Suspect accused of burning woman to death on NYC subway is previously deported illegal immigrant

The Guatemalan migrant arrested in connection with the gruesome death of a woman who was set on fire and burned on a subway train in Brooklyn, New Yorkhe was previously deported on Sunday.

Sebastina Zapeta (33) was arrested by the border police on June 1, 2018 after he illegally crossed 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 re-entered the US illegally “at an unknown date and location.”

She added that once Zapeta is charged and details of where he is being held are released, the Department of Enforcement and Removal will “assign the immigration detainer to the NYPD where he is being held.

NYPD ARRESTS MIGRANT WHO ALLEGEDLY SET WOMAN ON FIRE ON SUBWAY TRAIN, WATCHED BURNING

NYPD officers follow a murder suspect on the F train at Coney Island from the station in Lower Manhattan on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (Courtesy: GN Miller/New York Post)

No indictment has been brought against Zapeta so far. The Kings County District Attorney’s office said in a statement Monday that they “don’t have a timeline for that” and “do not expect a court appearance today.”

Surveillance video showed the suspect calmly approach the woman, who was sitting motionless and possibly asleep, while on the F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station, then set her on fire.

The New York City Police Department did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Fox News Digital about the identity of the victim.

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Police investigate the scene where a woman died after being set on fire by a man on an MTA subway train while she was sleeping at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York, United States on Sunday, December 22, 2024. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Her clothing “became completely consumed within seconds,” New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said, describing the case as “one of the most depraved crimes that one person can commit against another human being.”

The suspect then sat down on a nearby bench in front of the train car and watched as police officers and a transit worker put out the flames. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police investigate at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn after a woman was set on fire and died in a subway car in New York, United States on December 22, 2024. Police believe the woman was sleeping on the train when a man approached her and set her on fire. She was pronounced dead at the scene. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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He was arrested a few hours later while riding the same subway line. Tisch added that the person of interest was found with a lighter in his pocket.

“The depravity of this horrific crime is incomprehensible, and my office is committed to bringing the perpetrators to justice,” the state attorney’s office said. “This horrific and senseless act of violence against a vulnerable woman will be met with the most 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 swift action in catching the suspect.”

Fox News’ Seth Andrews, Greg Wehner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.