Subway Victim’s Fiery End Stuns Friends From Her Happy Past
The New York Times
Debbie Kawam, as she was known in high school, was a cheerleader and a sunny presence. As the decades went on, she fell into an abyss.
Before she was Debrina, she was Debbie.
In her town of Little Falls, N.J., Debbie Kawam was a girl people wanted to be around: the cheerleader with the inner glow, dispensing high-fives in the hallways of Passaic Valley Regional High School, cruising with friends, striking a pose against a backdrop of Led Zeppelin posters, welcoming diners at Perkins Pancake House in her hostess uniform.
Into her 20s, Ms. Kawam was the life of the party, flying off with girlfriends to Las Vegas and the Caribbean and living in the moment.
Later would come years of darkness, then decades. And on Dec. 22, Ms. Kawam was set afire on a subway train in Brooklyn in an apparently random attack captured on harrowing video. For nine days, the woman was anonymous in death. After her body was identified on Tuesday, the grieving could begin.
As the name she had adopted, Debrina, flashed across the news, classmates mustered memories to blot out the indelible image of a human figure outlined in flame.
“So sweet and kind,” said her onetime pancake-house colleague Diane Risoldi, 57, whom Ms. Kawam had helped get the job. “I can still see her in the black skirt and pink button-down. Always smiling.”
Donald J. Trump had not yet exhausted his New York appeals when he turned to the Supreme Court in a last-ditch move to avoid sentencing, prosecutors argued.
A state funeral for the 39th president on Thursday will bring together all five living presidents and feature a eulogy from President Biden.
The president-elect has raised more than $170 million for his swearing-in, an inaugural record, as wealthy Americans flock to curry favor with him and some give money even without the prospect of V.I.P. access.
Some Pacific Palisades residents said the community had long asked for more detailed fire preparation plans. When a fire raged through the community this week, gridlock ensued.
The executive director of the New York City Board of Elections made inappropriate sexual and racial remarks toward two employees over a period of several months, a watchdog found.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to pay their respects to a president. They were not going to miss it, even if meant waking up in the middle of the night.
The Turkish Consulate was the only building of its size allowed to open without a required fire safety certification, an investigation by the city comptroller found.
The fast-moving fires are intensifying because of fierce winds, the strongest in Southern California in more than a decade.
President-elect Donald J. Trump’s news conference at Mar-a-Lago was a reminder of what the next four years may have in store.
Luke Broadwater was at the Capitol when a pro-Trump mob stormed the complex on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory. Four years later, he reflects on what has changed.
The doctor, Maj. Michael Stockin, was accused of sexual misconduct by 41 male patients in one of the largest such cases in military history.