New York Police have identified the woman who was burned alive on the subway in a horrific, random attack caught on camera.
Debrina Kawam, 61, of Toms River, New Jersey, was sleeping on the subway Dec. 22 when a man set her on fire. Kawam died from the attack, the New York Post reported.
Police have charged Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, an undocumented Guatemalan immigrant, with first-degree murder. The attack was caught on video, showing Zapeta-Calil fanning the flames as Kawam is engulfed. The newspaper reported that Zapeta-Calil calmly watched the scorched victim from a bench on the platform.
The Coalition for the Homeless had initially identified her as being possibly homeless, but Fox-5 reported that verification of that was pending. The TV station also reported that Zapeta-Calil was previously deported in 2018, but later re-entered the country illegally at an unknown location and date.
Police do not believe that Kawam and Zapeta-Calil knew each other.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told Fox-5 that officers noticed smoke and rushed to investigate. The responding officers found Kawam fully engulfed, and she was pronounced dead at the scene once the flames were out.
Zapeta-Calil was found and arrested on another train with a lighter in his pocket.
