The man arrested on murder and arson charges in the death of a woman who was set on fire inside a subway train was awaiting arraignment Tuesday, while police are yet to publicly identify the victim.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was formally arrested Monday, and was seen being led out of a Brooklyn police station in a white jumpsuit, but had yet to appear in front of a judge as of Tuesday afternoon.
Police allege he was the man shown on surveillance video calmly approaching the woman aboard a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn on Sunday morning and setting her on fire.
Her clothing “became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds,” said New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch on Sunday, describing the case as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being.”
The man then sat on a nearby bench outside the train car and watched, before officers and a transit worker extinguished the flames, police said.
Here’s the latest on the case:
Zapeta was taken into custody on Sunday, hours after police disseminated images of a suspect in the woman’s death. Police said three high schoolers called 911 after recognizing the person in the image, and officers found him on another subway train in the same gray hoodie, wool hat, paint-splattered pants and tan boots.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Jeff Carter said Zapeta is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally after he had been previously deported to Guatemala in 2018.
It is unclear when and where he reentered the U.S., Carter said.
A Brooklyn address for Zapeta released by police matches a service center for Samaritan Daytop Village, which provides housing and substance abuse support. The organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement, “We will do everything in our power to ensure accountability in this case.”
The victim had not been publicly identified as of Tuesday. An NYPD spokesperson said earlier in the day that an identification of the victim was still “pending at this time.” Police have described her only as a woman.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference on Sunday that the victim was “in a seated position” at the end of the train car when she was set on fire. Joseph Gulotta, the department’s chief of transit, added that police don’t believe the suspect and the victim knew each other, and that they did not interact before or during the incident.
Police patrol the New York City subways, and there is a vast network of cameras in stations and in all subway cars.
But the sheer size of the subway system – 472 stations with multiple entry points and millions of riders each day – makes policing it a logistical nightmare.
On Sunday, officers were at the station but were patrolling a different subway platform. They responded after seeing and smelling smoke coming from the fire.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year directed members of the state’s National Guard to assist with random bag checks at certain stations.
Violent incidents on the subway and in stations often put people on edge, partly because many New Yorkers take the train multiple times a day and often have their own experiences with uncomfortable interactions in the system.
Broadly, crime is down in the city transit system this year compared to the same period in 2023. Data compiled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority shows a 6% decline in what the agency calls major felonies between January and November of this year and 2023.
At the same time, murders in the transit system are up, with nine killings this year through November compared to five in the same time frame last year.
High-profile incidents on the train, such as the case of Daniel Penny, a military veteran who choked an agitated New York subway rider and was acquitted of homicide this month, often attract national attention and further unnerve passengers.
