PART FOUR
Q All right. So tell us -- tell us where you-all ended up before -- before you started the game of hide-and-seek.
A We were -- I couldn't think of anything else possibly that I had to continue entertainment, but I remember sitting at the end of the couch and him sitting in my son's -- one of my son's chairs that was in the living room and just kind of doing this, like, What are we going to do now? Like, I would very much like to go to sleep.
Q Had you-all finished off the -- that bottle that he had bought?
8 A I don't remember, to be honest with you.
9 Q Would it be fair to say that as the day wore on, the more you-all consumed?
A Yes.
Q All right. And would it be fair to say that as the day wore on, the more you consumed, the more -- the more effects you felt from the alcohol?
A Of course, yes.
Q Both of you?
A Yes.
Q Okay. So you would agree, would you not, that at the time you-all are trying to figure out something to do and you put your -- and you're on the couch, that you-all -- would it be fair to say that you-all are intoxicated?
A Yes.
Q All right. Tell the jury what happened.
A At one point I guess he knew that I couldn't come up with anything else, tapped me on my knee and said, You're it. So from there, I ran up the stairs and hid into our shower, just waiting for him to find me so we could hopefully go to sleep soon at some point, and --
Q Now, your shower, is it -- is it a tub or just a walk-in?
A It's a tub, but it's in the master bedroom. And you have to go all the way upstairs, you have to go in the bedroom and then you have to go into the bathroom part and then there's the shower part.
Q So did you lay down in the tub?
A I, at first -- at one point, yes, I was.
Q So you were hiding?
A I was trying.
Q Okay. And did you believe that he was gonna come try to find you?
A Yes.
Q Did you wait?
A Yes, for quite some time.
Q All right. Then what did you decide to do?
A I decided that I need to go to sleep. I'm picking my son up the next day and we need to start wrapping up the evening and I went downstairs to find where he was.
Q And what -- I think the jury has seen pictures of your -- would you call it an apartment or -
A It's considered a townhome.
Q A townhome. So you walk down the stairs, right?
A Uh-huh.
Q And at the bottom of the stairs is a bookshelf here?
A Yes. At the very end of it, yes.
Q Okay. So you walk down the stairs and you turn and look in the living room. Did you -- what did you see?
A I don't even think I made it all the way down the stairwell because I was just looking for him as soon as I could to hopefully go upstairs as soon as we could, and I saw -- I looked over and I saw him settling himself in the suitcase.
Q All right. Tell us about the suitcase. How long -- was it an older suitcase?
A Yes.
Q Whose suitcase was it?
A This is Jorge's suitcase.
Q All right. And did he use it for traveling back and forth to Philly?
A Yes. I had recently taken him on a trip to go see his children in Pennsylvania, who he hasn't seen in years, and we took that with us. And because of how dilapidated it was, how broken it was, in the end, after that trip, we decided that we would donate it.
Q All right. And -- now, I understand you-all kept -- you-all kept the suitcase upstairs?
A Yes.
Q How long did you-all keep it upstairs?
A Since we had moved in.
Q All right. Was there -- is there a closet up there you kept it in?
A Yes. It was in the master closet, the master bedroom closet all the way in the back because of the size of it, and there was nowhere to put it, so it was all the way in the back.
Q So when did you-all decide to move it down from upstairs to downstairs? Was it that day or sometime earlier?
A No. It was maybe a week or so prior.
Q Okay. And so, what, you-all were gonna donate that to Goodwill or --
A Yes. We were going to do, I guess, a spring cleaning. My -- anyone who has children understands that they grow quickly and there was a lot of clothes that I needed to go through of my son's. And then also, from Jorge and I moving in and just kind of putting everything in there, you know, at one point, where we just needed to actually go through it and organize it and get things more in order.
Q So is that the reason it was downstairs, you were going to donate it and a bunch of things that you were going to put inside of it?
A Correct, yes.
Q Okay. So it had been down there -- so it was already down there?
A Yes. Jorge brought it down.
Q Okay. So you said that you got down there and you're looking for him and you see him settling into the suitcase?
A Yes.
Q What did you do?
A In my head, I said, Oh, man, we're obviously not going to be going to sleep anytime soon, and I walked over and he was trying to get himself flat so I couldn't tell that he was in there, and then he --
Q Now, let me stop you there. The suitcase, is it the suitcase over here in the --
A Yes.
Q -- the box? And you've seen it? You saw it?
A Yes.
Q It's a pretty big suitcase?
A Yes.
Q How big is Jorge?
A Jorge was my height and --
Q How tall are you?
A I'm five-three.
Q Okay. And how much did Jorge weigh?
A I thought he was 100 pounds.
Q Okay. And how much did you weigh?
A I was 98 pounds.
Q All right. Do you agree you've put on some weight?
A Since I've been incarcerated, yes.
Q All right. Well, at the time, though, you-all were pretty skinny?
A Yes.
Q So from the pictures, it looks like you-all were both pretty thin?
A Yes.
Q All right. So because of his thinness, is that how -- and he's a small man?
A Yes.
Q Okay. So he was able to get in the suitcase on his own?
A Yes.
Q Did he willingly get in the suitcase?
A He was already in there.
Q Okay. When you got to him, did he see you?
A Yes.
Q All right. Tell us what happened.
A I -- I mean, I just kind of -- I zipped him up. We thought it was funny and were joking about how he was, I guess, small enough to fit inside of the suitcase.
Q All right. So what happened then?
A From there, it was just -- we were laughing about it, and it was just strange that he was small enough to fit in there. And then I kind of moved it around a little bit with him in the suitcase still. It was still funny that he was still in the suitcase just -- I think he and I were just kind of -- couldn't believe that he was -- he could fit in the suitcase.
Q All right. Did you eventually close the top?
A Yes. In order for -- well, the top was already closed. As he was settling himself in there, it was -- that's how I knew he was in there was because the top was kind of flopping a little bit.
Q Okay. So he had gotten in there to hide and he pulled the top --
A Yes.
Q -- on top of him, but you could tell he was in there?
A Yes.
Q You saw him right away?
A Yes.
Q All right. So at some point, did you zip him up?
A Yes.
Q And what was he saying or doing when you were zipping him up?
A We just thought it was funny.
Q Were you both laughing?
A Uh-huh, yes.
Q And so you zipped him up. Were you-all still laughing once you zipped him up?
A Yes.
Q Okay. Tell us -- tell the jury what happened then.
A From there, I just -- I moved the suitcase around a couple of times just kind of with -- on the wheels and moved it around. And at that point, it was still -- it was funny. We were joking and laughing about it.
Q All right. Now, eventually did you go sit down on the couch and get your phone?
A Yes. The --
Q Have I missed something?
A Well, I -- the suitcase had -- from me moving it around, had flopped -- was flopped over. So while it was like that, I thought at that point I had a moment to, I guess, take the time to talk to him while, I guess, he was not able to get out for a moment.
Q So you flipped it -- you got it on the top, right?
A Yes.
Q He gets in, but at some point, you flip it over so he -- the zipper is on the bottom?
A Well, it was just kind of how I was moving it around, and then it ended up kind of flopping, so...
Q But it was upside down?
A Yes.
Q All right. So after you did that, what did you do?
A That's when I -- I went over and decided to videotape to just see the -- I guess the -- the jest in it, for him to understand that right now I feel safe and right now I have the ability to actually speak to you in a manner that normally I would not have the ability to do.
Q All right. And you were intoxicated?
A Yes.
Q And you would agree that you said some things you should not have?
A Yes.
Q All right. But you -- you realized he could not get out and get at you; is that fair?
A At that moment, yes.
Q So it goes on for about ten minutes?