Man accused of burning woman to death on NY subway charged with murder

A man accused of lighting a woman’s clothes on fire aboard a New York City subway was arraigned in Brooklyn criminal court on Tuesday for first and second degree murder charges in addition to arson according to the Associated Press.

Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was arrested on Sunday after three high schoolers notified police they saw him in a subway train car.  The New York Police Department and Brooklyn District Attorney did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.

“Officers who were on patrol on an upper level of that station smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate. What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said according to the AP.

Authorities went near the platform where the crime happened once they saw smoke rising.

Investigators do not believe that Zapeta and his victim, a woman who has not been publicly identified, knew each other. Law enforcement officers say he approached her, lit her clothes on fire and fanned the flames with a shirt before watching her burn from a bench on the subway platform. 

Zapeta told the authorities that he did not know what happened. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Jeff Carter identified Zapeta as an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who returned to the country after being deported in 2018. 

Public defender Andrew Friedman is currently representing the man in legal proceedings, and he is scheduled to appear in court again on Friday.