Last week, 33-year-old Guatemalan man Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, who is in the country illegally, was indicted by a grand jury on murder and arson charges stemming from a tragic incident. According to prosecutors and police officials, the suspect approached a woman who was seated on an F train subway car in the early hours of the morning. Allegedly, he used a lighter to set her on fire and then fanned the flames with a shirt. The New York Police Commissioner, Jessica Tisch, revealed that the suspect sat on a bench on the platform near the train car as the woman burned before fleeing the scene. Officers’ body cameras captured his image during the incident.
Commissioner Tisch condemned the attack, labeling it as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being.” Photographs of Sebastian Zapeta-Calil were released by the New York Police Department as part of the investigation. Authorities disclosed that the suspect had been deported in June 2018 but managed to re-enter the country at a later point illegally. The exact circumstances of his reentry into the U.S. remain unknown.
Zapeta-Calil was apprehended on December 23 after being identified by several high school students while riding the subway in midtown Manhattan. During a recent court appearance, Assistant District Attorney Ari Rottenberg mentioned that Zapeta-Calil had acknowledged his presence in photos related to the horrific attack. Rottenberg also stated that the suspect claimed he had no knowledge of the incident. An attorney representing Zapeta-Calil has not yet responded to requests for comment from USA TODAY.
The next court date for Sebastian Zapeta-Calil is scheduled for January 7. Contributions to this report were made by John Bacon, Thao Nguyen of USA TODAY, and Reuters.
This article was originally published on USA TODAY and reported the identification of the woman who tragically lost her life in a New York City subway.
