New York police identify woman burned to death inside subway train

The woman, Debrina Kawam, had a Toms River, New Jersey, address, according to NYPD.

Authorities previously said they were using forensics and video surveillance to identify the victim, who burned to death on a subway car in Brooklyn. The man accused of lighting her on fire, Sebastian Zapeta, was taken into custody hours after police disseminated images of a suspect.

Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court. (AP)

He’s since been indicted on murder and arson charges. Zapeta remains jailed. Federal immigration officials say the 33-year-old is from Guatemala and entered the US illegally.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Tuesday that Kawam had a “brief stint in our homeless shelter system” and that authorities had been in contact with her next of kin. He did not say when Kawam was in the homeless system.

“Hearts go out to the family, a horrific incident to have to live through,” Adams said at an unrelated press briefing.

“It impacts on how New Yorkers feel. But it really reinforces what I’ve been saying: People should not be living on our subway system, they should be in a place of care.

“No matter where she lived that should not have happened.”

Zapeta is accused by prosecutors of lighting Kawam on fire on a stopped F train at Brooklyn’s Coney Island station as she appeared to be sleeping.

Police investigate at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn after a woman aboard a subway car was set on fire and died in New York on Sunday. — The woman was declared dead at the scene. (CNN)

He then fanned the flames with a shirt, engulfing her in the blaze, before sitting on a platform bench and watching as she burned, prosecutors said.

“This was a malicious deed. A sleeping, vulnerable woman on our subway system,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said after his indictment was announced.

Zapeta’s indictment is expected to be unsealed on January 7.