Squat Guat arrested for setting sleeping NYC subway rider on fire, watching her burn to death: cops

[The Bobster]

Guatemalan migrant arrested for setting sleeping NYC subway rider on fire, watching her burn to death: cops

A Guatemalan migrant has been arrested for allegedly lighting a sleeping subway rider on fire in Brooklyn on Sunday morning — then watching as his innocent victim burned to death in what the police…

nypost.com

Guatemalan migrant arrested for setting sleeping NYC subway rider on fire, watching her burn to death: cops​

By
Joe Marino,
Larry Celona,
Steve Janoski and
Dorian Geiger



Published Dec. 22, 2024

Updated Dec. 22, 2024, 6:05 p.m. ET












A Guatemalan migrant has been arrested for allegedly lighting a sleeping subway rider on fire in Brooklyn on Sunday morning — then watching as his innocent victim burned to death in what the police commissioner called “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit.”
The savage killing — which happened at about 7:30 a.m. on an idling F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station — shocked commuters, MTA workers and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who said Sunday that the heinous crime “took the life of an innocent New Yorker.”
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A suspect was arrested in connection with the deadly subway fire attack Sunday. G.N.Miller/NYPost
“As the train pulled into the station, the suspect calmly walked up to the victim, who was in a seated position at the end of a subway car … and used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds,” Tisch said at a press conference.
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Patrolling cops smelled and saw the smoke, then followed it to the flame-covered woman, the commissioner said.

They extinguished the blaze, but the victim died at the scene.
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Horrifying video obtained by The Post showed the suspect calmly looking on as flames consumed the still-unidentified woman, who stood inside the open subway car door.

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A transit cop walked by, and seemed to pull out a radio and say something as they continued down the platform.
After the cop passed, the suspect got up as if to walk away — then the clip cut off.
In another video, cops yelled to the gathered crowd, “Did anybody see anything? Did anybody see anything?” as smoke poured from inside the subway car.
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The suspect allegedly sat and watched the victim after the gruesome assault. Obtained by the Post
The suspect brazenly sat on a nearby bench as cops huddled around, pulling his hood up at one point just before an officer spoke to him.
“Do me a favor? Walk down there,” the cop said, motioning down the platform with his radio. “I need this space cleared up.”
The man stood up, then left 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,” Tisch said.
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“The body-worn cameras on the responding officers produced a very clear, detailed look at the killer.”
Later in day, three high schoolers called police to say they saw the man pictured in images released by the NYPD at the Jay and York Street station on the F line, according to Tisch and the NYPD’s Chief of Transit, Joseph Gulotta.
When transit officers responded to that call, they found the suspect already on another train leaving the station — and wearing the same gray hoodie, wool hat and paint-splattered pants he’d been wearing when he allegedly torched the woman.
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The victim died at the scene. Gregory P. Mango
Cops called ahead and halted the train at Herald Square. Then, they went from car to car until they found the suspect and arrested him, police officials said.
Tisch said the suspect had a lighter in his pocket when he was picked up.
“I want to thank the young people who called 911 to help,” Tisch said. “They saw something, and they said something, and they did something.”
Gulotta echoed her comments, calling the arrest “amazing work done by the public and the police working together.”
Police don’t believe the migrant and the victim knew each other before the killing, Gulotta added.
Earlier in the morning, cops, firefighters and medical examiner personnel clad in white Tyvek suits combed the tracks for evidence after they cordoned off the area.
Around 1 p.m., authorities carried a body bag containing the woman’s corpse out of the train and placed it on a gurney. Then they wheeled it over to a medical examiner van and moved it inside.
The woman has not yet been identified.

 

[The Bobster]

Woman set on fire on NYC subway identified as Debrina Kawam, of New Jersey, police say

The woman who was set on fire on the NYC subway has been identified as Debrina Kawam, of Toms River, New Jersey, police say.

www.cbsnews.com

Woman set on fire on NYC subway identified as Debrina Kawam, of New Jersey, police say​

By Renee Anderson

Updated on: December 31, 2024 / 1:19 PM EST / CBS New York

NEW YORK -- The woman who was set on fire and burned to death on a New York City subway car has been identified as Debrina Kawam, of Toms River, New Jersey, police said Tuesday.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters the victim briefly spent time in the city's shelter system, adding his heart goes out to her family.

