NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Authorities on Monday have identified the 33-year-old man accused of lighting a woman on fire as she slept aboard a Coney Island subway train, killing her.
Sebastian Zapeta of Brooklyn, was charged with murder and arson, according to the NYPD.
Zapeta is currently being held by the NYPD. Transit police apprehended the man Sunday evening after they received a report from three high school students who had recognized him from surveillance footage widely distributed by police.
Zapeta, 33, is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally after he had been previously removed in 2018, said Jeff Carter, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It is unclear when and where he reentered the U.S. Federal immigration officials will issue a detainer for him once he is charged to transfer him into federal custody, Carter said. Federal immigration officials will typically issue a detainer request to ask an agency to hold a person until he or she can be taken into immigration custody, rather than having the person released back into public.
"The depravity of this horrific crime is beyond comprehension, and my office is committed to bringing the perpetrator to justice," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. "This gruesome and senseless act of violence against a vulnerable woman will be met with the most serious consequences. Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe on our subways, and we will do everything in our power to ensure accountability in this case."
"New Yorkers came through again," said Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who described the case as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being."
33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta-Calil was charged with murder and arson for allegedly lighting a sleeping woman on fire aboard a Brooklyn subway train, killing her.NYPD
Police responded as the F train containing the suspect reached the Herald Square–34th Street subway station in Manhattan, and officers had the train stopped. Officials walked through each car until they recognized the suspect— who was clad in the same clothes he was wearing in the surveillance images form the scene of the murder — and took him into custody.
Officials continue working to identify the woman who died after being intentionally set on fire Sunday morning.
The suspect and victim were on an F train that was approaching the Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn at about 7:30 a.m. when the incident occurred, cops said.
The woman was sitting and motionless, apparently sleeping, as the train pulled into the end-of-the-line station. She was then approached by the unknown man who used a lighter to spark her clothes, which went up in flames in seconds, Tisch added.
Officers were patrolling the platform when they smelt smoke, and upon moving toward the smell, they saw a commotion and discovered the woman ablaze.
She was on fire and surrounded by liquor bottles when officers arrived, police said. The subway car itself was not on fire.
Police and an MTA employee extinguished the fire and EMS declared the woman dead at the scene, authorities said.
Further investigation found that after the suspect lit the victim on fire, he exited the train car and watched the scene unfold from a bench across the platform from the train car.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
