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Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part - Suffocated In A Suitcase · Legally Brunette

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hi, guys, Welcome to an episode of Till Death Do
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Us Part. I will be your host today Emily Simpson
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: plus Shane. We are going to do normally we do
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Until Death Do Us Part. We normally do husband and wives.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Today we're going to deviate a little bit from the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: husband and wife it is. It's a couple, but they
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: were not married. And this is a Sarah Boone case.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: So she is called the suitcase Killer. Not to be
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: confused with the other episode that we did on another
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: suitcase Killer.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: This is so crazy suitcase killer.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: The other suitcase killer forget her name.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: It was something with an M.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: But anyways, she remember she killed her husband and then
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: she hacked him up and then put him in the suitcase. Yeah,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: but this is different. This is Sarah Boone. We're going
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: to talk about Sarah Boon today. Yeah, checked him in.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about it. This is one of
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Shane's favorite cases.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: He talks.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: I don't know sometimes when there's these homicide cases and
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: we make jokes, I kind of feel bad.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's what you do. And you know what,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: everyone dms me and says, Oh my gosh, I love
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: to listen to you guys. Shane's so funny. You're the
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: only way I can listen to true crime.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: You're not good enough for yourself.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm not as funny as you are.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: I admit that funny. These people are the ones that
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: make the humor.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: All right, here we go. In the quiet suburb of
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: winter Park, Florida, Sarah Boone and her boyfriend Jorge Torres
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Junior seemed like any other couple navigating the messiness of
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a complicated relationship. But on a February night in twenty twenty,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: something went terribly wrong, and what investigators would uncover was
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: far darker than just a domestic dispute. When authorities arrived
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the next day, Jorge was gone and Sarah's explanations didn't
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: add up. Then they found videos on Sarah's phone, which
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: turned the entire investigation upside down. You do like to
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: talk about the videos on.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: The phone body camp footage.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: No, not the body camp footage.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Footage, her footage.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Her own footage, which we're going to get into. That
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: is damning evidence, right, all right, So this happened back
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. This is February twenty third of twenty twenty.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: This was This is Sarah well, Sarah Boone's the only
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: one who's alive, so we have to take we we
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: just have. We only have her account of what actually happened.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Right, and what she recorded on her phone. Right.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: She claims that she and her boyfriend Jorge Tortoise spent
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the evening drinking a bottle of wine at their Winter Park,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Florida apartment, and that they decided to play hide and seek. Okay,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: this is the.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Most normal toxic couples in their spare time.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I would have to say that never in my life
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: have I ever asked shame to play hide and seek?
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: You play hide?
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: I play, yes, but we've never played hide and seek?
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: No.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: No. While playing hide and seek, the couple allegedly thought
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: it would be funny for Torres to climb inside a suitcase. Okay,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: first of all, let me ask you, do you know
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: his size?
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: No?
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: I don't.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Do you want to guess?
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Well? What size suitcase was he in?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: I think it was. I think it was a standard
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: large suitcase, A large check in. Yeah, check in, not
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: a carry on? Oh you're five to seven? He weighed
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: one hundred and three pounds.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Before he got in?
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: Yes he was?
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: How tall? Was he?
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: Five? Three? One hundred and three pounds.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Okay, so you definitely would have to pay the extra
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: fee if you checked him in because.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: He weighs more than fifty pounds. I just wonder you're
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: about five to seven? Yeah, could we fit you into
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: a suitcase? So we're not going to try. You're not
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: gonna let me. You don't want to play hide and seek?
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Oh you get this suitcase.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: I would never fit in a suitcase. They don't make
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: them large enough. All right, So while playing hide and seek,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: the couple thought it would be funny for Torres to
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: climb in side a suitcase. First of all, that's not
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: how that's not how you played hide and seek. No,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: you don't do it together. It's not a joint effort.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: You're not like, let's see if you fit inside. That's
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: not how it works. Boone zipped the suitcase shut after
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Torres voluntarily hold on.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Let's we didn't talk about that. They were drinking.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: I did. I said they drank. They drank a bottle
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: of wine.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Consent arguably, you know, maybe do you have to be
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: sober to consent to being locked up in a suitcase?
