A girl who died this month after being set on hearth inside a New York subway prepare has been recognized by police as a 57-year-old girl from New Jersey.
The girl, Debrina Kawam, was registered to an tackle in Toms River, New Jersey, based on New York Police Division (NYPD).
Officers had beforehand stated they had been utilizing forensics and video surveillance to attempt to piece collectively the id of the sufferer.
She burned to loss of life whereas apparently sleeping in a subway automobile in Brooklyn on Sunday 22 December.
A 33-year-old man, Sebastian Zapeta, was taken into custody hours after police despatched out photographs of a suspect who had been noticed by highschool college students.
Zapeta was charged with homicide and arson on Friday and is being held in jail.
Federal immigration authorities say the suspect is from Guatemala and entered the US illegally.
New York Metropolis mayor Eric Adams stated at this time the sufferer had had a “brief stint in our homeless shelter system” in some unspecified time in the future, and that authorities had contacted her subsequent of kin.
“It impacts on how New Yorkers feel. But it really reinforces what I’ve been saying: People should not be living on our subway system, they should be in a place of care. No matter where she lived, that should not have happened.”
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Sebastian Zapeta appeared in courtroom on Christmas Eve. Pic: AP
Prosecutors allege Zapeta set Kawam on hearth on a stopped F prepare at Brooklyn’s Coney Island station, fanned the flames with a shirt, after which sat on a platform bench and watched as she burned.
She was pronounced useless on the scene.
“This was a malicious deed. A sleeping, vulnerable woman on our subway system,” Brooklyn district legal professional Eric Gonzalez stated after the cost was introduced.
Zapeta has but to enter a plea within the case.
He was arrested hours after the Kawam’s loss of life following the police receiving a tip off from a bunch of highschool college students who recognised photographs of the suspect circulated by police.
