NEW YORK — Investigators have learned the name of a woman who was burned alive — and beyond recognition — aboard a Brooklyn train last week.
Police identified the woman as Debrina Kawam of Toms River, New Jersey. She was the victim of an apparently random attack captured in videos that showed her bracing herself against the doorway of an F train in Coney Island, her body engulfed by flames. Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, has been accused of setting fire to Kawam with a lighter and was charged with first-degree murder and arson.
Kawam’s identity was confirmed on Monday through fingerprint analysis, said Julie Bolcer, a spokesperson for the city medical examiner’s office. Kawam was 57, though police officials initially had said she was 61…