Suspect accused of burning woman to death on NYC subway is formerly deported illegal immigrant

The Guatemalan migrant arrested in connection with the horrific death of a woman set on fire and burned to death on a subway train in Brooklyn, New YorkSunday was previously expelled.

Sebastin Zapeta, 33, was arrested by the Border Patrol on June 1, 2018, after he crossed illegally into Sonoita, Arizona, and was deported by the Trump administration just days later on June 7, said a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and customs official Marie Ferguson to Fox News.

Ferguson added that Zapeta then entered the United States illegally “at an unknown date and place.”

She added that after Zapeta is charged and details of where he is being held are released, enforcement and removal operations will “deposit an immigration detainer at the NYPD location where he is being held.”

NYPD ARRESTS MIGRANT WHO SET WOMAN ON FIRE ON SUBWAY, THEN BURN HER TO DEATH

NYPD officers escort a suspect wanted in a homicide on the F train in Coney Island from an area of ​​Lower Manhattan, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (Courtesy: GN Miller/New York Post)

So far, no charges have been brought against Zapeta. The Kings County District Attorney’s office said in a statement Monday that they “do not have a timeline for that,” and “do not anticipate a court appearance today.”

Surveillance video showed the suspect calmly approach the woman, who was sitting motionless and possibly sleeping, while aboard a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station, then set her on fire.

The New York Police Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry about the victim’s identity.

VIRGINIA MAN CONGREGATED TO PLAN ‘MASS AFFAIR’ ATTACK ON NYC ISRAELI CONSULATE

Police investigate the scene where a woman died after being set on fire by a man aboard an MTA subway train as she slept at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, New York, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Her clothes “were completely engulfed in a matter of seconds,” said New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who described the case as “one of the most depraved crimes a person could possibly commit against another human being.”

The suspect then sat on a nearby bench outside the train car and watched as officers and a transit worker extinguished the flames. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

The police believe that the woman had been sleeping on board the train when a man approached her and set her on fire. She was pronounced dead at the scene. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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He was arrested hours later while riding the same subway line. Tisch added that the person of interest was found with a lighter in his pocket.

“The depravity of this horrific crime is unfathomable and my office is committed to bringing the perpetrator to justice,” the DA’s office said. “This horrific and senseless act of violence against a vulnerable woman will be met with the most serious consequences. Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe on our subways, and we will do everything in our power to ensure accountability in this case. I commend the NYPD for their swift work in apprehending the suspect.”

Fox News’ Seth Andrews, Greg Wehner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.