Police establish girl set on fireplace in lethal New York assault

New York police have introduced the identify of the lady who was set on fireplace and burned to loss of life on a Brooklyn subway prepare.

Authorities on Tuesday recognized Debrina Kawam, 61, of New Jersey, because the sufferer of the apparently random Dec. 22 assault that burned her physique past recognition.

Sebastian Zapeta, 33, is accused of beginning the hearth with a lighter whereas Ms. Kawam slept. He allegedly fanned the flames with a shirt, then watched the hearth develop from a bench outdoors the subway automotive.

Final week, a grand jury indicted Mr. Zapeta, who says he had no reminiscence of the incident, on 4 counts of homicide and one rely of arson.

It took authorities greater than every week to completely establish the physique.

Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn district legal professional, stated at a information convention early within the investigation that authorities had labored to gather DNA proof and fingerprints from Ms. Kawam’s stays.

“It’s a precedence for me, for my workplace, for the police, to establish this girl, so we will notify her household,” Mr. Gonzalez stated.

False and unverified details about her, together with a faux AI-generated photograph, circulated on-line as authorities labored.

There has additionally been an outpouring of help, together with a vigil held final week for the then-unidentified sufferer.

Police stated Ms. Kawam was immobile, apparently asleep, on a stopped subway prepare on the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn early on Dec. 22 when Mr. Zapeta allegedly approached her with a lighter.

The 2 males by no means interacted and police consider they didn’t know one another.

The video seems to point out the suspect waving a shirt at her in an obvious effort to fan the flames slightly than extinguish them. He then will get out of the subway automotive and watches the hearth from a bench on the platform.

Jessica Tisch, New York Metropolis’s police commissioner, stated the scent of smoke attracted law enforcement officials and Metropolitan Transit Authority workers to the hearth the place they put out the flames.

“Unbeknownst to the responding officers, the suspect remained on the scene and was sitting on a bench on the platform simply outdoors the prepare automotive,” Ms Tisch stated.

Authorities pronounced Ms. Kawam lifeless on the scene.

Ms Tisch described the incident as “probably the most wicked crimes an individual can commit in opposition to one other human being”.

At a preliminary listening to Tuesday, prosecutor Ari Rottenberg stated Mr. Zapeta informed investigators he had been ingesting and didn’t keep in mind the incident, however recognized himself on pictures and surveillance movies displaying the hearth lit.

Mr. Zapeta, a local of Guatemala, was deported from the USA in 2018 after which re-entered the nation illegally, immigration authorities stated.

He’s due again in court docket Jan. 7, prosecutors stated.