Suspect charged in NYC subway burning death appears in court
NEW YORK CITY - The suspect charged in the death of a woman who was set on fire Sunday inside a Brooklyn subway train made an initial court appearance Tuesday and will remain in custody.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was arraigned in Brooklyn criminal court. He appeared briefly before a judge and wore a white jumpsuit over a weathered black hooded sweatshirt. He did not speak.
He will remain jailed ahead of his next court date on Friday. He was charged on Monday with murder, among other charges.
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NYC subway fire: Who is Sebastian Zapeta-Calil?
The NYPD identified the suspect in connection to the death of a woman who was set on fire on Sunday inside a Brooklyn subway train as 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta-Calil.
During Zapeta's court hearing on Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Ari Rottenberg said Zapeta at one point fanned the flames on the woman using his shirt. He said a 911 call from a subway rider helped identify Zapeta.
Rottenberg added that under interrogation Zapeta claimed he didn’t know what happened, noting that he consumes alcohol. But he alleged that Zapeta identified himself to interrogators in images related to the attack.
A Brooklyn address for Zapeta released by police matches a shelter that provides housing and substance abuse support. The shelter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Who is the suspect?
The suspect was arrested by Border Patrol back on June 1, 2018, after he crossed illegally into Sonoita, Arizona. He was deported by the Trump administration just days later on June 7, ICE spokesperson Marie Ferguson told FOX News.
"Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, is an unlawfully present Guatemalan citizen who entered the United States without admission by an immigration official," a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said.
Ferguson added that Zapeta then re-entered the U.S. illegally "on an unknown date and location."
Timeline of events: What happened on Sunday?
According to police, the victim, as well as the suspect, were both riding the F train just before 7:30 a.m. to the Stillwell Avenue Subway station in Coney Island. Police do not believe the two knew one another.
When the train stopped at the end of the line, police said the suspect calmly walked up to the seated woman and set her on fire with his lighter. The woman's clothing then "became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds," NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Sunday press conference.
"Officers who were on patrol on an upper level of that station smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate. What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames," Tisch said.
The woman, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.
"With the help of an MTA employee and a fire extinguisher, the flames were put out. Unfortunately, it was too late," Tisch said.
Transit police apprehended the suspect after receiving a report from three high school students who had recognized him. They had seen images of the man taken from surveillance and police body cam video and widely distributed by police.
"New Yorkers came through again," Tisch said, describing the case as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being."
Unbeknownst to the officers, the suspect had remained at the scene and was seated 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 the suspect and those images were publicly disseminated.
After later receiving a 911 call from the teenagers, other transit officers identified the suspect on another subway train and radioed ahead to the next station, where more officers kept the train doors closed, searched each car and ultimately apprehended him without incident, said Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta. The suspect had a lighter in his pocket when he was taken into custody, Tisch said.