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're saying whether he voluntarily climbed to do a
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: suitcase or not is questionable considering that they drink a lot,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: right Boone? So, Sarah Boone later claimed that she believed
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: he could free himself because she did not zip the
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: suitcase completely and thought that he could unzip it from
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: the inside.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Even though he said he couldn't open it.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: Right, I believe.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this part, but she
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: claims that he could get two fingers out of the
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: suitcase and that she saw two fingers sticking out. So
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: she assumed that because he could get the two fingers out,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: that he was able to unst one finger.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: I would have opened it, but two no, fright.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: So around eleven PM, Boone recorded two cell phone videos
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: that night, approximately eleven minutes apart, showing Torres trapped inside
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: the suitcase. Torres repeatedly begged Boone to let him out,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: telling her that he could not breathe and was repeatedly
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: calling her name. You know that. Have you seen the
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: cell phones?
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: I think I saw a clip of it because it
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: was kind of disturbing, So I saw a little bit
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: of it. The bodycam footage of them coming to the
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: scene with her is what's interesting.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Okay, we'll get to that. So on this two cell
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: phone videos that she made, and one of them she
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: laughs at him, taunts him, and responded with statements including
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: that's what you get and that's what I feel like
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: when you cheat on me. The second video showed the suitcase.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: He suitcase.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like I feel like I'm suffocating cheating.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: So she knows he was suffocating.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Well, she didn't say that, I'm just interpreting it. She said,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: this is what it feels like when you cheat on me.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: The second video showed the suitcase had been flipped into
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: a different position in the living room. Investigators later said
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: the videos captured Torres struggling for his life while Boone
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: refused to help him. Let's talk about those videos because
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: I know you've seen police cam videos of when they
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: actually arrive. So I do know that she did not
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: call the police. That evening he gets into is the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: next day they play they allegedly from her point of view, right,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: she's the only one alive to tell how this ended
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: up happening. But she claims that they drink a bottle
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: of wine, they played hide and seek, he got into
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: a suitcase, then, she claims, well, then the next day
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: she wakes up, he's unresponsive inside the suitcase. So she
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: calls police. I think it's around noon the next day.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: The police come. And then you've seen the body cam footage.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: So when the police gets there, what is it that
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: she's said?
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: So what I remember is they're outside with her while
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: others are inside looking at the crime scene, right, And
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: so they obviously pull her out of the house. They
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: want her touching anything and do anything or hiding evidence
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: or whatever. And I mean they don't think of her
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: as a suspect at this point. Well I guess anyone
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: would be a suspect, but I mean they're just keeping
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: her outside and all of a sudden, she's like asking
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: to go and get her phone, and they're like, oh yeah, no, no,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: stay out here because you can't go inside and tamper
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: with things. And so she kept egging this police officer
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: on like I need to get my phone. Oh I
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: need this, I have to I have to text my kids,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Like it was always in all these excuses and the
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: copy like no, no, no. And then it was like
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I have to go to the bathroom, and it was
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: like no, and then it got suspicious. So then the
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: police officer started thinking why do you want your phone
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: so so badly? And I think the copy even reported
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: it to the cops inside, like secure the phone or
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: something of that effect, and lo and behold the phone
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: had hurt. Yeah, but I think it a light bulb
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: clicked all a sudden. She's like, oh crap, my phone,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: it's all a sudden. She starts panicky, you know, and asks, well,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: that's phone.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: That's where she messed up, because she woke up the
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: next day she found him unresponsive. She had to call
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: nine one one, and then she forgot to delete those videos,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: which we know we've done so many cases on the
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: forensics on a on a phone, you can't you can
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: delete it.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: But but I think she was Her thinking was probably
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: just secure the phone and hide it from the police.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: I don't think it was like to delete.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Well, wouldn't you want to delete the videos that you took?
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Maybe she was deleting, but she definitely wanted to out
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: of their you know, they're crime scene.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Well, she claims that they played hide and seek, that
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: she zipped him up in the suitcase, and then she
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: had drink too much, so she just decided to go
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: to bed, and she assumed because he got the.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Two fingers can get they can get two fingers out
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: of a suitcase? Can clearly right? Package?
