Migrant Who Set F Train Rider On Fire Pleads Not Guilty To Murder

NEW YORK CITY — A 33-year-old Guatemalan migrant who killed a woman by setting her on fire aboard a New York City subway car last month pleaded not guilty to murder charges on Tuesday.

Sebastian Zapeta-Calil was indicted on first and second-degree murder charges as well as arson in the deadly incident.

On Dec. 22, Zapeta-Calil is accused of walking up to Debrina Kawam, 57, as she slept on an F train subway car approaching the Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue station and lighting her clothes and blanket on fire, authorities said.

Officers on the station’s upper level smelled smoke and found the victim standing inside the subway car, fully engulfed in flames.

Kawam was pronounced dead at the scene, Patch previously reported.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the incident as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being.”

Zapeta-Calil was caught at the border in Arizona on June 1, 2018, and was deported but re-entered the country illegally sometime within the past six years, a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told CNN.

The agency will lodge a detainer on Zapeta-Calil while he is held in New York City.

Zapeta-Calil stayed at the scene after lighting the fire, sitting on a nearby bench and in doing so allowing police body cameras to capture his image, which was shared widely.

Three teens called 911 to say they had seen the man at the subway station at Jay and York streets.

Officers responded, saw the suspect on a moving train, stopped the train and arrested the man, who had a lighter in his pocket.

The events of the killing were captured on a train camera.

This is a developing story. This post may be updated.