Man Accused of Burning Woman Alive In NYC Subway Indicted On Murder And Arson Charges

The man accused of burning a sleeping woman alive in a New York City subway was indicted on Friday on murder and arson charges, a prosecutor said on Friday. The indictment of Sebastian Zapeta-Calil takes place just days after he was apprehended.

The indictment will be unsealed on January 7, said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. The charges could land him in prison for life without parole. "This was a malicious deed. A sleeping, vulnerable woman on our subway system," Gonzalez said. An attorney representing Zapeta declined to comment on the matter to the Associated Press.

Authorities are still trying to determine the identity of the victim due to the deteriorated state of her corpse. They are using fingerprints and advanced DNA techniques while they also retrace her steps on that day for clues.

CCTV footage shows Zapeta-Calil poured a flammable liquid on the unidentified woman while she slept last Sunday before setting her ablaze. As the train door opened, Zapeta-Calil exited the F train and sat on a bench to watch the victim as flames engulfed her body. He later told law enforcement that he was heavily intoxicated and had no recollection of the heinous attack.

The New York Post detailed that Zapeta-Calil initially entered the U.S. illegally at the Arizona border in 2018. He was detained shortly after and deported back to Guatemala, but managed to cross again undetected and eventually arrived in New York City, where he stayed in various migrant shelters. By April 2023 he was residing at a converted Days Inn on 36th Street and later moved to a shelter on Randall's Island.