Southeast
Florida 'suitcase killer' receives sentence after suffocating boyfriend during 'hide-and-seek game'
Warning: This story contains graphic details. Viewer discretion is advised.
The Florida woman who suffocated her boyfriend while he was trapped in a suitcase has been sentenced to life in prison.
Sarah Boone, 46, was handed a life sentence by Judge Michael Kraynick on Monday. He also rejected a motion for a retrial from Boone’s lawyers, according to FOX 35 Orlando.
Boone was found guilty of second-degree murder in October. The suitcase incident involving her then-boyfriend Jorge Torres took place in February 2020.
Boone and Torres had been drunkenly playing hide-and-seek when she zipped him up in a suitcase in their apartment in Winter Park, Florida, on Feb. 24, 2020.
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Boone also hit Torres with a baseball bat and left him in the suitcase overnight, according to prosecutors. He died from asphyxiation.
The case made national headlines when disturbing cellphone footage that Boone took of Torres went viral.
Unsettling footage showed a closed suitcase with Torres inside. While Torres struggled to breathe, he told Boone, “Sarah, I can’t breathe, babe.”
“That’s on you,” she said in the footage.
“Sarah, I can’t breathe,” Torres repeated desperately.
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At another point in the video, Boone said, “That’s what you get,” and “That’s what I feel like when you cheat on me,” while Torres struggled to free himself.
Boone reported the death the next day. In a chilling call that was released in October, she told a 911 operator that Torres was dead.
“[We were] playing last night and I put him in a suitcase, and we were playing,” Boone said. “A hide-and-seek kinda thing.”
Boone also claimed that she passed out the night before, and attempted to give Torres CPR when she discovered he had died.
“I don’t know what happened,” she explained. “He had blood coming from his mouth. He’s purple.”
In court proceedings, Boone claimed that she never intended to kill or hurt Torres and that her actions were in self-defense. She also alleged that Torres abused her.
Boone’s sentencing was attended by Torres’ family on Monday. Taking the stand, Torres’ daughter said her father was a “hidden gem” who was taken away “by evilness.”
“I pray that you see his face when you see him at night,” she said to Boone.
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Mollie Markowitz contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Florida man accused of breaking into home, stabbing woman while she was sleeping inside
A Florida man is facing charges after he allegedly broke into a woman’s home, stabbed her while she was sleeping and attempted to run away from deputies.
Bonnier Jose Sarmiento Lanza, 33, on Sunday broke into a woman’s home on New York Drive in Tice, Florida, and stabbed her multiple times while she was sleeping, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
Lanza also hit another person inside the home before fleeing the scene.
FLORIDA ‘SUITCASE KILLER’ RECEIVES SENTENCE AFTER SUFFOCATING BOYFRIEND DURING ‘HIDE-AND-SEEK GAME’
Responding deputies offered medical assistance to the woman, who suffered multiple wounds, as the sheriff’s office’s drone unit attempted to locate the fleeing suspect from the sky.
Drone footage shows Lanza walking through a neighborhood as deputies track him down and detain him.
FLORIDA GRANDFATHER, 71, FATALLY SHOT BY NEIGHBOR DURING NOISE DISPUTE; SUSPECTED GUNMAN CLAIMS SELF-DEFENSE
“I am proud of the deputies and drone operator who located and quickly apprehended this violent, fleeing suspect,” Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a statement. “Once again, technology and dedicated patrol deputies working together get results.”
The woman is listed in stable condition, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office said Lanza and the woman knew each other.
Lanza is charged with two counts of burglary with battery and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
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Southeast
Trump, DeSantis join thousands to mourn 3 Florida deputies killed in roadside crash
Thousands of people attended a memorial on Tuesday morning in West Palm Beach, Florida, for three Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office deputies who were killed in a crash nearly two weeks ago.
Deputy Sheriff Ignacio “Dan” Diaz, Deputy Sheriff Ralph “Butch” Waller, and Corporal Luis Paez were struck by a Jeep SUV on Nov. 21 while stopped with their motorcycles on the shoulder of Southern Boulevard, just west of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road near Wellington.
Waller and Paez were pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after the crash, while Diaz was in critical condition and underwent surgery at the hospital but later succumbed to his injuries.
President-elect Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis were in attendance, according to Trump’s deputy director of communications Margo Martin, who posted images on X of DeSantis, Trump and Eric Trump at the memorial.
