"It was a good day...we've had good days recently," Sarah told the detectives. Being that she was telling that to detectives, you can infer that she was, in fact, lying.

Sarah Boone is a Floridian. She's also a drunk (no offense to drunks, I'm one of you). But the thing about Sarah Boone that has captivated so many true-crime enthusiasts is her uniquely....unique personality. It's difficult to describe the depths of her depravity without using buzzwords like "narcissist" and "sociopath." I'm no psychologist or psychiatrist...but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night, where I gained the knowledge of good and evil. And this lady is evil.

Here's the story, according to Sarah:

Sarah Boone and her boyfriend of a couple years, Jorge Torres, were having a fun, wistful night of painting, drinking wine, and playing...hide-and-seek (Sarah was 42 at the time). Her goal for the night was to keep Jorge entertained. While "looking for places to hide" in their game of hide-and-seek, the pair saw a suitcase on the ground and decided it would be funny for Jorge to get in. So, according to Sarah, Jorge got in. She zipped him up. But she left room for his fingers to reach out, thus implying he had the ability to unzip the suitcase and free himself. According to Sarah's initial narrative, this is where her night ends, and she goes to bed, waiting for him to come upstairs and join her. But he never did.

Sarah woke up around noon the next day. She stayed in bed for an hour or so before meandering downstairs. According to Sarah, it was when she saw the suitcase that the memory came back to her. Jorge was in that suitcase. She unzipped it, unfolded Jorge's stiff body, and proceeded to call her ex-husband. While this is strange, it's not all that unusual the more you get to know what kind of person Sarah is. So her ex-husband, Brian Boone, drove to the house and saw the entryway, where Jorge was lying dead on the floor. He refused to go further, stepped back outside, and instructed Sarah to call the police.

The 911 call was strange, to say the absolute least. The tone in her voice suggested irritation and inconvenience rather than panic or sorrow. A man she had lived with and claimed to be in love with was dead on her floor, at her hand, and she is angry and frustrated as the 911 operator has to remind her over and over to continue doing chest compressions. While her behavior could be attributed to shock, it still sits uncomfortably with me.

Emergency services arrived on the scene to take over, and Sarah relayed her experience to the detective. But Sarah was in for a surprise. I don't know how many of you are familiar with alcoholism. Sarah definitely was. And I don't know how familiar you all are with "panic meds." I am familiar with both. I consider myself a bit of an expert, after a fashion. But the combination of alcohol and benzodiazepines ("panic meds") can and does quickly lead to blackout. In fact, in some cases, the person can seem less drunk while blacked out on alcohol and benzos rather than just alcohol. But that's neither here nor there; simply speculation on my part.

So Sarah is "invited" to the police station to talk to homicide detectives. Clue number one. Then she was read her Miranda warnings. Clue number two. Then the detective mentioned contusions and injuries Jorge had on his body that occurred the night of the incident. Clue number "get-a-lawyer-right-now-and-shut-up." But Sarah is a unique and confident specimen (She was a straight-A student, you know). All she needs to do is explain that she didn't zip it all the way up, and she happened to fall asleep (not pass out, she definitely did not pass out...). Once she explains that she doesn't remember, so she isn't responsible, they will have to let her go. But it didn't quite go down that way.

A few minutes into her interrogation, after she had described the wonderfully playful night of arts and crafts and pixie dream girl activities, the detectives brought out their secret weapon: a video (that Sarah has no memory of recording) of an obviously inebriated Sarah berating Jorge as he is stuffed in a suitcase, begging her to let him out. "Fuck you," she replies. "Sarah, I can't breathe baby." "That's how it feels when you choke me," she slurs. She keeps the suitcase in frame as she continues to mock him. "Sarah, I can't breathe, seriously!" She laughs as he begs. "That's my name, don't wear it out." It's sickening. I will include the video, but I want to warn you to guard your mental health. All it shows is a stuffed suitcase with Jorge inside, begging to be let out, while a drunken Sarah berates him with childish insults and incoherent ramblings.

Warning: Graphic Content

What has made this case so captivating for so many people is Sarah's personality. It is apparent during the 911 call, but is made so much clearer when watching the interrogation. "Narcissist," "sociopath," and other buzzwords are appropriate in this case. I cannot sufficiently describe her demeanor without them. When it comes to alcohol, Sarah refuses to accept even the implication that she may have a problem with alcohol. The recordings capture her heavily slurred speech, yet she tiptoes around phrases like "drunk," and "passed out" and chooses to replace them with "we had been drinking," and I "hit the bed." Like "hit the hay" or something. "My head 'hit the pillow' and I was out" or something like that. She flat out says "I never said that I was drunk...we had been drinking." "Alcohol does things to people." It's a spectacle to watch. The effort she makes to protect her ego is fascinating. As I've referenced a couple times, she, as a 42 year old woman, brags about being a straight-A student. She says she "excels at everything," and is a "wonderful mother to her son." She uses the phrase "non compos mentis" multiple times to display her extensive vocabulary. It's really very entertaining, if you're into watching an awful person self destruct.

There are so many things that make this case interesting, the main thing being Sarah. And just to add credence to the theory that she's a malignant narcissist, she went through nine attorneys. Eight of them cited irreconcilable differences. She was in jail, furiously writing hate mail to her attorneys because they wouldn't use her strategy. The state offered her 15 years, with time served, so about 10 more years. Instead, her ego convinced her that she had done nothing wrong and she would prove it in court. It took the jury about an hour and however long to eat their dinners to come back with a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree. Barring appeal, she will likely serve 25 years to life in prison. Given the fact that she has showed zero remorse, I believe she will spend the rest of her life in prison.

I can't imagine Jorge's last minutes. I don't want to. I've always been fascinated by the medieval torture of the crow cage. Those metal cages hung up in the air, as whoever's trapped inside just waits for death. Brutal. What Sarah did was up there in terms of depravity. To be unable to move, to struggle to breathe, all while a vile, vindictive person mocks you when they could just...unzip the zipper. I find it hard to imagine worse ways to die. May he rest in peace.

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