Sarah Boone boasted about her time behind bars as she was sentenced to spend the rest of her life in prison for suffocating her boyfriend in a suitcase. 

Boone, 47, from Winter Park, Florida, was found guilty in October of second-degree murder in the February 2020 death of her boyfriend Jorge Torres, 42. 

Her attorney James Owens said she was ‘in shock’ by the guilty verdict, and felt ‘she had a defense’ after claiming that Torres repeatedly beat her and she feared for her life.

She doubled down on those claims in court on Monday, as she addressed Torres’ family.

‘I’m sorry,’ Boone said, according to The Independent. 

‘Words do not define my shame, and I don’t know what else it is I can say to convey to the Torres family how this happened.’

‘Everyone suppose[s] that this is one of the worst experiences of my life, and it’s actually been one of the greatest,’ she continued.

‘If I were not beaten to death, I was going to work myself to death  on the outside. And I never had time to get back into my Bible and pray and to be with the Lord.

‘And I, being incarcerated, have had time … to get closer to God, to reacquaint myself to him.’ 

Boone went on to say she has focused her efforts on forgiveness, because ‘when you forgive, you heal, and when you heal, you move forward.

‘I forgive Jorge for beating me senseless,’ she said, claiming he ‘slapped me, kicked, punched, spit on, raped [and] stabbed’ her.

She even claimed Torres tried to ‘make me unrecognizable to my son by breaking all the bones in my face,’ as she criticized Torres’ family for ‘turning a blind eye’ to her abuse, Newsweek reports.

Boone also said she forgave herself ‘for falling in love with a monster.

‘I tried breaking the spell… I never stopped loving him,’ she claimed. ‘I didn’t mean for this to happen.

‘Forgive me, Jorge. Forgive me Torres family.’ 

But his family members who spoke at the sentencing on Monday urged Judge Michael Kraynick to lock her up for a long time.

‘Sarah deserves to rot in jail,’ sister Victoria Torres said. ‘Sarah has caused a lifetime of pain.’ 

 

Boone had claimed she zipped Torrres inside the bag during a wine-fueled game of hide-and-seek at their home.

‘I looked over and saw him settling into the suitcase,’ she testified at her trial. ‘I zipped him up.

‘We thought it was funny and were joking about how he was small enough to fit inside the suitcase.’ 

But Boone had also taken two videos of Torres trapped inside the luggage, in which he was thrashing around and could be heard telling her he couldn’t breathe – to which Boone replied, ‘That’s on you.’

Torres later yelled, ‘I can’t f***ing breathe,’ while she laughed.

‘Yeah, that’s what you do when you choke me… Oh this is what I feel when you cheat on me… For everything you’ve done to me, f*** you stupid,’ Boone was heard saying in the videos.

She later went upstairs and ‘passed out’ before awaking the following morning and finding Torres still inside the suitcase. 

Boone then called 911, describing him as ‘stiff and purple’ with blood coming out of his mouth. It was later determined that Torres died as a result of positional asphyxia. 

During the call, Boone was heard giving an emotionless recount of what had happened. 

When asked the nature of her emergency, she had calmly said: ‘My boyfriend is dead.’ 

The 911 operator then coached Boone through CPR while she protested that she had already attempted and asked them to ‘hurry up’. 

Boone, though, testified in court that she was ‘aghast’ and was unable to describe the ‘feeling of terror’ upon discovering his body. 

Prosecutors argued in court that Boone’s actions proved she had no regard for Torres’s life, while she defended herself by saying she was the victim of battered spouse syndrome and feared Torres would kill her if she let him out.

Her claims were bolstered by two Orange County deputies who confirmed they responded to domestic violence calls at the home in the years prior to Torres’ death, WESH reports. 

A former neighbor also testified that she had seen marks on Boone’s arm and neck, and Boone would discuss the abuse during conversation, reported Orlando News 6. 

Boone, herself, also claimed she hadn’t let Torres out of the luggage because he had been forcefully trying to escape and that he was angry, expressing that she was ‘always in fear’. 

‘His hand started to come through, and so I shook the suitcase to try and get his hand to go back in. Telling him please stop doing this to me,’ she told the court.

‘He used to tell me he would make me unrecognizable, or I would have lost my life,’ she added before stating she used a baseball bat to poke his hand back in and hit his hand.

But under cross examination, Boone admitted she wanted Torres to know how she felt living with his alleged abuse.

‘I wanted him to try to understand how I felt so maybe he could progress and be a better person,’ she said. 

But court records show Boone, herself, was arrested in 2018 on a battery charge after the attempted strangulation of Torres, and he was charged with battery from an alcohol-fueled altercation within their home.

According to the affidavit, Boone had wrapped her hands around his neck attempting to strangle him, prompting Torres to kick her. 

A year later, Torres was arrested twice in one month on battery charges. 

As she faced charges for his death, Boone went through eight different defense attorneys before eventually drawing her own advertisement for a lawyer.

She had also rejected a plea deal for 15 years in prison for manslaughter. She had also made an audacious request, which was denied, for professional hair and makeup while she stood trial.

Then, following her guilty verdict, her defense filed a motion for a new trial, citing concerns with fairness and legality.

In the filing, they complained of a denial of a court-appointed counsel, emotional outbursts inside the courtroom and prosecutorial misconduct.

But Judge Michael Kraynick denied the motion before sentencing Boone to life behind bars.