NYPD Identifies Woman Who Died in Subway Fire as 61-Year-Old New Jersey Resident
Sebastian Zapeta, a national of Guatemala, has been charged by prosecutors for allegedly setting a woman on fire on a stopped F train at Brooklyn’s Coney Island station on December 22.
On New Year’s Eve, the New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed the identity of the woman who lost her life in the brutal attack on the subway train earlier this month. She was identified as a 61-year-old.
Her name is Debriwna Kawam, with her last known residence being in Toms River, New Jersey, as confirmed by police in an email to The Epoch Times.
The NYPD has not provided additional information regarding how the woman was identified or whether claims of her homelessness are accurate. No further details about Kawam were available at press time.
Zapeta is facing multiple murder charges along with arson, with the most severe charge carrying a potential penalty of life imprisonment without parole.
If convicted under federal arson regulations for an attack resulting in death, he could be sentenced to anywhere between 25 years to life. Federal arson charges for incidents causing injury to properties involved in interstate commerce can impose a maximum sentence of 40 years.
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In the meantime, a conviction under New York state’s first-degree murder law could lead to an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole, a punishment more severe than those available under federal arson legislation.
The police reported that Zapeta approached the victim, who was seated and motionless in the train car and ignited her clothing with a lighter. According to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, the victim’s clothes were “engulfed in flames in a matter of seconds.”
Earlier reports suggested that the victim might have been asleep on the train.
NYPD Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta stated, “That’s going to be part of the investigation. She’s definitely there, she’s motionless, so to say if she’s asleep… we’re not 100 percent sure, but it appears that she’s motionless.”
Officers stationed at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station responded after detecting smoke and found the victim “standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames,” Tisch added. Despite attempts to put out the fire, the woman was declared dead at the scene.
Disturbing footage circulating on social media shows Zapeta seated on a bench while the fire blazed inside the subway car. He fled the scene but was apprehended at the 34th Street-Herald Square station in Manhattan after a group of teenagers recognized him and alerted 911.
Zapeta, a Guatemalan national who was deported in 2018 and unlawfully re-entered the United States, is currently detained at Rikers Island.
Bill Pan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
