Police have identified the woman who was burned to death aboard a Brooklyn F train in a shocking arson attack last week.
Debrina Kawam, 57, was so badly burned it took authorities several weeks to put a name to her body. Sources familiar with the investigation say that forensic investigators were able to identify Kawam through her fingerprints. Her last known address is listed as Toms River, New Jersey.
Law enforcement sources said Kawam appeared to be sleeping aboard the train at the Coney Island station, a well-known place of shelter for homeless individuals, when the suspected arsonist — identified as Guatemalan migrant Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33 — allegedly set her ablaze using a lighter.
Sources familiar with the case said Zapeta-Calil appeared to be inebriated at the time of the attack. He was caught on videotape allegedly attempting to fan the flames after the woman was set ablaze.
“This gruesome and senseless act of violence against a vulnerable woman will be met with the most serious consequences,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a Dec. 24 statement following Zapeta-Calil’s arraignment on charges of first and second-degree murder, and arson. He remains held in jail without bail, and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without parole if convicted of first-degree murder.
The grizzly fire death shocked the city, heightening many commuters’ sense of safety underground — even as the NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams, citing official crime statistics, maintain the subways are safe.
The incident has also prompted the controversial return of the Guardian Angels, who have begun patrolling the subways following the killing — with the volunteer group’s founder, Curtis Sliwa, questioning the accuracy of public safety reports.
“Stop with the nonsense of the analytics crime is down — what a joke,” Sliwa told Brooklyn Paper’s sister publication amNewYork Metro. “We’re going to show the city and the state what they should be doing. And maybe we can shame them into action, shame them into doing something instead of just talking about it.”
Last week, locals gathered at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station to mourn Kawam, who was unidentified at the time. The group held hands and prayed both at the station’s entrance and on the F Train platform near where she was killed.
Rev. Kevin McCall, who founded the Crisis Action Center, and the other advocates also called on elected officials to do more to keep New Yorkers safe on the subways.
“We are here today because of this horrific crime that has taken place. This crime should not have happened,” McCall said. “The slogan in this city is ‘if you see something, say something.’ But no one said something. No one did nothing. They just watched this young lady burn on fire alive.”
Kawam had dreams of becoming a flight attendant and was remembered by her high school classmates for her “million dollar smile,” according to reports. A 1985 graduate of Passaic Valley Regional High School in Little Falls, New Jersey, Kawam, known as “Debbie” or “Deb,” later faced hardships, living in New York City homeless shelters from September until her death.
A version of this story first appeared on Brooklyn Paper’s sister site amNewYork Metro
