Authorities have released the identity of the sleeping woman burned to death inside a New York City subway train by a man who allegedly lit her on fire and stayed to watch the aftermath, officials said Tuesday.
The woman identified in the F train attack at Brooklyn's Coney Island station earlier this month was named Debrina Kawam. She was 57 and had a last known address in New Jersey. New York City Mayor Eric Adams says Kawam also spent some time in the city's shelter system. Additional details weren't available.
Sebastian Zapeta has been accused by prosecutors of lighting the woman on fire, then fanning the flames with a shirt, causing her to become engulfed in the blaze, before sitting on a platform bench and watching as she burned.
“This was a malicious deed. A sleeping, vulnerable woman on our subway system,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said after a brief court hearing where the indictment was announced last week.
He said Zapeta has been charged with multiple counts of murder as well as an arson charge. The top charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. The indictment will be unsealed on Jan. 7.
Zapeta, 33, was not present at the hearing, and his attorney declined to comment afterward.
Zapeta, who federal immigration officials said is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally, was taken into custody on Sunday. During questioning by police, prosecutors say he claimed not to know what had happened, noting that he consumes alcohol, but identified himself in photos and surveillance video showing the fire being lit.
The harrowing episode has renewed discussion about safety in the nation’s largest mass transit system.
Overall, crime in the subway is relatively rare, with trains and platforms generally as safe as any other public place in New York City. Police data shows major crimes were down this year through November, compared to the same period in 2023.
But homicides were up, with nine killings through November versus five during the same time frame last year. That figure doesn’t include the woman who was burned to death, nor a man who was fatally stabbed at a Queens subway station the same day.
High-profile attacks such as stabbings and shovings also put many riders on edge in a city where millions ride the rails every day.