You’ve probably heard of “Florida Man.” It’s an internet meme first popularized in 2013 (has it really only been 11 years?!?!). referring to an alleged prevalence of people performing irrational or maniacal actions in the U.S. state of Florida. (Thanks, Wikipedia!). We covered a prime example of a travel-related “Florida Man” story a couple of years ago: “Florida Man Caught Camping on Disney’s Deserted Discovery Island, Calling it a ‘Tropical Paradise’.”
“Florida Man” is so popular that someone wrote a play about him (*cough* and then got in trouble with the TSA *cough*). And February 2024 marked the inaugural Florida Man Games in St. Augustine (their events were unusual, to say the least!)
But lest you think “Florida Man” is a being unto yourself, heads up that there’s also a “Florida Woman.” And SHE just made the news down here in Central Florida.
You see, earlier this week, a 47-year-old Florida woman was found guilty of second-degree murder for suffocating her boyfriend in a suitcase.
Sarah Boone and her boyfriend, Jorge Torres, Jr., age 22, lived together in Winter Park, which is a suburb a few miles northeast of Downtown Orlando. The two reportedly had a very tempestuous relationship and both had been arrested in the past for domestic battery or alleged battery against each other.
On February 24, 2020, Boone called 911 and told them that her boyfriend, Torres, was dead. Boone said that she and Torres had a single bottle of wine the previous night and they decided to play hide-and-seek. She claimed that they thought it would be funny to lock him in the suitcase, and that they were both laughing. She stated that she then went upstairs and accidentally fell asleep, leaving Torres in the suitcase. Torres subsequently suffocated and was declared dead.
During the investigation, Boone turned over her cell phone, which had 2 videos that she had apparently taken. The videos contained the sound of Boone laughing as Torres pled for help from inside the suitcase. Boone told Torres, “That’s what you do when you choke me,” and “That’s what I feel like when you cheat on me.”
Here’s the video that was released by the . Heads up for NSFW language, and the possibility of triggering.
Boone was interviewed by Detectives at the Police department the day after the incident; she stated that she didn’t remember recording the videos. She was charged with second-degree murder.
The case was subsequently delayed 16 times because of what Circuit Judge Michael Kraynick described as Boone’s antagonism and hostility, along with professional and personal attacks on her attorneys. She wound up burning her way through 8 attorneys, in total. This is what she said about her final one, via a 56-page hand-written letter:
I want to make it known I walked out on my attorney in our last meeting due to her unwarranted, uninformative, unprofessional, snotty attitude and her untruthful answers to my questions and beyond. She seems, like everyone else, not to remember I am innocent until adjudged otherwise.
At that point, Kraynick ruled that Boone must represent herself.
“Allowing defendant to her eighth court-appointed attorney (ninth overall) will only serve to delay the case further and encourage Defendant to persist in efforts to prevent the resolution of the case on its merits,” Kraynick said in the ruling.
But then, plot twist! This past August, Boone found a new private attorney, James Owen. He saw an online flyer Boone had made, saying she was looking for a new lawyer, and he offered to represent her.
So finally, four and a half years after the event (and after Hurricane Milton), Boone went to trial. She claimed she suffered from battered spouse syndrome…even though it went against Boone’s original statement that Torres’ death was an accident.
When Boone took the stand, she testified for about 5 hours. She said didn’t mean for Jorge Torres Jr. to die, believing he was lying when he said he couldn’t breathe inside the zipped suitcase. She also said she was terrified of him possibly escaping; she remembered he threatened to “f***ing end me.” And when she noticed at one point that his hand was slipping out of the suitcase, she tried jabbing it away with a baseball bat.
“If she let him out of the suitcase, she was going to be harmed,” Owens told the judge and jury.
From the Orlando Sentinel:
During her testimony, Boone said that on Feb. 24, 2020, the date Torres died, the two of them spent what was otherwise a normal day together. She said they tidied up the house, made a trip to Publix to buy a bottle of wine and spent most of the afternoon drinking and smoking.
That evening they worked on a puzzle, doodled, danced and drank some more. Then, after hiding in the shower while playing tag, Boone said she found Torres — who stands 5 feet, 3 inches and weighs about 100 pounds — wiggling his way into a suitcase.
Boone said the two laughed about it, but she suddenly realized he was struggling to get out and began recording it.
“I wanted him to understand that right now I feel safe, and right now I have the ability to speak to you in a way that I normally wouldn’t have the ability to do,” she said.
However, later in the day, when cross-examined by Assistant State Attorney William Jay, Boone often replied that she didn’t remember what happened the night Torres died.
During questioning by Owens, she said the couple had a good day. But she later told prosecutors he’d been angry with her throughout the day. This added to the multiple contradictory statements Boone made that the prosecution has been trying to point out to jurors.
After a 10-day trial, it took the Orange County jury about an hour and a half to find Boone guilty of second-degree murder for suffocating her boyfriend in a suitcase. She’s expected to face life in prison, with a minimum of 22½ years behind bars.
It’s a tragic story, but a “Florida woman” story, nevertheless.
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