A man is facing murder charges in New York City for allegedly setting a woman on fire inside a subway train and then watching her die after she was engulfed in flames, police said Monday.
The suspect, identified by police as Sebastian Zapeta, was taken into custody hours after the woman died on Sunday morning.
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.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the case as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being.”
RELATED STORY | Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to state charges in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO
Tisch said the woman and the suspect had been riding a subway train without any interaction between them to the end of the line in Brooklyn at around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday.
After the train came to a stop, surveillance video from the subway car showed the man “calmly” walk up to the victim, who was seated motionless, possibly sleeping, and set her clothing on fire with what appeared to be a lighter. The woman’s clothing then “became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds,” Tisch said.
Police do not believe the two knew one another.
Officers on a routine patrol at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station smelled and saw smoke and discovered the woman on fire, standing in the middle of the subway car. After the fire was extinguished, emergency medical personnel declared the woman dead at the scene.
RELATED STORY | Former Marine acquitted in NYC subway chokehold death trial
Unbeknownst to the officers, the suspect had remained at the scene and was sitting on a bench on the subway platform, just outside the train car, Tisch said. Body cameras worn by the officers caught a “very clear, detailed look” at him and those images were publicly disseminated.
After later receiving a 911 call from three high schoolers who said they recognized the suspect in the photo, officers took a “person of interest” into custody who Tisch said was wearing the same gray hoodie, wool hat, paint-splatted pants and tan boots.
In a statement, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said “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,” he said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul this year has sent New York National Guard members to the city’s subway system to help police conduct random searches of riders’ bags for weapons following a series of high-profile crimes on city trains. Hochul recently deployed additional members to help patrol during the holiday season.
About a year ago, Hochul supported funding to install video cameras on every train car in the New York subway system, said Michael Kemper, chief security officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He and other officials on Sunday credited the cameras with helping to track down the suspect so quickly.
