The woman who was heinously burned alive in a New York City subway car last week has been identified as a 61-year-old woman from New Jersey, Fox News Digital has learned.
Police tell Fox News Digital the woman has been identified as Debrina Kawam of Toms River, a township and coastal town located on the Jersey Shore in Ocean County. Kawam was lit on fire and burned to death on a subway train in Brooklyn, New York, on Dec. 22.
The police did not provide an official cause of death.
The homeless non-profit Coalition for the Homeless previously stated that the victim may have been living rough at the time of her death. Police were unable to confirm if she was homeless.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, a previously deported immigrant from Guatemala, was arrested hours after the horrific incident which shocked the nation.
He’s been indicted on one count of murder in the first degree, three counts of murder in the second degree and one count of arson in relation to the horrific case.
Surveillance video of the attack showed the suspect approaching the woman, who was sitting motionless and may have been sleeping, while aboard a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station and then setting her on fire.
Police say Zapeta used a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds.”
The suspect then stayed on the scene and sat on a bench just outside the train car, as officers and a transit worker extinguished the flames. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officials were unable to identify Kawam’s body for days after the attack because she was so severely burned.
Zapeta faces life without the possibility of parole on the murder in the first-degree charge, while second-degree murder carries 25 years to life, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said earlier this week.
“This was malicious. A sleeping, vulnerable woman on our subway system,” Gonzalez added. “This act surprised many New Yorkers as they were getting ready to celebrate the holidays but now New Yorkers are waking up and understanding that on the 22nd of this year, this happened. This was intentional and we hope to prove this.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office tells Fox News Digital that the mayor has directed the NYPD and ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) team to explore criminal charges against Zapeta under the federal arson statute.
Zapeta was apprehended by Border Patrol and subsequently deported by the Trump administration on June 7, 2018 after he crossed illegally into Sonoita, Arizona a week prior, ICE spokesperson Jeff Carter tells Fox News. Zapeta later re-entered the U.S. illegally on an unknown date and location, Carter said.
