Man Arrested for Setting Woman on Fire in 'Brutal, Senseless Homicide' Inside N.Y.C. Subway Car

Mar. 15, 2025

Sebastian Zapeta is accused of burning a woman to death on a subway train.Photo:Bruce Cotler/ZUMA Press Wire / SplashNews

Bruce Cotler/ZUMA Press Wire / SplashNews

Update: In a statement to PEOPLE, the NYPD identified the suspect as Sebastian Zapeta-Calil. Police described the suspect as “an unlawfully present Guatemalan citizen” who had been deported in 2018. According to police, Zapeta-Calil has been arrested but not yet charged.

A suspect has been arrested for allegedly killing a woman after setting her alight on a subway train in New York City.

The unidentified victim was traveling towards Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn when a man set her clothes on fire with a lighter at around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 22, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch reported in anews conference.

According to the commissioner, the suspect “calmly walked up to the victim” who was in a seated position at the end of the train car. He then ignited her clothing and she was “fully engulfed in a matter of seconds.”

Police investigate at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn.Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty

Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty

Surveillance footage from inside the subway car showed the assailant approaching the woman without saying a word and igniting the blanket she was wrapped in. The suspect then sat on a bench and watched the woman burn,CNNandNBC Newsreported. New York City Mayor Eric Adams called the act “depraved” in astatement on X.

Police take security measures at the scene of the killing.Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty

Police were initially unaware that the suspect had remained at the scene Tisch said in the news conference.

However, their Bodycam footage provided a detailed profile of the suspect and images of the man in question were circulated. Three high schoolers subsequently identified him and called 911, Tisch shared.

Transit officers spotted the man riding on another train and he was arrested eight hours after the attack with charges pending, the New York Police Department confirmed, per CNN and NBC News. No other passengers were injured in the attack, according to the outlets.

The woman had been riding the F train when she was set alight.Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty

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New York City Mayor Eric Adamswroteon X (Formerly Twitter), “This type of depraved behavior has no place in our subways and we are committed to working hard to ensure there is swift justice for all victims of violent crime.”

source: people.com