The Guatemalan migrant arrested in connection with the heinous death of a woman who was set on fire and burned in a subway Brooklyn, New Yorkon Sunday had previously been deported.
Sebastin Zapeta, 33, was arrested by Border Patrol on June 1, 2018 after crossed illegally into Sonoita, Arizona, and was deported by the Trump administration just days later on June 7, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Marie Ferguson told Fox News.
Ferguson added that Zapeta then illegally re-entered the U.S. “at an unknown date and location.”
She added that Enforcement and Removal Operations “will place an immigration detainee at the NYPD location where he is being held following the indictment of Zapeta and the release of details regarding his whereabouts.”
The NYPD arrested a migrant who allegedly set a woman on fire on the subway and watched her burn
NYPD officers escort a suspect wanted in a murder on the F train in Coney Island from a precinct in Lower Manhattan on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (Courtesy: GN Miller/New York Post)
To date, no charges have been filed against Zapeta. The Kings County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Monday that it “does not have a timetable for this” and “does not anticipate a court appearance today.”
Surveillance video showed the suspect on a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station calmly approaching the woman, who was sitting motionless and possibly sleeping, and then setting her on fire.
The New York Police Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for the victim’s identity.
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Police investigate the crime scene where a woman died Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, after she was set on fire by a man aboard an MTA subway train while she was at the Coney Island subway station. Stillwell Avenue in Brooklyn, New York was sleeping. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Her clothing “was completely devoured within seconds,” said New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, describing the case as “one of the most depraved crimes that one person could ever commit against another human being.”
The suspect then sat on a bench near the train car and watched as officers and a public transit worker extinguished the flames. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police believe the woman was sleeping on the train when a man came up to her and set her on fire. She was pronounced dead at the scene. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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He was arrested hours later while riding the same subway line. Tisch added that the person they were looking for was found with a lighter in his pocket.
“The depravity of this horrific crime is unimaginable, and my office is committed to bringing the perpetrator to justice,” the DA’s office said. “This cruel and senseless act of violence against a vulnerable woman will have serious consequences. Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe on our subways, and we will do everything in our power to ensure accountability in this case. I commend the NYPD for their quick work in apprehending the suspect.”
Fox News’ Seth Andrews, Greg Wehner and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
