Illegal migrant indicted on murder charges after woman is burned to death on subway
The illegal migrant accused of burning a New York City subway rider to death on Sunday has been indicted on murder charges.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was indicted on one count of murder in the first degree, three counts of murder in the second degree and one count of arson after a woman was lit on fire and burned to death on a subway train in Brooklyn, New York. The indictment was filed Thursday and will be unsealed at an arraignment hearing on Jan. 7.
Zapeta's attorney told the judge he spoke with his client Friday and asked for permission to waive his client's appearance. The judge granted the request.
Zapeta is a previously deported immigrant from Guatemala.
Police and the medical examiner are still working to identify the victim days after the horror because she was so severely burned.
They have made some progress in identifying her, but the Brooklyn District Attorney said he is not at liberty to discuss the progress. Investigators also believe that she was homeless and are working to track down any possible family members.
Surveillance video of Sunday's attack showed the suspect approaching the woman, who was sitting motionless and may have been sleeping, while aboard a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station and then setting her on fire.
"As the train pulled into the station, the suspect calmly walked up to the victim," Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a press conference on Sunday evening, adding that the female victim was in a seated position. "The suspect used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds."
The suspect then stayed on the scene and sat on a bench just outside the train car, as officers and a transit worker extinguished the flames. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Zapeta was apprehended by Border Patrol and subsequently deported by the Trump administration in June 2018 after he crossed illegally into Sonoita, Arizona, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson Marie Ferguson told Fox News, adding that Zapeta later re-entered the U.S. illegally.
The indictment comes weeks after Daniel Penny was acquitted in the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia who barged onto a train shouting death threats while high on a type of synthetic marijuana known as K2.
Penny, a 26-year-old Marine veteran and architecture student, put Neely into a chokehold as straphangers on the train say they feared for their safety due to Neely's threats.
Penny was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide but was ultimately acquitted.
Fox News' Mollie Markowitz and Stepheny Price contributed to this report.