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Should we try it? We could put you in a
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: suitcase and I'll let you put a suitcase, all right.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: You know, if I'm found in the suitcase this podcast,
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: can he uses a use against me? Free meditation, right evidence.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: This was on February twenty fourth of twenty twenty. This
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: is the nine to one one call. So she called
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: at approximately one oh one pm. Boone called nine to
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: one one to report that Torres was dead inside the suitcase.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: She told dispatchers that they had been playing hide and
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: seek the night before and she accidentally fell asleep after drinking.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: I don't know what do you think about the hide
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: and seek thing? You think that was an after the fact.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine this couple was playing hide and seek?
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: You believe you're even asking me that?
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: But I mean, how did she get him into the suitcase?
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Well, they're drunk, so she probably you know, Hey, you're
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: trying to get me in a suitcase.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but you won't get in. Well, I'm not drunk,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: so you say, because he probably drank too much. He
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: probably was, Like do you think she was like, see
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: if you can fit in this suitcase.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought it was funny, he thought. Okay, horr
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: or herd. Maybe she made promises. Who knows well promises.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: What kind of promises?
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, like I'll let you out.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: I promise I'll let you out, Boone said. She woke
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: up the next afternoon and found Trus unresponsive and then
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: called nine to one one. Orange County Fire Rescue responded
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: and pronounced Torres dead at the scene. While detectives were there,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: they recovered that the two cell phone videos from Boone's iPhone,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and you just said you added more to that. You
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: said that it was because she was acting suspicious. She
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: wanted her phone, tried everyone possible.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: To get out that like it was obvious, right.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: The videos became the centerpiece of the case. They showed
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Torres pleading to be released while Boone mocked him. The
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: medical examiner ruled Torres died from asphyxiation. The autopsy also
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: documented Bruis's scratches, a cut on his lip, injuries to
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: his shoulder and forehead, and other blunt force injuries.
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I didn't know if you knew this part.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: I don't think I remember that.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: In secutors also alleged that Boone struck Torres with a
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: baseball bat while he was trapped inside the suitcase.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Did you know that part?
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: I don't remember that part maybe, but either.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Way, she's like, let's play hide and seek and I
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: have a bat.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, let's play baseball. Bring the suitcase over here.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: February twenty fifth of twenty twenty. This is the police interrogation.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: So Boone voluntarily went to the Orange County Sheriff's office
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: and spoke with detectives for nearly two hours. So I
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: assume when they first found him dead in the suitcase,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: they didn't arrest her on the spot because she goes
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: voluntarily and has it. So they just the coroner comes
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: and takes him away, and.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: She's like, they got the video footage that day, right,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: They just confiscated the phone, right, Yeah, and then they
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: have programs and people to do it to extract.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: It, right.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: She claimed that Torres' injuries came from falls and other
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: unrelated accidents. Boone initially refused to watch the cell phone
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: videos recovered from her phone, and she insisted that she
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: never fully z the suitcase and that she believed Torres
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: could escape on his own detectives challenged that explanation, pointing
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: out that the video showed no opening where Torres could
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: have reached the zipper's right. Yeah, so I guess she
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: claims that she saw that he could get two fingers
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: out and let himself out, but obviously the videos showed differently.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: And there's the baseball bat.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Did they find a baseball bat?
