Winter Park woman zipped up boyfriend in suitcase, left him to die: detectives

A Winter Park woman was arrested Tuesday after investigators determined she zipped her boyfriend in a suitcase and left him to die.

Sarah Boone, 42, faces charges of second-degree murder in the death of Jorge Torres Jr.

Arrested: Sarah Boone, 42, for Second Degree Murder in the death of 42-year-old Jorge Torres Jr., who died after Boone zipped him into a suitcase, and didn’t return for hours. pic.twitter.com/JCHWG7WNkp
— Orange County Sheriff's Office (@OrangeCoSheriff) February 26, 2020

According to the arrest affidavit from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to an apartment on the 4700 block of Frantz Lane in Winter Park around 1 p.m. Monday after receiving a call from a woman saying that her boyfriend was dead.

The caller, later identified as Boone, told detectives she and Torres had been playing a game of “hide and seek” Sunday and thought it would be funny if Torres got into a suitcase in the living room. She said he did, and Boone zipped it up.

She told detectives she and Torres had been drinking alcohol throughout the evening, and she went upstairs and passed out in her bed.

Boone said she woke to the sound of her cellphone ringing around 11 a.m. the next day. When she didn’t see Torres in the apartment, she said she realized he might still be in the suitcase.

She told detectives she unzipped the suitcase to find Torres unresponsive and not breathing. Shen then called 911.

Detectives arrived to find Torres’ body lying near the front door of the residence, next to a blue suitcase. A small laceration was visible on his lip and what appeared to be bruising around one of his eyes.

But after receiving permission to search Boone’s phone, investigators found two videos that gave them reason to doubt Boone’s account.

On one, Torres can be heard yelling Boone’s name.

Boone, responds, “For everything you’ve done to me.”

Torres pleads with Boone. “I can’t f--kin’ breathe," he says. "Seriously.”

Boone replies, "Yeah, that’s what you do when you choke me.”

Torres continues to tell Boone he cannot breathe.

“That’s on you,” she says. “Oh, that’s what I feel like when you cheat on me."

In the video, the suitcase is facing downward and Torres can be seen pushing on it in an attempt to get out.

In the other video, Torres can be heard yelling Boone’s name. The suitcase is in a different position in the room, facing upward.

Boone drove herself to the Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday for a follow-up interview. The details of that interview, as well as those of another conducted Monday in an unmarked agency vehicle outside Boone’s residence, are redacted in the arrest affidavit.

Based on her inconsistent statements and the videos found on her phone, detectives determined they had probable cause to charge her with second-degree murder.