Sarah Boone Says Her Boyfriend Died During Hide-and-Seek After She Forgot He Was in a Suitcase

It's never a good sign when a defendant goes through lawyers like they are toilet paper. That is precisely what is happening in the case of Sarah Boone, who stands accused of murdering her boyfriend Jorge Torres Jr. in February 2020.

Since then, her trial date has been pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Boone's inability to hold onto an attorney.

According to Fox 35 Orlando, as of July 2024, she has had nine lawyers, seven of which were court-appointed. All of them asked to withdraw from the case for reasons that include but are not limited to irreconcilable differences, ethical differences, or conflicts in general.

Boone's story has gained national attention due to her behavior and the unusual way her boyfriend was allegedly killed. Here's what we know about the Sarah Boone suitcase legal proceedings.

Unlike Ted Bundy, Boone did not outright say she wanted to act as her own attorney but that's what happened, per Court TV. After her eighth attorney withdrew from the case at the end of June 2024, Judge Michael Kraynick ruled that Boone "has through WAIVED BY HER CONDUCT her right to court-appointed counsel."

In other words, her actions were screaming much louder than her words, which per most of her lawyers were quite insulting.

Mauricio Padilla represented Boone for two years and cited "irreconcilable differences" as to why he was removing himself from the case. He was unable to go into details as to what that entailed, stating "the specifics of the adversarial relationship may disclose information that may prejudice his client and as such will stand mute on the specifics."

Frank Bankowitz stepped up to the plate next but was gone after a little over a year. Evidently, Boone would phone him multiple times a day, and frequently called him "dud" as well as a "buffoon." Boone was warned that her unhappiness with every lawyer could lead to self-representation, but she did not heed that warning. Bankowitz deduced that the only way Boone would be satisfied is if her lawyer "does not have a caseload and can dedicate his or her time solely to Ms. Boone’s case."

In a 58-page letter submitted to the court, Boone said her last and final attorney had an "unwarranted, uninformative, unprofessional snotty attitude." The attorney in question, Patricia Cashman, has "extensive experience representing criminal defendants as both an Assistant Public Defender and in private practice, including representing defendants accused of murder, and is widely known to be able and willing to deal with and manage difficult clients." If Cashman couldn't do it, no one can.

Boone alleges that on the afternoon of Feb. 24, 2020, she woke up after a night of drinking to find her boyfriend dead. Jorge Torres had been zipped up in a suitcase and as Boone would later tell police, it was an accident. She claimed the two had been drinking the night before when they decided to play a game of hide-and-seek. In the arrest report, Boone said they "jokingly thought it would be funny if Jorge got in the suitcase."

Evidently she passed out in her bed, apparently forgetting that Torres was in the suitcase. She didn't discover him until the next afternoon, when he was unresponsive. Boone immediately called 9-1-1. While investigating, police discovered some disturbing videos on Boone's cell phone. In one, Torres is in the suitcase begging to be let out. "Sarah, I can't breathe, babe," he says. "That's on you," she fires back, then laughs.

An autopsy revealed scratches on Torres' back and neck along with bruising on one shoulder. Bruises on his forehead were attributed to "blunt force trauma." She was charged with second-degree murder and is supposed to go on trial in October 2024. That of course is entirely up to how cooperative Boone is.