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: I don't know about finding a baseball bat, but I
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: think she admits to it at some point that she
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: did use a baseball bat. Boone repeatedly told investigators that
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: the incident was not intentional and said she never meant
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: for Torres to die. All right, then we have about
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: four years of pre trial delays. Oh my goodness, So
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Sarah Boone's case remained depending for more than four years
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: before actually reaching trial. Delays were caused by the COVID
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: nineteen pandemic, court backlogs and repeated attorneyches, evidence review, possible
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: mental health evaluations, and also Hurricane Milton. Sarah Boone cycled
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: through nine court appointed attorneys, so she.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Kept firing her attorneys, and I think some attorneys were
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: firing themselves too. They were sick of her.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Can you imagine what it was like, and.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Then she eventually represented herself. I think the judge wouldn't
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: appoint another attorney.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: No, that did happen.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: I think he says something to the effective she abused
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: the systems, and you can you can only have so
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: many court appointed attorneys before they're like, sorry, you're.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: On your own now.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: So she did represent herself in the end, but I
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: believe she cycled through nine court appointed attorneys. Several attorneys
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: withdrew because of irreconcilable differences or conflicts with Boone. Boone
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: repeatedly accused her attorneys of failing to properly represent her.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: She submitted a lengthy handwritten letter to the judge criticizing
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: the handling of her case. That's a great way to
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: really piss the judge off is to write a twenty
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: eight page handwritten letter telling him how incompetent he is
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: and what a.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: Failure he is.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: After forfeiting her right to another court appointed attorney, Boone
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: briefly prepared to represent herself. She even created a handwritten
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: inmate seeks attorney advertisement and an effort to find private counsel.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Boone later hired private attorney James Owens shortly before she
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: went to trial.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: This was interesting.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I didn't know this part, and I don't know if
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: you knew this, But she does end up hiring a
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: private attorney before she goes to trial, and I believe
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: he negotiates a plea deal for her, but she wouldn't
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: accept it. No, they end up the prosecution ends up
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: offering her a fifteen year in prison plea deal for manslaughter, which,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: by the way, if she agreed to the fifteen years,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: you know, she's not going to stay in the full
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: fifteen years. Probably She's probably gonna do about half of that,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: so it'd probably be closer to seven to eight years
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: in prison instead. So she rejects the plea off offer
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: and instead chooses to proceed to trial. She represents herself,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: so I don't know. She must have gotten rid of
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: that attorney. So she hires a defense attorney, but then
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: she goes to trial and represents herself, so she must
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: have had problems with that attorney. Boone filed a motion
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: to dismiss the case, arguing that her constitutional rights to
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: a speedy trial had been violated, and the judge denied
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: the motion. You know, I can't imagine there must be
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: nothing for a judge more infuriating than when someone represents
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: themselves because they don't know how the law works and
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: they don't understand procedurally how it works, so they're just
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: willy nilly out there like trying to do their own
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: research and throwing out their own motions. And can you
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: imagine as a judge and a nightmare.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: It is a nightmare because we've had I don't know
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: if ye, but I've had cases where the other side
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: doesn't have an attorney, and it's more work for you, yeah,
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: to make sure the procedures are followed, and the court
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: is more lenient. They want to make sure more notice
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: is given and all these things, so you can't have
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: an appeal, and so you're basically having to hold people's
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: hands and go through this process. And someone like her
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: who the first nine attorneys didn't work out for her the.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: First nine, right, Yeah, And then basically every time she
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: gets a new attorney, you have to start over at
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: square one, right, because then that attorney probably asks for
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: a continuance because.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Then they need time to go.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: Back and go through years later.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Right, So then she fires that attorney, then you have
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: a new appointed attorney come in, and then they file
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: a continuance because they have to go back and they
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: have to get up to speed on this case.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: Then she ends up.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Going to trial finally four years later, and she ends
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: up representing herself and also her twenty eight page letter
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: that she wrote to the judge. I believe she ends
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: up reading part of it when she testifies on her
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: own behalf.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: I think she ends up reading.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Part of jury.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: Was there for four years?
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: What do you mean the same jury?
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, because she the continuances all happened up until
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: she finally went to trial.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Trials, Yeah, it was pre trial.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, on October twenty of twenty four. This is when
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: she finally went to trial. So the prosecutors argued that
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Boone intentionally trapped Torres inside the suitcase and left him
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: there to die. The state argued that Boone acted with
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: malicious intent and wanted to punish Torres. Did you know? Okay,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: So her defense is going to be what's her defense?
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: You know, and seeke Nor. Her defense is battered woman syndrome.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: That's what her defense is. Oh yeah, yeah, So she's
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: basically going to say that there was a cycle of
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: abuse in this relationship and that her only way that
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: was the only way out the suitcase, well, to murder him, right.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: That's battered woman's syndrome is basically, you establish a cycle
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: of abuse and an imminent fear of being killed, and
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: your only choice is to kill that person, right, So
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: that's going to be that's what she uses as her defense.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you knew this, but there was
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: a history of domestic violence between the two of them.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: She had been arrested, I believe, one time for domestic
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: violence dispute against him, But he had been arrested I
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: believe multiple times for domestic violence against her. So we're
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: not talking about a healthy relationship.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, I do believe.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: If it started out that way you said it was
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: a normal toxic relationship.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: A normal toxic relationship. Well, I do believe that there
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: was legitimately domestic violence issues. However, all the times that
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: she called the police to have him arrested for domestic violence,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: she then in turn picked him up the next day.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: I believe probably a lot of women do that. It's
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: that same cycle. That's what that's what really battered woman's
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: syndrome is, I believe is when you're psychologically you go
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: through the cycle right of like, it's that same cycle
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: of he beats her.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: And they made made some attempts to escape or to
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: end relationship, and it worsens, and then you get to
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: the point where you realize, if I do try to
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: get out of this, he will kill me and or
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: the kids. Right Like, It's so the only defense you
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: have for survival is to no murder.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: And then I guess the reason that she would always
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: call the police for these domestic violence issues but then
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: go back and pick him up the next day is
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: just do you believe that someone changes, right they convince you,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, babe, Sorry I beat you up.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: I don't know, I won't do it again. It was
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: a one time thing.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Maybe uh, I don't know if she
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: always wanted them back.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: Huh.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Jurors also saw previous police body camera videos documenting the
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: couple's volatile relationship and alleged violations of no contact orders.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Sarah Boone testified in her own defense for approximately five hours.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: She admitted that she lied to investigators after Torres's death,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: and then Boone changed her to claiming she acted in
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: self defense after years of abuse. Boone testified that Torres
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: had kicked, punch, choked, stabbed, raped, and abused her throughout
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: their relationship, and then, when asked why she never unzipped
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: the suitcase, Boone said she wanted Torres to understand how
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: she felt and hoped that he would become a better person.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: To justify homicide under any claim of self defense, a
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: defendant must establish the presence of three elements. The defendant
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: believed that she must use force against an imminent threat
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: of harm, the amount of force used was proportionate to
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: the threatened harm, and that the defendant retreated to the
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: greatest degree reasonably possible. However, there's no duty to retreat.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: If you're in your own home. That's the castle a doctrine.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: It depends on the state.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is Florida, So there's no duty to retreat.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: When you're in your take your partner out of the
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: suitcase when asked.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Right, the thing is, you can't argue that in that
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: moment there's an imminent threat of harm because he's locked
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: in a suitcase. So there's no.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: Well, he had two fingers, he.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: Had two fingers out.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but there's no imminent threat of harm in that
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: moment because she locked him in a suitcase, but closing
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: arguments so the prosecutors argued that the cell phone videos
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: proved that Boone knowingly ignored Torres's repeated please for help.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: The defense argued that Boone never intended to kill Torres
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: and that years of abuse explained her actions. Defense attorney
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: James Owens later said that Sarah Boone genuinely believed she
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: was not criminally responsible for Torres's death and wanted her
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: day in court instead of accepting the plea offer. I mean,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: she was stupid. She should have taken the plaf offer.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: But I'm glad she didn't. I don't want her coming out.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, she would have spent seven years in prison.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Now she's going to spend life in prison.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: October of twenty twenty four is when the final verdict
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: came out. After less than two hours of deliberations, the
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: jury unanimously found Boone guilty of second degree murder. Prosecutors
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: praised investigators and said that justice had been served, and
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Boone's attorney said that she was shocked and disappointed by
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the verdict. I guess she was represented in this trial.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: It's hard to.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Boone filed emotion requesting a new trial, alleging that prosecutorial
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: misconduct had occurred and other trial errors. She did that
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: right after she was convicted, so she was convicted in
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: October of twenty twenty four, and then a November of
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, she files her own motion requesting a
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: new trial. Judge Michael Krainik denied the request after reviewing
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: the evidence and the trial record. In December second of
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, she was finally sentenced. Several members of
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Ajorgey Trus his family, delivered emotional victim impact statements describing
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: the pain his death had caused. His mother said that
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Sarah Boone had to take and away not only her son,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: but also a father, brother, and uncle. And one of
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Torres's daughters said that his death left her struggling with
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: depression and anxiety. So they both had children from other relationships.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: So Torres had three children. I'm not sure of their ages.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: They must be minors because the daughter is the only
