Police in New York City have named a woman who was set on fire and burned to death last week on a subway train in Brooklyn.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, is accused of starting the blaze with a lighter while Ms Kawam was asleep.
At a press conference on Tuesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that Ms Kawam had recently spent time at a city homeless shelter.
Authorities declared Ms Kawam dead at the scene.
The subway safety issue arose again on Tuesday afternoon when someone was pushed on to the tracks in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood in front of an oncoming subway, according to New York City police.
The woman who was burned to death on a Brooklyn subway train last week has been identified by New York City police.
The victim of the apparently random attack on December 22 that left Debrina Kawam, 57, of New Jersey, with severe burns, has been identified.
The 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta is charged with using a lighter to start the fire while Ms. Kawam was sleeping. He allegedly used a shirt to fan the flames and then sat on a bench outside the subway car to watch the fire spread.
Mr. Zapeta, who says he has no recollection of the incident, was charged by a grand jury last week with four murders and one arson charge.
According to Julie Bolcer, spokesman for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in New York City, “thermal and inhalational injuries” were the cause of death, which was determined to be a homicide. On Tuesday, she revealed the identity.
She stated, “After a multi-agency effort with our partners in law enforcement, the identity was confirmed by the medical examiner yesterday through fingerprint analysis,”.
The identification of Ms. Kawam’s body took authorities over a week.
Mayor of New York City Eric Adams stated during a press conference on Tuesday that Ms. Kawam had recently been housed at a city homeless shelter.
“It reaffirms what I’ve been saying, which is that people ought to live in caring facilities rather than on our subway system. And that shouldn’t have occurred wherever she lived,” he said.
At an early press conference in the investigation, Brooklyn district attorney Eric Gonzalez stated that investigators had attempted to obtain fingerprints and DNA evidence from Ms. Kawam’s remains.
“Identifying this woman so we can inform her family is a top priority for me, my office, and the police department,” Mr. Gonzalez stated.
Following the attack, a phony AI-generated photo and other unconfirmed and misleading information about her had gone viral online.
Additionally, there was a vigil last week for the victim, who was not yet identified, as part of the outpouring of support.
According to the police, Mr. Zapeta allegedly approached Ms. Kawam with a lighter early on December 22 while she was motionless, seemingly asleep, on a stationary subway train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn.
The two never spoke to one another, and authorities think they were strangers.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that police officers and staff from the Metropolitan Transit Authority were drawn to the fire by the smoke odor and put out the fire.
“The suspect had remained on the scene and was sitting on a bench on the platform just outside the train car, which the responding officers were unaware of,” Ms. Tisch stated.
At the scene, authorities pronounced Ms. Kawam dead.
The incident was called “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being” by Ms. Tisch.
Prosecutor Ari Rottenberg stated during a preliminary hearing on Tuesday that although Mr. Zapeta identified himself in photographs and surveillance footage of the fire being started, he told investigators that he was intoxicated and did not recall the incident.
According to immigration officials, the suspect, who is originally from Guatemala, was deported from the US in 2018 and then unlawfully returned.
His next court date is January 7, according to the prosecution.
Although crime rates on the subway in New York City have decreased, the incident is part of a series of attacks that have caused passengers on the biggest mass transit system in America to express concern.
New York City police said that someone was pushed onto the tracks in front of an approaching subway on Tuesday afternoon in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, reviving the subway safety concern.
According to officials, the unnamed male victim had a head injury and was taken to the hospital. A suspect was later taken into custody by police, the local media reported.
