Police Identify Woman Burned to Death on New York Subway
The full tragedy of the woman burned to death on the New York subway before Christmas was revealed Tuesday as police said they had finally established her identity.
They named Debrina Kawam, 57, as the victim of the murder, committed early on the morning of Sunday Dec. 22, and said she was a homeless woman originally from New Jersey, according to The New York Post. Kawam was apparently sleeping on the F train at Coney Island when she was set ablaze by a man with a lighter, who then fanned the flames with a shirt.
The case has become a political lightning rod after the man charged with her murder, Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, was revealed to be an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who had previously been deported in 2018 after illegally crossing the border from Mexico. President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming border czar, Tom Homan, claimed it was a matter of “shame” for the state and city of New York and used it to highlight Republican claims of an epidemic of killings by illegal immigrants, telling Fox News, “It’s almost a daily occurrence now.” There are no official statistics to back his claim.
Zapeta-Calil has been charged with first-degree murder and faces life without parole if found guilty. He has not entered a plea.
New York authorities had struggled to identify Kawam due to her extreme injuries, and she was identified by police and the medical examiner through fingerprint analysis, according to reports.
Kawam’s murder came after a tragic struggle with homelessness and debt, New York officials said.
Mayor Eric Adams said that she had briefly spent time in New York City’s shelter system.
“Watching that tape, I couldn’t even watch it all the way through. Just a bad incident, and it impacts on how New Yorkers feel,” Adams said earlier this week. “It really reinforces what I’ve been saying, people should not be living on our subway system, they should be in a place of care. And no matter where she lived, that should not have happened.”
Sources told The New York Post that Kawam had been living in homeless shelters in the city since early September, and had last been recorded in one on the Bronx on Dec. 2, 20 days before her death.
Kawam was said by authorities to have last lived permanently in Toms River, New Jersey, more than 70 miles from New York. Public records also show that in 2020 she had been living in a down-at-heel apartment in Atlantic City, NJ, and had struggled with debt over the years. She had a string of debts stretching back to the 1990s, and in 2008 she declared bankruptcy with debts as high as $100,000, saying she was unable to work due to illness.
She had been arrested for disorderly conduct in Maryland in 2010, spent some time in Florida and also been pursued for unpaid rent in Toms River in 2016.
Kawam was last seen alive on the F train at the Coney island terminus surrounded by her belongings and a walker. Horrific video footage showed how the alleged suspect—who police do not believe knew Kawam but who was also homeless—watched from a bench as his victim was completely engulfed in fire.
He was moved away by police, who later issued his picture from surveillance footage. Three teenagers spotted Zapeta-Calil later in the day, leading to his arrest.
“My office is very confident about the evidence in this case and our ability to hold Zapeta accountable for his dastardly deeds,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said after charges were announced.
