Sarah Boone murder trial: Suspected suitcase killer in jail

Sarah Boone, the Florida woman accused of killing her boyfriend by trapping him in a suitcase, is allegedly creating drama inside and outside the courtroom.

Boone, 46, faces a second-degree murder charge in the 2020 death of her 42-year-old boyfriend, Jorge Torres Jr. She is accused of forcing Torres into a suitcase at a Winter Park home, then locking him inside and refusing to let him out.

When she opened the suitcase the next morning, he was dead.

More than four years after her arrest, Boone has yet to face trial and has had eight attorneys, several of whom have resigned due to “irreconcilable differences.”

In June, Orange County Judge Michael S. Kraynick ruled that Boone had lost her right to an attorney and must represent herself at her upcoming trial.

Boone is also creating problems for prison staff, according to recently released notes on inmate behavior.

The documents state that Boone was informed that she had been visited by an attorney on Aug. 8. She asked for the attorney’s name because no attorney had been assigned to her case.

“Inmate Boone stated that she did not feel comfortable visiting someone she did not know because “crazy people” contacted her and scheduled visits with her pretending to be someone they were not,” the documents state.

Staff told Boone the attorney’s name, but he left because of a delay in responding to a question about whether she wanted to meet with him. When she learned of his departure, she was “devastated.”

Boone said she had met the attorney before and that he had come from Tallahassee to see her.

“It was explained to inmate Boone that we are not responsible for his departure,” the document states.

On August 14, Boone was reprimanded for negative behavior. While she was in court that day, prison staff discovered that she had altered the seam of her prison uniform pants with staples.

Boone was granted the right to appear in court without handcuffs the same day.

Staff told Boone that his altered clothing was considered contraband and he was given a new uniform.

According to the documents, he was told not to wear the modified uniform before his court appearance.

Additional staples and paper clips were found among Boone’s belongings during a search on August 17.

“During the search, Inmate Boone became argumentative and asked staff why her property was being searched. I explained to Inmate Boone that she was subject to search at any time, but she was not receptive,” the documents state.

As Boone begins to represent herself, she becomes concerned that she has not received some of her discovery documents.

The behavior notes detail discovery documents shared with Boone. However, on August 16, she refused to use three USB drives and a hard drive because she needed a “mental break.”

Boone’s trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 7.

Kraynick said the trial would not be delayed “for any reason except for extraordinarily good cause, and such extraordinarily good cause shall not include the defendant’s retaining counsel.”

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