Woman Killed After Being Set on Fire in N.Y.C. Subway Car Identified

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo:Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty; Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty

Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty; Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty

Police identified the victim as 57-year-old Debrina Kawam, the NYPD confirms with PEOPLE.

Kawam was a resident of Toms River, N.J., the police said. Prior to her death, she had stayed in New York City homeless shelters, Mayor Eric Adams told reporters on Tuesday.

Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, has been charged with murder in the killing.

Sebastian Zapeta.Bruce Cotler/ZUMA Press Wire / SplashNews

Bruce Cotler/ZUMA Press Wire / SplashNews

The victim was apparently asleep on an F train in Coney Island, Brooklyn on Sunday, Dec. 22, when the suspect allegedly attacked her.

Tisch said the train was pulling into a station when the suspect “calmly walked up to the victim" who was sitting in a corner in the subway car.

He allegedly used what authorities believe was a lighter to set fire to the victim’s clothing which was then “fully engulfed in flames in a matter of seconds,” Tisch said.

NYPD Chief of Transit Joseph M. Gulotta said at the press conference that the woman was sitting “motionless” when the suspect approached her, and there was no interaction between the two prior to the attack.

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Zapeta hasbeen indictedfor first-degree murder, second-degree murder and first-degree arson, which could land him in prison for life without parole. He has not yet entered a plea, and is due back in court on Jan. 7.

source: people.com