NEW YORK — A man faces first-degree murder charges for allegedly setting a woman on fire as she slept on the New York City subway.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was charged Monday with first and second degree murder and arson after the shocking crime on an F train in Coney Island, Brooklyn over the weekend, police said.
Officials said Zapeta, who reentered the U.S. sometime after being sent back to Guatemala in 2018, did now know the woman and they were still working to figure out a motive for the attack.
Woman set on fire on F train in Brooklyn
The unidentified woman was burned to death while sleeping on an F train at around 7:30 a.m. Sunday at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station, police said.
Officers at the station smelled smoke and saw her standing inside the subway car, engulfed in flames. With the help of a transit worker, they grabbed a fire extinguisher, but said the woman died at the scene.
“Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had stayed on the scene and was seated on a bench on the platform just outside the train car, and the body worn cameras on the responding officers produced a very clear, detailed look at the killer,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference Sunday evening. “Three high school age New Yorkers called 911 to say that they recognize the suspect. They saw something and they said something, and they did something.
After getting the tip, detectives said they arrested Zapeta at the 34th Street-Herald Square station a few hours after the incident. He was wearing the same clothes as the person Tisch described and had a lighter in his pocket, they said.
There was no interaction between Zapeta and the woman before the attack, investigators said.
U.S. immigration officials sent suspect back to Guatemala in 2018
According to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials, Zapeta was an “unlawfully present Guatemalan citizen who entered the United States without admission by an immigration official” in 2018 and returned to Guatemala less than a week later.
ICE officials said they do not know when or where Zapeta reentered the U.S.
“The depravity of this horrific crime is beyond comprehension, and my office is committed to bringing the perpetrator to justice. This gruesome and senseless act of violence against a vulnerable woman will be met with the most serious consequences,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. “Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe on our subways, and we will do everything in our power to ensure accountability in this case.”
