New York Subway fire victim's first photo revealed: Debrina Kawam was known for 'million-dollar' smile

Around 10 days after the woman was set on fire in a bone-chilling incident on the New York Subway,

Debrina Kawam

was identified through fingerprints and DNA sampling as not much of her remains were left to establish her identity. The woman was a homeless person who took shelter inside the subway train to save herself from the biting cold outside only to be set on fire by illegal Guatemalan migrant

Sebastian Zapeta-Calil

who did not even remember the moment he set the woman on fire out of intoxication. The world could not see a photo of Debrina apart from the shocking footage of her standing helplessly in the fire. And now an old high school yearbook photo of the 57-year-old woman surfaced.
According to reports, Debrina Kawam, known to her classmates as Debbie or Deb graduated from Passaic Valley Regional School in Little Falls, New Jersey, in 1985.
According to her high school yearbook biography, she earned the fame of a "million dollar smile" in the school. Her best memories at the public school were participating in freshman and sophomore cheerleading and her secret ambition was to "party forever".

'Debrian Kawam not just a homeless woman'

As social media users mourned the pathetic and painful death of Debrina Kawam who was not even identified until 10 days after the incident, they said Debrina Kawam was more than just a homeless person and she did not deserve this death. A New York Post report said Kawam made a bankruptcy filing in 2008 in which she mentioned that she had not worked due to illness.

Debrina had mobility issues, she could not respond to fire

Debrina was sleeping when Sebastian Zapeta-Calil boarded the train and set her blanket on fire. There were layers of clothing on Debrina and Zapeta-Calil fanned the fire with a shirt. In the surveillance video, Debrina was seen sitting motionless as the fire was engulfing her. Police found a walker later at the crime scene and confirmed that Debrina had a mobility issue and could not run the fire. She could stand up only when she was completely burned and the perpetrator witnessed his victim burning from outside the train.