New York's MTA Coney Island train stop
© Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK
(Brooklyn, NY) –A New York judge denied bail Tuesday (Dec. 24, 2024) for the illegal immigrant accused of igniting a homeless woman on the subway last Sunday and watching her burn to death. Sebastian Zapeta-Calil was charged with first-degree murder and arson at Tuesday’s arraignment. He accused of pouring flammable liquid over a sleeping woman on an “F” train, flicking his lighter on her clothes and then watching her die from the Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue subway platform.
The 33-year-old Guatemalan, who’s in the U.S. illegally after first crossing the Arizona border in 2018, reportedly told police that he doesn’t remember doing it, saying he’s a heavy drinker and was all boozed up Sunday morning. Zapeta-Calil is due in court again on Friday.
Meanwhile, the victim is still a “Jane Doe.” The woman has no name because police are struggling to lift a fingerprint. That’s how badly she was burned and she had no ID in the multiple bags she was carrying on her walker. The Brooklyn Medical Examiner says an autopsy shows the woman died of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.
