The illegal Guatemalan migrant accused in relation to the death of a woman found engulfed in flames on a New York City train was reportedly "bugged out" on K2, according to his roommate at a converted migrant shelter.
Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, was arraigned on first-degree murder charges Tuesday (December 24), the New York Post reports.
“He smoked K2, drank and bugged out,” said Raymond Robinson, who slept next to Zapeta-Calil at the shelter. “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.