Police identify woman set on fire in deadly New York City attack

Police in New York City have named a woman who was burned to death on a Brooklyn subway train.

Authorities on Tuesday identified Debrina Kawam, 61, of New Jersey as the victim of the Dec. 22 accidental burn that left her body beyond recognition.

Sebastian Zapeta, 33, is accused of lighting a fire with a lamp while Mrs. Kawam was sleeping. He allegedly fanned the fire with a shirt and watched the fire grow from a bench outside the subway.

Last week, a high court acquitted Zapeta, who says he has no recollection of what happened, on four counts of murder and one count of arson.

It took the authorities more than a week to fully identify the body.

Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn district attorney, said at a press conference early in the investigation that authorities had worked to collect DNA evidence and fingerprints from Ms Kawam’s remains.

“It’s important to me, to my office, that the police department identify this woman, that we notify her family,” Gonzalez said.

False and unverified information about him, including a fake AI-generated photo, circulated online while officials worked.

There was also an outpouring of support, including a vigil for a then-unidentified person last week.

Police say Kawam was motionless, apparently asleep, on the subway at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn early on December 22 when Zapeta allegedly approached him with a lighter.

The two did not get along, and police believe they did not know each other.

Video appears to show the suspect blowing his shirt in an attempt to start the fire, rather than extinguish it. Then he gets out of the subway and watches the fire from a bench on the platform.

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the smell of smoke drew police and Metropolitan Transit Authority crews to the fire where they put out the fire.

“Unbeknownst to the responding officers, the suspect remained at the scene and sat on a bench on the platform outside the train car,” Ms Tisch said.

Authorities pronounced Mrs. Kawam dead at the scene.

Ms Tisch described the incident as “one of the worst crimes a person can do to another person”.

During a preliminary hearing Tuesday, prosecutor Ari Rottenberg said Zapeta told investigators he had been drinking and didn’t remember what happened, but he identified himself in photos and video of the fire.

Zapeta, originally from Guatemala, was deported from the US in 2018 and later re-entered the country illegally, immigration officials said.

He is due back in court on January 7, prosecutors said.