Sebastian Zapeta-Calil was identified as an illegal immigrant and accused of setting a woman on fire on the New York subway

Sebastian Zapeta-Calil was identified as an illegal immigrant and accused of setting a woman on fire on the New York subway

The illegal Guatemalan immigrant accused of setting a woman on fire in a Brooklyn subway has been identified as Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, who secretly sneaked back into the United States after being deported, immigration officials said on Monday with.

According to sources, Zapeta-Calil is currently being held by the NYPD while authorities await the results of an autopsy on the victim.

Police arrested the man accused of setting a woman on fire on the F train in Brooklyn on December 22, 2024. GNMiller/NYPost
Subway surveillance images show the suspect.
Surveillance footage of the suspect watching the woman burn to death on the train. Received from the post office
The Post confirmed that the suspect is a migrant from Guatemala who is in the United States illegally. DCPI

The autopsy will determine what charges can be brought against the migrant – but the process is complicated by the condition of the victim’s body, which was badly burned in the incident, sources said.

The agency is expected to house a detainee at Zapeta-Calil while he is held in the Big Apple, according to Marie Ferguson, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.


Follow the latest on the migrant accused of burning a woman on the subway:


Ferguson said Zapeta-Calil was caught at the border in Arizona on June 1, 2018 and deported a week later – but at some point re-entered the country illegally.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *