Sebastian Zapeta-Calil identified as illegal migrant accused of setting fire to woman on NYC subway

On By Littum

The illegal Guatemalan migrant accused of burning a woman on a Brooklyn subway train has been identified as Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, who sneaked back into the United States after being deported, federal immigration officials said Monday.

Zapeta-Calil is now being held by the NYPD while authorities await the results of an autopsy on the victim, sources said.

Police arrested the man accused of lighting a woman on fire on the F train in Brooklyn on December 22, 2024. GNMiller/NYPost
Subway surveillance images show the suspect.
Surveillance footage of the suspect watching the woman burn to death on the train. Obtained by Posten
The Post confirmed that the suspect is a migrant from Guatemala who is in the United States illegally. DCPI

The autopsy will determine what charges can be brought against the migrant – but the process is complicated by the condition of the victim’s body, which was badly burned in the incident, sources said.

According to Marie Ferguson, a spokeswoman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency is expected to file a detainer on Zapeta-Calil while he is being held in the Big Apple.

Follow the latest on the migrant accused of burning a woman to death on the subway:

Ferguson said Zapeta-Calil was captured at the border in Arizona on June 1, 2018, and deported a week later — but entered the country illegally at one point.