Illegal Guatemalan migrant charged with burning sleeping woman to death on New York subway

An illegal Guatemalan migrant accused of torching a sleeping woman on a Brooklyn subway train has been hit with murder and arson charges.

An illegal Guatemalan migrant accused of torching a sleeping woman on a Brooklyn subway train was hit with murder and arson charges on Monday — as the feds identified him as Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, who snuck back into the US after being deported.

Police charged Zapeta-Calil, 33, with first- and second-degree murder, and arson after he was picked up on Sunday in the gruesome slaying, law enforcement sources told The Post.

Authorities had been awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine what charges would be lodged — but the process is complicated by the condition of the victim’s body, which was badly scorched in the incident, sources said.

The incident has horrified Americans.

The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office is now expected to also file charges.

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

The accused firebug first entered the US illegally at the Arizona border in 2018, but was nabbed just days later and shipped back home, sources told The Post.

The Guatemalan migrant accused of setting a sleeping woman on fire on a New York subway was deported in 2018 but later re-entered the U.S. illegally and lived in the NYC shelter system. (NYP) pic.twitter.com/2ed0N0fVkP

— Tiffany Fong (@TiffanyFong_) December 23, 2024

He later crossed the border again, dodging federal agents and finding his way north to the five boroughs — although it is unclear how long he was in the city before the horrific F train attack on Sunday, the sources said.

What is clear is that by April 2023 he was staying at a Days Inn hotel on 36th Street which had been converted into a migrant shelter — the first of four tax-funded facilities in the city.

A man has been arrested.

When he was issued a transit ticket in 2023, he gave an address of a shelter on Randall’s Island, the sources said.

On Sunday, police said he was at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station, calmly watching the sleeping passenger he allegedly set on fire as she apparently burned to death.

Dramatic video obtained by The Post shows cops swarming the fiery scene, with the migrant getting up and walking away.

But cops nabbed him and took him into custody.

“The depravity of this horrific crime is beyond comprehension, and my office is committed to bringing the perpetrator to justice,” DA Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.

“This gruesome 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.”

The suspect does not appear to have any other previous criminal history, sources said.

— with Jennie Taer

This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Illegal Guatemalan migrant charged with burning sleeping woman to death on New York subway