NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of burning a woman to death on a New York City subway train has been charged with murder and arson, a prosecutor said Friday, as authorities continue to work to confirm the victim’s identity.
The charges come days after Sebastian Zapeta’s arrest and subsequent questioning by police, in which authorities say he claimed he did not know what happened but identified himself in photos and surveillance video showing the fire being set.
Prosecutors say the charges against Zapeta will be unsealed on January 7. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez told reporters that Zapeta has been charged with multiple counts of murder and arson. The top charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
Zapeta, 33, who federal immigration officials said was a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally, was initially charged with murder and arson in a criminal complaint. Such filings are often a first step in the criminal process, because in New York, all felony cases require a grand jury indictment to proceed to trial unless a suspect waives that requirement.
Authorities say Zapeta approached the woman, who may have slept on the trainon a stopped F train at the Coney Island station in Brooklyn, and set her clothing on fire with a lighter on Sunday morning. He fanned the flames with a shirt, causing her to burst into flames, authorities said.
Zapeta then sat on a bench on the platform and watched her burn, prosecutors allege. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gonzalez told reporters Friday that police and medical examiners are working to identify the woman using fingerprints and advanced DNA techniques, while also tracing her steps before the killing.
Police took Zapeta into custody later that day while he was on the train on the same line.
A Brooklyn address for Zapeta released by police after his arrest matches a shelter that provides housing and substance abuse support.
Federal immigration officials said he was deported in 2018 but returned to the U.S. illegally sometime afterward.
The gripping episode has renewed concerns about safety in the country’s largest public transport system.
Overall, crime is relatively rare in the metro, involving trains and platforms generally equally safe like any other public place in New York City. Police data shows major crimes down this year through November, compared to the same period in 2023.
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But the number of murders was up, with nine murders through November, compared to five in the same period last year. That figure does not include the woman who was burned to death, nor a man who was fatally stabbed in a Queens subway station the same day.
High-profile incidents such as stabbings and shovings also cause many riders to feel tense in a city where millions of people ride on the tracks every day.
“When you have these incidents, it overshadows the success and plays on the psyche of New Yorkers,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said in a television interview earlier this week, noting that many high-profile incidents involve people with mental health problems. .