Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, the illegal Guatemalan migrant accused of setting a woman found on fire on a New York City train, was indicted in relation to the incident on Friday (December 27), the New York Post reports.

Zapeta-Calil, 33, waived his appearance in court while being indicted on first and second degree murder, as well as one count of arson, in relation to the incident that took place on the F train in Brooklyn Sunday (December 22).

“These are significant counts — murder in the first-degree carries the possibility of life without parole,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez via the New York Post.

“It is the most serious statute in New York State law, and my office is very confident about the evidence in this case and our ability to hold Zapeta accountable for his dastardly deeds,” Gonzalez added.

Zapeta-Calil was reportedly "bugged out" on K2 at the time of the incident, according to his roommate at a converted migrant shelter.

“He smoked K2, drank and bugged out,” said Raymond Robinson, who slept next to Zapeta-Calil at the shelter, via the New York Post. “He would bug out and talk to himself when he was high, but he never harmed nobody or himself. When he wasn’t high he’d talk like we’re talking regular.”

Robinson said he smoked about $30 worth of the synthetic drunk daily and lost it when he drank, at which point he allegedly set the victim on fire on an F train at the Coney Island train station, which he claims to not remember. Zapeta-Calil is reported to have illegally entered the Arizona border in 2018, but was deported and shipped back to Guatemala days later.

The suspect later crossed back into the United States, at which point he ended up north of New York City, although it's unclear how long he was in the city before the incident occurred, sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the New York Post. The Guatemalan national was reported to be staying at a converted migrant shelter that previously served as a Randall's Island Days Inn on 36th Street, an address he provided when issued a transit ticket in 2023.

Police said he was watching the passenger sleep when he set a straphanger on fire, causing her to die a fiery death. The department received a report of a fire at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station just prior to 7:30 a.m. local time and found the woman sitting on the idled train upon arrival, the department confirmed. Officers extinguished the fire and the woman was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency medical services responders.

The woman's death occurred one month after a fire knocked out a chunk of F train service to southern Brooklyn for more than two hours. Trains were suspended in both directions just before 1:00 p.m. until just before 3:30 p.m. local time, the Daily News reported.

Mandy Connell

The Mandy Connell Podcast