By Matthew Holloway |

Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, the 33-year-old Guatemalan illegal immigrant arrested in connection with the horrifying murder of a woman riding a New York City subway, first entered the U.S. near Sonoita, Arizona, on June 1, 2018. Federal immigration officials told the Associated Press (AP) that Zapeta-Calilis came across the border illegally. NBC News specified that the suspect was deported back to Guatemala approximately a week later on June 7, 2018.

According to authorities cited by the AP, Zapeta-Calil approached the unidentified victim, who may have been asleep on the train, and set her clothes on fire with a lighter. He then allegedly fanned the flames with a shirt, causing the woman to become engulfed in flames, according to Assistant District Attorney Ari Rottenberg.

Rottenberg told the court on Tuesday that the suspect then sat on a subway platform bench and watched the woman burn. Zapeta-Calil reportedly told responding detectives that he did not know what happened, but he later identified himself in footage of the attack.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, “Officers who were on patrol on an upper level of that station smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate. What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames.” Gothamist reported via a statement from Jeff Carter, a spokesman for ICE, that Zapeta-Calil was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in June 2018 and was deported. He later reentered the U.S. and ultimately made his way to New York City.

The suspect, like hundreds of other illegal immigrants in New York, was reportedly living at the sprawling, crime-riddled 3,000-migrant tent shelter on Randall’s Island. A spokesman for Mayor Eric Adams told the outlet that Zapeta-Calil arrived well before the massive influx of illegal immigrants that began in 2022 but added he’d been in and out of city-run shelters since his arrival.

Responding to the shocking murder on Fox 5 Monday, Adams told reporters “Yes, this is a country of immigrants. It’s a country of those who want to seek to pursue the American dream. But those who violate that pursuit, we need to immediately remove them from our country. After they served their time, I don’t want to turn them back into a country just to have them sneak back in and the family members are not receiving justice for what happened.”

ICE spokesperson Marie Ferguson, told Newsweek in a statement, “The New York City Police Department arrested Zapeta-Calil as part of its investigation into the murder of a woman on a subway in Coney Island, New York. Once he is charged and a holding location is released, ERO will lodge an immigration detainer with the NYPD location where he is being held.”

According to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, a grand jury has indicted Zapeta-Calil on one count of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder as well as one count of first-degree arson. The suspect was remanded back into custody and has pleaded not guilty. He reportedly told police that “he drinks a lot of liquor” and “doesn’t know what happened,” prosecutors told the court.

Matthew Holloway is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.