A man is facing murder and arson charges in New York City for allegedly setting a woman on fire inside a stationary subway train and then remained at the scene, watching her die after she was engulfed in flames, police said Monday, the Associated Press reports. 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. Surveillance video showed the suspect approach the woman, who was sitting motionless and may have been sleeping within an F train car that was sitting at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn.
After he set her on fire, the woman’s clothing was fully aflame within "in a matter of seconds,” said Jessica Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, who called the incident “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being.” Police and a transit worker had extinguished the flames, but the women was critically injured, she said. It is unclear when and where Zapeta reentered the U.S. after being removed about six years ago.
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