FLORIDA ‘SUITCASE KILLER’ RECEIVES SENTENCE AFTER SUFFOCATING BOYFRIEND DURING ‘HIDE-AND-SEEK GAME’
“You can train the deputies to deal with bad guys, for traffic stops, high speed chases,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a press conference in front of the Fallen Officer’s Memorial Wall at PBSO. “There’s no training for this. They never saw it coming. They never had a chance to try and save themselves.”
More than 7,000 people were expected to attend Tuesday’s memorial, he said.
The public memorial was set to take place at the iTHINK Financial Amphitheater in West Palm Beach. The procession was scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m., followed by an 11 a.m. service, which was expected to end around 2 p.m.
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The three deputies were pulled over to the shoulder on their motorcycles, as one of them appeared to have an issue with his bike, Bradshaw said during a press conference after the crash. A woman driving her SUV down Southern Boulevard came upon a driver who was driving slower than her and veered toward the shoulder to pass but “overcompensated” and struck all three deputies, sending them “airborne,” Bradshaw added.
“People have to take it seriously when you’re driving a vehicle…that’s 2,000 pounds of destruction if it’s not handled properly,” Bradshaw said, adding that the driver is cooperating in the investigation and “feels terrible” about what happened.
Diaz, 51, joined PBSO in 2004 and had been with the agency’s motor unit for more than 10 years, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Paez, 58, worked for more than 36 years with PBSO, starting as a corrections deputy in 1988 before transitioning to road patrol and ultimately serving as a motor deputy for more than 20 years.
Waller, 54, worked in the motor unit for more than 18 years, beginning his law enforcement career with the Royal Palm Beach Police Department before it merged with PBSO in October 2008.
“It never gets easier,” Bradshaw said, discussing the nature of speaking to relatives of slain officers. “When you look in their eyes, you see that pain…and I never get used to it.”
FLORIDA GRANDFATHER, 71, FATALLY SHOT BY NEIGHBOR DURING NOISE DISPUTE; SUSPECTED GUNMAN CLAIMS SELF-DEFENSE
The crash is being investigated as a traffic homicide case, Florida Highway Patrol told WPTV.
It is unclear if any criminal charges will be filed against the woman who crashed into the deputies, but no charges have been filed against her at this time, the outlet reported.
“When a deputy dies, a piece of the community dies with them,” Bradshaw said.
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Southeast
Biden pledges $1B in aid to Africa as North Carolina residents continue to struggle after Helene
President Biden pledged $1 billion in humanitarian support to Africans displaced by historic droughts and food insecurity on Tuesday, as North Carolina residents continue to rebuild after the devastation left by Hurricane Helene.
“The United States continues to be the world’s largest provider of humanitarian aid and development assistance. That’s going to increase, you know, that’s the right thing for the wealthiest nation in the world to do,” Biden said while speaking in Angola. “Today I’m announcing over $1 billion in new humanitarian support for Africans displaced from homes by historic droughts and food insecurity. We know African leaders and citizens are seeking more than just aid. You seek investment.
“So, the United States is expanding our relationship all across Africa from assistance to aid, investment to trade, moving from patrons to partners to help bridge the infrastructure gap,” he added.
Biden’s visit to Angola this week marks the first time the president has stepped foot on African soil during his presidency, and it comes as people in North Carolina continue to face challenges after Hurricane Helene caused destruction and devastation in late September.
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Last month, the White House requested $98 billion in additional disaster relief funding to help efforts in Helene-ravished areas.
Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle have pledged to act swiftly once they get a formal request from the Biden administration.
On top of that, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters last month that her agency “will need additional funding of approximately $40 billion beyond its 2025 budget request to support the ongoing recovery efforts to these storms and meet our overall mission requirements through the end of the fiscal year.”
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Still, until these funds are in place, some continue to slam Biden’s legacy of putting foreign countries before his own, which was seen Tuesday as a video of Biden making the $1 billion announcement in Africa made the rounds on social media.
“BREAKING: Joe Biden just announced a $1B aid package for AFRICAN nations that are rebuilding from natural disasters. What about North Carolina? This is DISGUSTING,” one user on X wrote.
“This is by far the WORST President of all time,” another said on X.
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Still, one more user asked, “Can anyone please explain why Joe Biden hates America so much?”
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.
Helene ravaged part of the U.S. Southeast in late September, killing more than 100 people in North Carolina alone.
It’s estimated to have caused billions of dollars worth of damage as well.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., previously told Fox News Digital that he believed it could be one of the most expensive storms in U.S. history.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
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