A "person of interest" who is in custody for a heinous crime where a woman riding on the New York City subway was lit on fire is an illegal immigrant.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement identified the suspect as Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, of Guatemala.
The unidentified woman died after the vicious attack that happened Sunday morning, according to police.
The story grabbed national attention. Zapeta-Calil entered the U.S. illegally in 2018 at the southern U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. Immigration officials had Zapeta-Calil removed from the U.S. on June 7, 2018, but he managed to re-enter the county at an unknown time and location.
It's believed Zapeta-Calil snuck back into the U.S. without any encounter with border officials.
Police were able to take Zapeta-Calil into custody when three high school-age New Yorkers called 911 to say they recognized the man in the images from surveillance and body cam video being sent out by the NYPD.
"Other transit officers responded to that 911 call and also spotted the man wearing the same gray hoodie, distinct wool hat, paint-splattered pants and tan boots already on another moving train," Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a news conference.
Tisch added the person of interest was also found with a lighter in his pocket.
Zapeta-Calil and the woman were riding the F train to the end of the line in Brooklyn around 7:30 a.m., Tisch explained.
When the train came to a stop, Tisch said the man "calmly" walked up to the victim, who was in a seated position, and set her clothes on fire with what appeared to be a lighter.
The woman's clothing "became engulfed in a matter of seconds," according to Tisch.
Officers on patrol at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station smelled and saw smoke and discovered "a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames," Tisch said. After the fire was extinguished, the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Video later showed the suspect had stayed on the scene and was seated on a bench on the platform outside the train car.
Tisch described the incident as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being."
After receiving the 911 call from the teenagers and spotting the suspect, officers were able to radio ahead to the next station and have more officials walk from car to car until the suspect was ultimately apprehended without incident, Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta said.
ICE officials told The National News Desk that once Zapeta-Calil is charged and a holding location is released, an immigration detainer will be issued.
