Woman who 'suffocated' boyfriend in suitcase stuns court with request

A Florida woman accused of fatally suffocating her boyfriend in a suitcase requested to have professional hair and makeup for her murder trial - but her audacious ask was denied.

Sarah Boone, 46, made the request before she took the stand at a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday, four years after she was arrested over the bizarre death of her boyfriend Jorge Torres Jr, 42, inside their Winter Park, Florida apartment. 

She claimed Torres died during a booze-fueled game of hide and seek, however investigators countered with footage from her phone showing him thrashing around in the suitcase, telling her: 'I can't f***ing breathe.' 

At Wednesday's motions hearing, Boone requested a team be brought in to spruce her up for the courtroom, however a judge denied even having her own lawyers apply makeup as it is considered contraband. 

The primary reason behind Wednesday's pre-trial meeting was not Boone's request for makeup, but rather her defense team's attempt to suppress key evidence presented by prosecutors. 

Boone has represented herself for much of her court saga since her arrest, and is now being represented by her ninth attorney after eight others were removed or quit. 

Her most recent attorney, James Owens, filed to have two hours of interrogation footage between Boone and the Orange County Sheriff's Office thrown out of court. 

Owens argued that Boone was coerced into speaking to detectives and was not read her Miranda rights properly, and felt she had no choice but to speak to authorities. 

Specifically, the issue was whether she understood the ninth question in the rights - 'Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk to [investigators] now?' 

At the hearing, Orange County Sheriff’s Detective Chelsey Koepsell testified that Boone read her rights directly from her card, and the question was not printed on the card she carries. 

However, prosecutors argued that Boone never asked for an attorney during her interrogation. 

In the interrogation footage, investigators questioned how Torres suffocated inside the suitcase, which Boone claimed was an accident as they played a drunken game of hide and seek. 

Boone said she and Torres were painting pictures, completing a puzzle and drinking Woodbridge Chardonnay when they decided to play hide-and-seek.

Boone said she hid upstairs in the shower, but Torres never went up to look for her.

When she came downstairs, she found Torres in the living room, and together they decided to have her zip up Torres in the blue suitcase, and she claimed she left two of his fingers sticking out of the zipper. 

'Sarah and Jorge were both laughing that she zipped him into the suitcase,' her arrest affidavit stated.

At 12.30am, Boone said she decided to go upstairs while Torres was still stuck in the suitcase, thinking that he could get himself out.

Boone got in bed and fell asleep half an hour later, and told detectives she assumed Torres was going to get out of the bag and join her in bed.

She woke up the next morning and stayed in a bed for while. She said she assumed Torres was already downstairs 'on the laptop looking for employment.'

She finally went downstairs at around 11am and could not find her boyfriend anywhere.

'Sarah freaked out and remembered the last time she saw Jorge was when she zipped him in the suitcase,' according to the arrest document.

She then unzipped the luggage and found Torres unresponsive inside.

She testified on Wednesday that after police found Torres' body, she was still 'very confused, very hazy' from the night's drinking, per CourtTV. 

'I didn’t understand the monumental amount of people that were [at the crime scene] and what they were doing. I was worried about my dogs. I was worried about my son. I was in shock. 

'I was traumatized by the situation and trying to focus on everything going on at my home. I was hungover — I believe I was still intoxicated to a degree.' 

Owens' attempt to have the interrogation footage suppressed comes as it appears to contradict his intended defense argument - that Boone acted in self-defense on the night of Torres' death. 

He claimed she suffered from battered spouse syndrome, and Torres had a history of domestic violence involving Boone, including a battery charge in 2018 related to a drunken altercation inside their home. 

Prosecutors said at the pre-trial hearing that they plan to file a motion to bar Boone's attorney from making such an argument, citing an expert examination of Boone on Wednesday before the hearing. 

It is not clear what this expert examination entailed. 

After denying her request for professional makeup and hairstyling, the judge in her case said he would issue a ruling on whether Boone's interrogation video will be suppressed by the end of Thursday. 

Boone's trial is set to begin October 7, and she faces a life sentence if she’s convicted of second-degree murder.