Police have identified a woman who died this month after being set on fire inside a New York subway train as a 57-year-old woman from New Jersey.
The woman, Debrina Kawam, was registered at an address in Toms River, New Jersey, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Officials had previously said they were using forensic techniques and video surveillance to try to piece together the identity of the victim.
she He was burned to death while apparently sleeping. in a Brooklyn subway car on Sunday, December 22.
A 33-year-old man, Sebastián Zapeta, was arrested hours after police sent images of a suspect who had been discovered by high school students.
Zapeta was charged with murder and arson on Friday and is being held in prison.
Federal immigration authorities say the suspect is from Guatemala and entered the United States illegally.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said today that the victim had had a “brief period in our homeless shelter system” at some point, and that authorities had contacted her next of kin. nearby.
“Our hearts go out to the family, it’s a horrible incident to have to go through,” Adams said during a news conference on another topic.
“It has an impact on how New Yorkers feel. But it really reinforces what I’ve been saying: people shouldn’t be living in our subway system, they should be in a place of care. No matter where he lived, that shouldn’t have happened. “.
Prosecutors allege that Zapeta set Kawam on fire on a stopped F train at Brooklyn’s Coney Island station, fanning the flames with a shirt and then sitting on a bench on the platform and watching it burn.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
“This was a malicious act. A weak, sleeping woman in our subway system,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said after the charge was announced.
Zapeta has not yet entered a plea in the case.
He was arrested hours after Kawam’s death after police received a tip from a group of high school students who recognized images of the suspect distributed by police.
