BREAKING: New Jersey woman identified as victim burned alive on NYC subway

The woman who was burned to death on F train in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York has been identified as 57-year-old Debrina Kawam of New Jersey.  

According to The New York Times, Kawam hails from Toms River, on the Jersey Shore. Kawam was set on fire and burned to death on December 22. Guatemalan illegal immigrant Sebastian Zapeta, 33, has been indicted for her murder. Cell phone video shows a man setting Kawam on fire then sitting on a bench to watch her burn to death.  

Zapeta was deported previously during Donald Trump’s first term in the White House. He was deported in 2018 but then returned to the United States as a gotaway at an unknown time and location. He arrived in the US on June 1, 2018, and was sent away days later on June 7. 

According to PIX 11, prosecutors in Zapeta’s murder case said that he identified himself in pictures as well as video surveillance on the scene when he allegedly burned the woman to death. Afterwards, after being taken into custody by the police, he told authorities that he could not remember what happened because he was too drunk.  

Zapeta has been indicted for first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder, as well as one count of arson in the case. He is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder charge. 

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez told reporters of the incident, "This was malicious. A sleeping, vulnerable woman on our subway system. This act surprised many New Yorkers as they were getting ready to celebrate the holidays."

Little has been reported about Kawam, however, yearbook photos from Passaic Regional Highschool show Debbie Kawam, a 1985 graduate of the school. William Kawam also attended the school, class of 1982. Both William and Debrina were mentioned in an obituary for their father, William “Billy” Kawam, in 2009. 



The New York Times also reported that Kawam “appeared to have graduated from Passaic Valley Regional High School in Little Falls,” New Jersey, and cited the above section of the 1985 yearbook. The outlet reported that she was in an out of the court system for 20 years for minor offenses such as disorderly conduct and public drinking.  

On a tribute page for her father’s passing in 2009, Kawam wrote, “What is a father? Well let me tell you what wonderful man my father was he was truthful, honest, hardworking and best father a daughter could have I will always regret that it took me later in life to figure that out."

This is a developing story.