THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
Feb 21, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET AI 
Sponsor:  QWIKET AI 
Sponsor:  QWIKET AI: Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET AI: Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support.
back  
topic
NYTimes
New York Times
25 Dec 2024
Mihir Zaveri


NextImg:Subway Burning Highlights Difficulty of Identifying Homeless Victims

More than three days after a woman was fatally burned by another passenger inside a subway train on Coney Island, officials have not yet been able to confirm her identity.

The police have charged a man, Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, with murder in the Sunday morning attack. They believe he set the woman’s clothing on fire while she was sleeping on the train and she died from the burns and smoke inhalation, in a gruesome incident caught on cellphone video.

The struggle to identify the woman, whom the authorities believe was homeless, underscores how difficult it can be to gather information about people who may not have permanent addresses or personal documents. But in this case, there is an added complication: The horrific way the woman was attacked may be making her identification even harder.

“It just adds another level to a tragedy,” said David Giffen, the executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless. “A this point, we still don’t even know who she was and she can’t be mourned.”

The medical examiner’s office confirmed on Wednesday that the woman had not yet been identified and that the investigation was continuing. The Brooklyn district attorney’s office, which is investigating the case, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

Joseph Giacalone, a retired New York police sergeant and an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said that burns can make simple methods of identification — using facial features, or fingerprints — difficult or impossible. That means investigators have to rely on dental and DNA analysis, or see if the victim had any surgeries that match known medical records.


Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.


Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.