‘One of the most depraved crimes’: Woman burnt to death on New York subway

New York: A suspect has been arrested over the death of a woman police believe may have fallen asleep on a stationary subway train before being intentionally set on fire by a man she didn’t know.

New York transit police announced the arrest of the man after receiving a report from three high school students who recognised him. They had seen images of him taken from surveillance and police body cam video and widely distributed by police.

Police were called to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn after a woman in a carriage was set alight.Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images

“New Yorkers came through again,” said New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who described the case as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being”.

Tisch said the suspect and the woman, neither of whom has been identified, were riding on a subway train without any interaction between them to the end of the line in Brooklyn about 7.30am on Sunday (New York time).

After the train came to a stop, surveillance video from the train carriage showed the man “calmly” walk up to the victim, who was seated motionless, possibly sleeping, and set her clothing on fire with what appeared to be a lighter. The woman’s clothing became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds, Tisch said.

Police do not believe the two knew one another.

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, seen in a file picture, described the case as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being”.Credit: AP

Officers on a routine patrol at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station smelled and saw smoke and discovered the woman on fire, standing in the middle of the carriage.

After the fire was extinguished, emergency medical personnel declared the woman dead at the scene.

Unbeknown to the officers, the suspect had remained at the scene and was seated on a bench on the subway platform, just outside the train carriage, Tisch said.

Body cameras worn by the officers caught a “very clear, detailed look” at the suspect and those images were publicly disseminated.

After later receiving a 911 call from the teenagers, other transit officers identified the man on another subway train and radioed ahead to the next station, where more officers kept the train doors closed, searched each carriage and ultimately apprehended him without incident, Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta said. The man had a lighter in his pocket when he was taken into custody, Tisch said.

Gulotta said the investigation was continuing, including as to whether the woman was homeless and the background of the suspect.

The case marked the second fatality on a New York subway on the same day.

The Stillwell Avenue Terminal in Brooklyn.Credit: AP

At 12.35am, police responded to an emergency call for an assault in progress at the 61st Street-Woodside Station in Queens and found a 37-year-old man with a stab wound to his torso and a 26-year-old man with slashes throughout his body. The older man was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital while the younger man was in stable condition, police said.

An investigation was continuing.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has sent New York National Guard members to the city’s subway system this year to help police conduct random searches of riders’ bags for weapons following a series of high-profile crimes on city trains. Hochul recently deployed additional members to help patrol during the holiday season.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, seen in a file picture, has sent New York National Guard members to the city’s subway system to help police conduct random searches of riders’ bags for weapons.Credit: AP

About a year ago, Hochul supported funding to install video cameras on every train carriage in the New York subway system, said Michael Kemper, chief security officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

AP

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