coffin.” They urged the jury to disregard Boone’s testimony, citing years of shifting accounts.¹⁶

Owens asked the jury to see the situation through Boone’s eyes. “In Sarah’s mind, it’s an imminent threat and that’s a justifiable use of force,” he said, asking the jury to “right a wrong.”¹⁶

Verdict and Life Sentence

On October 25, 2024, the jury convicted Sarah Boone of second-degree murder after deliberating for less than two hours. Jurors had been given the option of lesser charges, including manslaughter and culpable negligence, and chose the original murder charge.¹⁷³

On December 2, 2024, Judge Kraynick sentenced Boone to life in prison and denied her motion for a new trial at the same hearing. Members of Torres’ family spoke. His mother, Blanca Torres, told Boone: “Not only killed my son, she killed a father, a brother, an uncle.” His sister Victoria said Boone “has caused a lifetime of pain.” His daughter, Ana Victoria, described chronic depression and anxiety, saying she wakes up “screaming every morning or night wishing I was having a nightmare, only to wake up and remember all over again that my father is gone.”¹

Boone spoke at sentencing as well, saying she forgave herself “for falling in love with a monster” and accusing Torres of years of physical and sexual abuse.¹

The Letter to the Judge

Four days after sentencing, Boone sent a handwritten letter of roughly 27 to 28 pages to Judge Kraynick, dated December 6, 2024. She called herself “not a murderer” but “a survivor,” accused the judge of “black robe disease,” “blindness and impartiality,” and “full-blown, unfair bias,” and told him “your ignorant mind was already made up.” She dismissed the verdict as a “brash, misguided, corrupted decision” by jurors who were “hungry and tired and wanting to go home.” She addressed Torres directly, claiming to forgive him for “destroying my reputation.” She closed: “I didn’t lose. God just wanted me to win in a different way.” The letter was added to the court file.¹⁸¹⁹

Where the Appeal Stands

Boone’s pattern of churning through attorneys has continued on appeal. As of late 2025, she was on her thirteenth attorney, David Maldonado, appointed on November 4, 2025. An initial appellate brief had not yet been filed. On August 29, 2025, the appellate court granted a 60-day extension and warned that no further extensions would be granted absent extenuating circumstances. In a handwritten filing dated November 17, 2025, Boone told the court she did not know who her current attorney was or the status of her appeal, and asked to be included in the service of all filings.²⁰

1
ABC11. Sarah Boone Sentenced to Life in Prison in Suitcase Murder
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ClickOrlando. Timeline: Where Things Stand for Sarah Boone
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Fox 35 Orlando. Sarah Boone Trial: Verdict Reached in Suitcase Murder
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ABC7 Chicago. Sarah Boone Sentenced to Life in Prison in Suitcase Murder
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ClickOrlando. Man Died of Asphyxiation After Girlfriend Locked Him in Suitcase
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Fox 35 Orlando. Documents Show History of Violence Between Sarah Boone and Boyfriend
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Fox 35 Orlando. Sarah Boone Loses Lawyer, Self-Representation Ordered
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Court TV. Sarah Boone Has New Attorney and Wants to Delay Trial
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Orlando Sentinel. Hurricane Delays Murder Trial of Accused Suitcase Killer
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Fox 35 Orlando. Sarah Boone Changes Tune, Says Alleged Murder Was Self-Defense
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Orlando Sentinel. Jurors to Have Additional Options Besides Murder Charge
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Court TV. FL v. Sarah Boone: Suitcase Murder Trial Updates
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Orlando Sentinel. Psychiatrist Testifying for Prosecution Agrees Boone Has Battered Spouse Syndrome
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Orlando Sentinel. Psychologist Testifies Boone Has Battered Spouse Syndrome
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Spectrum News 13. Sarah Boone Testifies in Suitcase Murder Trial
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Spectrum News 13. Forensic Psychologist Testifies Boone Suffers From PTSD
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Court TV. Sarah Boone Convicted of Second-Degree Murder
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ClickOrlando. Sarah Boone Sentenced to Life, Lashes Out in Letter to Judge
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Court TV. Sarah Boone’s Letter to Judge Decries Corrupt Court
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Court TV. Sarah Boone Sends Mail to Court as Time Ticks Down for Appeal