"Horrific incident to have to live through. Watching that tape, I couldn't even watch it all the way through. Just a bad incident, and it impacts on how New Yorkers feel," Adams said. "It really reinforces what I've been saying, people should not be living on our subway system, they should be in a place of care. And no matter where she lived, that should not have happened."

Sebastian Zapeta is accused of setting the 57-year-old woman on fire while she was sleeping inside a train car at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn.

Prosecutors say he used a lighter to start the fire on Dec. 22 and then used a shirt to fan the flames. The 33-year-old is facing one count of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson.


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"These are significant counts. Murder in the first degree carries the possibility of life without parole. It's the most serious statute in New York state law, and my office is very confident about the evidence in this case and our ability to hold Zapeta accountable for his dastardly deeds," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said when he announced the charges last week.

Meanwhile, the mayor's office is pushing for additional federal charges in the case.

"Lighting another human being on fire and watching them burn alive reflects a level of evil that cannot be tolerated," the office said in a statement last week.

Zapeta is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 7, when the indictment will officially be unsealed.

 

[The Bobster]

Sleeping woman burned to death on NYC subway train pictured in HS yearbook photo: ‘Million dollar smile’

Debrina Kawam had aspirations to be a flight attendant and was known for her “million dollar smile,” according to her high school yearbook biography.

nypost.com

Sleeping woman burned to death on NYC subway train pictured in HS yearbook photo: ‘Million dollar smile’​

By
Alec Gearty



Published Jan. 1, 2025, 9:59 a.m. ET








Warning: Graphic content








The sleeping subway passenger who was burned to death on a Brooklyn F train had aspirations to be a flight attendant and was known for her “million dollar smile,” according to her high school yearbook biography.
Debrina Kawam, known to her classmates as “Debbie” or “Deb,” graduated from Passaic Valley Regional School in Little Falls, New Jersey, in 1985, the New York Times reported.
Kawam, 57, later fell on hard times: Sources said she was living in New York City homeless shelters from September until Dec. 2.
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Debrina Kawam, the NYC subway passenger who was burned to death, was known to her classmates as “Debbie” or “Deb,” and graduated from Passaic Valley Regional School in Little Falls, New Jersey, in 1985. Passaic Valley Regional High School
Her horrific death shocked the city — and the nation.

Illegal Guatemalan immigrant Sebastian Zapeta-Calil is charged with setting her on fire around 7:30 a.m. Dec. 22 on an F train in the Stillwell Avenue-Coney Island station.
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She was asleep on the train when she was set ablaze, video shows.

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Kawam, who was originally from Toms River, said her memories at the public school were participating in freshman and sophomore cheerleading and that her secret ambition was “to party forever.”
She signed off her biography thanking her parents “for everything.”
Kawam was one of three students who earned the superlative of “million dollar smile” and “most punk,” according to the outlet.
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Kawam’s body (seen on fire) was ID’d through fingerprints more than a week after the horrific tragedy.
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Zapeta-Calil, 33, was indicted on first- and second-degree murder and one count of arson on Dec. 27. Curtis Means/POOL
Kawam’s body was ID’d through fingerprints more than a week after the horrific tragedy.
Zapeta-Calil, 33, who was deported in 2018 but sneaked back into the US, was indicted on first- and second-degree murder and one count of arson on Dec. 27.
He claimed he was too drunk and didn’t remember the attack.
Zapeta-Calil faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if he’s convicted on the top count of first-degree murder, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.
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“It is the most serious statute in New York state law, and my office is very confident about the evidence in this case and our ability to hold Zapeta accountable for his dastardly deeds,” Gonzalez said.
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Zepata-Calil claimed he was too drunk and didn’t remember the attack. G.N.Miller/NYPost
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Toms River resident Olga Corpion had purchased the house Kawam’s mother once lived in and said she met Debrina shortly after Corpion moved into the neighborhood in May.
“She said, ‘Hi, my name is Debrina, and I want to go see my mom. My mother lives here. I want to talk to her,’” Corpion told The Post.


“She looked like she was in her 50s, so right away I assumed she was not well, because she didn’t know her mom had moved.
“I’m in shock that she was standing right here and then I found out she died so horribly.”