Man accused of burning woman to death on NY subway charged with murder

A man accused of lighting a woman’s clothes on fire aboard a New York City subway was arraigned in Brooklyn criminal court on Tuesday for first and second degree murder charges in addition to arson according to the Associated Press.

Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was arrested on Sunday after three high schoolers notified police they saw him in a subway train car. The New York Police Department and Brooklyn District Attorney did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.

“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,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said according to the AP.

Authorities went near the platform where the crime happened once they saw smoke rising.

Investigators do not believe that Zapeta and his victim, a woman who has not been publicly identified, knew each other. Law enforcement officers say he approached her, lit her clothes on fire and fanned the flames with a shirt before watching her burn from a bench on the subway platform.

Zapeta told the authorities that he did not know what happened.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Jeff Carter identified Zapeta as an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who returned to the country after being deported in 2018.

Public defender Andrew Friedman is currently representing the man in legal proceedings, and he is scheduled to appear in court again on Friday.

Topics

Man accused of fatally setting NYC subway rider on fire says he doesn't recall incident

The man accused of killing a New York City subway rider by setting her on fire has no memory of "what happened" and admitted to heavy drinking, authorities said Tuesday.
NBC News - 19h
NYC Subway Fire: What We Know About the Fatal Burning of a Woman

The woman, who has not been identified, died after a man set her on fire on an F train on Sunday morning. The police have charged a man from Guatemala with murder and arson.
The New York Times - 14h
NY subway death accused fanned flames with shirt, prosecutors say

The woman fatally set alight on a Brooklyn train was attacked by a man she is not believed to have known.
BBC News - 16h
Woman in crown court charged with murder of son, 5

Claire Button appears by video link and is remanded into custody until a plea hearing in January.
BBC News - 1d
NYC police charge man with murder of woman set on fire on subway

Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was charged with murder and arson after a woman sleeping on the New York City subway was set on fire and died, police say.
CBS News - 1d
Man charged in fatal burning of woman in New York subway car

Suspect identified as Sebastian Zapeta charged with murder and arson after watching victim set ablaze die, police said. A man who allegedly set a woman on fire inside a New York subway train ...
The Guardian - 1d
Suspect in NYC Subway Fire Is Charged With Murder in Woman’s Death

The man charged with murder in the woman’s death was identified by federal officials as a 33-year-old from Guatemala who was in the United States illegally.
The New York Times - 1d
'Depravity': Undocumented migrant charged with fatally burning woman on subway

The suspect -- identified by police on Monday as 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta -- was taken into custody on Sunday, hours after the incident.
ABC News - 1d
Man charged in woman's burning death on NYC subway was deported from U.S. in 2018

A man charged with murder in the death of a woman set on fire on a New York subway car was in the U.S. unlawfully and had been deported, federal officials said.
NBC News - 1d