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: one that spoke during the victim impact statement part of
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: the sentencing, and she claimed that his death left her
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: struggling with depression and anxiety. Boone addressed the court and
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: again described years of abuse during their relationship. I do
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: know she had one son that would have been thirteen
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: around the time of the sentencing, and she told the
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: court that she forgave herself for falling in love with
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: a monster. What a narcissistic means to say? Yeah, no
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: kidding to say in court during the sentencing that she
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: forgives herself for falling in love with a monster. That's
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: such a narcissistic statement, not dating person. Judge Michael Kreinik
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: sentenced Boon to life in prison for second degree murder.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: So there you go.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Don't zip someone up in the suitcase and then go
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: to bed, because you'll get life in prison. Yeah, if
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: you don't take a plea deal. That's the case of
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Sarah Boon and the suitcase.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Wow, what a nut. Do you think she wanted him
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: dead like? Or do you think she was going to
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: just punish him by staying the overnight and then she
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: would like obviously she took the risk and she didn't
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: care about his life. But do you think her goal,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: her hope was to wake up and he's dead.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: No.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: I think that's why it was second degree murder too,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: because I don't think that they were.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Just wanted to torm all night. Wake up and go
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: let him out.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: I don't think that the intent to kill him was there,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: and I think the prosecutors probably knew that. They couldn't
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: establish that she intended to kill him. That's why it
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: was second degree murder. But I would say, just from
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: what I know about the case, I think that she's
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: just a narcissist and she's crazy, and they have this
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: volatile relationship, and he clearly was abusive towards her and
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: she was abusive towards him, and I think she wanted
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: to teach him a lesson.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: I think she thought it was funny. I think she
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: was controlling.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: I think she somehow got him into the suitcase under
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: I don't know, like you said, the disguise of just
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: being funny or playing a game or something. And then
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: when she zipped him up and refused to let him out,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: and she took videos of it, I don't think that
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: she intended for him to die. I think she intended
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: for him to be miserable and uncomfortable and to teach
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: him a lesson and to be in control.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: And then when she went to unzip him the next morning.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: And he's dead, that's why she freaked out and that's
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: why she didn't delete the videos off of her phone.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: She went into normal mode, which is he's dead, let
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: me call for help, right, not thinking.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: I intentionally killed him and I need to come out
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: the right. So I don't think she intended. I think
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: she just was insane and did a horrific thing. And
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: when he was pleading for his life and saying that
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: he couldn't breathe, she should have let him out. I
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: think she just went to bed under the assumption that
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: he either could get out or that he had enough
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: air that he would yeah, be fine.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: I mean I never would have thought a suitcase was
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: air tight, but now I think about it, it's like,
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: you know, probably not enough air oxygen coming.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: In and out right, So I am so no playing
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: hide and seek kids with the suitcase.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, now they're going to probably attach those those little
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: tags blowing the dark tags like they have in the
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: trunks of cars.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Why did they have glow in the dark so when
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: you throw a kid.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: In there, or if someone gets locked in there, they
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: can pull the thing and pop the trunk and get out.
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: I didn't know that existed. I didn't know. No, what
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: is it explained?
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: So in a trunk of a car, not a hatchback,
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: not an suv because the cabin. Yeah, there's a traditional trunk. Okay,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: now all new vehicles, well it's been like this for
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: twenty years. They have a plastic like tag and it's
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: usually glow in the dark, attached to a cable and
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: it has a picture of a trunk on it probably
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: and you can pull it and it will pop the trunk.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: So if you're locked in the trunk, you can pop out.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: Oh I did not know that.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: So they might want to start putting those in suitcases.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Oh, they should put those in suitcases. I see your point. Now,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: how did I not know that that was in a trunk? See,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: if someone kidnapped me and put me in the trunk,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know to pull that right now?
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: You do?
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Well, now, I do good thing. I wasn't sex trafficked
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: earlier than today Vegas. Yeah, in Las Vegas, when I
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: thought I was getting sex trafficked, I wouldn't have known
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: to pull the lever in the trunk. Did you teach
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: our children that?
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: No? Do our children know that? No?
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: But I think it's probably compen it's because they'll see
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: a thing that shows a trunk open and it's glowing
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: in the dark.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: But we could tell them, no, We're as soon as
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: we're done, we're going to tell them that if they're
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: ever in a trunk.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: Well, let's first ask them if they know about it.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's ask them, all right, all right, Well that
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: was the case of Sarah Boone the Suitcase Killer. Thank
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: you so much for listening. Till death do us part.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: As always, if you guys have any recommendations of cases,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: please find me on Instagram and send me a DM.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I love all the recommendations and also please be sure
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts is follow
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: legally Brunette, and be sure to tell your friends and family.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. We appreciate you.