NYC subway arson suspect did not remember allegedly setting woman on fire
The man accused of setting a sleeping woman on fire onboard the New York subway has pleaded not guilty after a transcript released Tuesday shows he told investigators he did not remember the alleged incident.
Guatemalan Sebastian Zapeta is accused of setting a sleeping woman's clothes on fire on Dec. 22, using his shirt to fan the flames and then sitting on a platform bench nearby as the woman was engulfed. Police who were in the Brooklyn subway station responded when they saw and smelled smoke, officials said, but were not able to extinguish the flames before the woman burned to death.
The case is one of several New York subway incidents to catapult into the national spotlight in recent months.
In court on Tuesday, Zapeta's lawyer told the judge his client pleaded not guilty to charges of arson and murder, including murder in the first degree.
When Zapeta was shown footage of himself on the subway, and asked to identify the person in the images, he told detectives, "Oh damn, that's me," according to a transcript released Tuesday. Zapeta also said he did not remember allegedly setting the woman on fire onboard the train.
Wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffed behind his back, Zapeta listened as a court-provided Spanish interpreter spoke into his ear Tuesday morning in Kings County Supreme Court. Brooklyn District Attorney's Office Senior Assistant District Attorney Matthew Perry told Judge Danny Chun that Zapeta was being charged for causing the death of another person when he intentionally set the woman on fire in December.
Andrew Friedman at Brooklyn Defender Services, who is representing Zapeta, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
A grand jury last month indicted Zapeta, 33, on one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and arson in the first degree, according to court records. He waived his right to appear at the Dec. 27 hearing.
Chun said the next hearing on the sufficiency of the grand jury evidence is scheduled for March 12.
Suspect worked in Queens, Brooklyn
Zapeta did roofing and siding work in Queens and Brooklyn, according to court documents.
The evening before the incident in the Coney Island subway station, Zapeta went to a bar in Queens. At around 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. the morning of the incident, he took the F train "but doesn't remember where," according to court documents. He then "got some beers," he told investigators.
In an interview with detectives, Zapeta said he did not remember the incident involving the woman being set on fire.
"In truth, I don't remember at all," Zapeta told two detectives around 6 p.m. the day of the crime, according to the transcript. He also told detectives he did not know when the images were from.
'She should be remembered'
Outside the court house in frigid weather Tuesday morning, a local faith leader told reporters the family of the victim, identified by police as 57-year-old Debrina Kawam, want New York City to honor the woman's life.
"She was a human being in this city and she should be remembered," Crisis Action Center Founder Rev. Kevin McCall told Paste BN. "She lived in Brooklyn and died in Brooklyn."
Kawam's family, who were not present in court Tuesday, are from Toms River, New Jersey, a town in the central part of the state on the Jersey Shore, McCall said. Kawam was also originally from Toms River, McCall said, and was in the New York City homeless shelter system in Brooklyn before her death.
A memorial is scheduled for Kawam on Jan. 12 at First Baptist Church in South Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay neighborhood, about two miles from the Coney Island subway station where she was pronounced dead.
Some, pointing to video footage, have accused police officers of appearing to standby as the flames spread. Police said one officer, who is visible in footage near Kawam, was trying to control the crime scene as other officers tried to get fire extinguishers and summon Metropolitan Transit Authority employees. At a news conference, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Kawam "became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds." Police extinguished the flames, but Kawam was pronounced dead at the scene.
Suspect was living in the US illegally
Zapeta, whose charge of first-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of life without parole, was living in the U.S. illegally after being deported in 2018. He had been staying at a homeless shelter in Brooklyn, officials said.
It's unclear whether there was any connection between Kawam and Zapeta, and investigators have not announced a motive in the case.
Zapeta was taken into custody hours after the incident on Dec. 22, after teenagers in Midtown Manhattan identified him on the subway and reported him to authorities. His attorney did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Contributing: Christopher Cann, Eduardo Cuevas