Sebastian Zapeta, the Guatemalan man accused of lighting a sleeping subway rider on fire and watching her burn to death on a Brooklyn subway car, pleaded not guilty to murder and arson charges Tuesday.
The 33-year-old was indicted on one count of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder, and arson. Prosecutors said Tuesday that he fanned the flames before sitting down to watch her burn as police and a subway worker tried to put out the fire.
According to court documents, Zapeta later told detectives he was in a drunken blackout during the attack.
“I am very sorry. I didn’t mean to. But I really don’t know, I don’t know what happened, but I’m very sorry for that woman,” he allegedly told detectives, according to a transcript from his interrogation translated from Spanish to English.
NYPD ARRESTS MIGRANT WHO ALLEGEDLY SET WOMAN ON FIRE ON SUBWAY TRAIN, WATCHED HER BURN TO DEATH
Zapeta listened through an interpreter and did not speak during the 4-minute hearing. His lawyer, at the end, said his client needed medical attention, but additional details were not immediately available. The judge ordered him held without bail.
Zapeta entered the U.S. illegally in 2018, according to authorities. He was deported, and returned to the country at an unknown time.
He made his way to New York and on Dec. 22 allegedly lit the woman on fire as she slept on a subway bench.
The victim has been identified as Debrina Kawam, a 57-year-old from Toms River, New Jersey.
She was so badly burned it took more than a week to identify her remains.
Zapeta told detectives he was drunk at the time of the slaying and often blacked out between his home and the subway platform or vice versa.
“Sometimes, when I drink and erase the memory, and I don’t known right?” he said, according to the transcript. “When I wake up, I’m already in the house, already sleeping. I wake up when I’m already at home. Or there are times when I wake up, and I’m already at the train station…or on the train…”
Read the transcript of Zapeta’s interview with detectives:
On the day before the incident, Zapeta told detectives that he had worked in Brooklyn. He got picked up around 5 or 6 p.m. by his boss, who took him back to Queens. He went to a bar for more than an hour and then took a subway to the Grant Avenue station. Around 5 or 6 a.m. the following morning, he took the F train but said he couldn’t remember where. He picked up more beers. The attack happened around 7 a.m.
Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain, said surveillance video of the attack was so twisted he couldn’t finish watching it.
According to the transcript, detectives played ti clip for Zapeta and he told them he didn’t remember any of it. He did, however, allegedly admit it showed him on the screen.
Kawam was sitting by herself, believed to be asleep, on a stopped F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn.
WOMAN BURNED TO DEATH IN HORRIFIC SUBWAY ATTACK IDENTIFIED
“As the train pulled into the station, the suspect calmly walked up to the victim,” New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters at a news briefing. “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.”
SANCTUARY CITY NEW YORK PRESSURED TO MAKE DRASTIC CHANGE AFTER ILLEGAL MIGRANT ALLEGEDLY BURNS WOMAN ALIVE
Then the man walked off the car to a nearby waiting bench, sat down, and watched as help arrived. Responding officers were already in the station, and a transit worker grabbed a fire extinguisher. The suspect even appeared on bodycam video, Tisch said.
The suspect was arrested after three teenagers riding another subway train recognized him from a wanted poster and called 911. He was taken into custody at the next stop.
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Zapeta faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole if convicted.
The NYPD released its end-of-the-year crime statistics for 2024 Monday, touting an overall decrease in crime and an increase in arrests. However, homicides on the subway system doubled compared to 2023.
Zapeta is due back in court on March 12.
“It is difficult to fathom what could lead someone to commit the atrocious and horrific murder with which this defendant is charged,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement after the arraignment. “My office swiftly obtained an indictment, and we are determined to exact the most severe punishment for this heinous and inhumane act. Ms. Kawam and her loved ones deserve a measure of justice and New Yorkers deserve to feel safe in the subways.”
Fox News’ Greg Wehner and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
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