Sarah Boone, a Florida woman accused of suffocating her boyfriend inside a locked suitcase, requested professional hair and makeup for her upcoming murder trial, raising eyebrows in court. Boone, 46, initially was going to be allowed to have makeup applied by her legal team once she was in the courtroom, but the motion was denied due to security concerns about cosmetics, which are considered contraband in jail. Boone appeared in court for pre-trial proceedings ahead of jury selection scheduled to start on Monday. She is facing second-degree murder charges in connection with the 2020 death of her boyfriend, Jorge Torres, 42, at their Winter Park apartment. Boone claimed that Torres died during an alcohol-fueled game of hide-and-seek, while investigators claimed that videos from her phone showed she trapped him inside a suitcase while he begged to be let out.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Boone’s new defense attorney argued to have two hours of interview footage between his client and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office thrown out. In the interview shortly after her arrest, Boone repeatedly told investigators that Torres’ death was an accident, which was also the argument put forward by her previous eight attorneys. However, her ninth lawyer plans to pursue a battered partner defense. Boone herself took the stand during the hearing as both sides debated whether the footage should be admitted at the trial. Boone expressed confusion and being traumatized during the interview and was not fully aware of the situation. The defense argued that Boone was lured to the Sheriff’s Office under false pretenses and that she did not realize she was going to be interrogated.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, Lead Homicide Detective Chelsey Koepsell testified about reading Boone her Miranda rights off a card, which did not contain an additional question that was part of the Sheriff’s Office policy. Boone claimed she was only going to the office to retrieve her property and was not anticipating being questioned. The defense argued that this was coercion, but the prosecution disagreed, stating that it did not matter why Boone thought she was going to the office. The judge chose to wait one day before issuing a decision on whether the interview could be included at the trial.
Boone can be heard laughing in the videos where Torres calls out her name and says he can’t breathe. This contradicts Boone’s claims of his death being an accident, and positions her as an unsympathetic character. The prosecution noted that Boone ultimately read her Miranda rights during the interview, even though an extra question was left out. Despite this, the judge agreed with the state’s analysis but decided to defer a decision on including the interview at trial. It is evident that Boone’s case is complex, with conflicting accounts of Torres’ death and questions regarding her understanding and cooperation during police interviews. The upcoming trial will shed further light on the events leading to Torres’ suffocation death and Boone’s role in the incident.
