Conspiracy theorists falsely identify NYC subway victim as ‘Amelia Carter’, who is she?

While police are yet to confirm the identity of the victim, a post made on X on December 23 claimed the victim was Amelia Carter. The hoax post has garnered over2.4 million views so far.

A woman was burned alive early on the NYC subway on December 22. She was declared dead at the spot. In the case, Sebastian Zapeta has been listed as a suspect and was arrested shortly after the woman’s death.

Zapeta, a citizen of Guatemala, entered the country illegally in 2018. It is still unclear how he returned to the country after being deported by the Trump administration. He has been charged with first and second degree murder and arson.

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Who is Amelia Carter?

“This is Amelia Carter,” claimed a post on X that misidentified the victim. Sharing a fuzzy picture of a woman, the post further said, “She was burned alive on the subway yesterday. This is Joe bidens America.”

Meanwhile, the X community note clarified, “This is a hoax. This photo is AI. No verified news sources as of 23/12/2024 have given a victim name or statement.”

This did not stop conspiracy theorists from making the baseless claim. “Amelia Carter. 29. Penn grad student. I hope you did not suffer too much Angel,” one X user wrote.

“Amelia Carter is a fabricated identity; the photo was generated with artificial intelligence to create a cryptocurrency scam. The police have not disclosed the identity of the woman,” another X community note highlighted.

One website published an article about Amelia Carter, giving the imaginary character a whole biography. It said that she was a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and also worked as an intern on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, Newsweek reported.

NYC subway horror

The victim was apparently napping on a F train in Brooklyn early on Sunday morning when the alleged culprit approached him. According to surveillance footage, the suspect walked towards her before setting her on fire.

The victim, according to the police, was entirely engulfed in flames in a matter of seconds. The man quietly sat on a bench on the station’s platform and watched the burning woman.