Charlotte stabbing accused reveals why he killed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in disturbing call
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA: Chilling audio of the Charlotte train stabbing suspect DeCarlos Brown Jr has surfaced, revealing the motive behind the brutal killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska.
Brown Jr, who is accused of fatally stabbing Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train, confessed the reason for the attack in a phone call from jail to his sister. Zarutska, who worked at a local pizza restaurant, was killed on August 22. In the call, Brown Jr rambles through a shocking explanation for the random and senseless act of violence.
What did Charlotte stabbing suspect report?
Charlotte train stabbing suspect DeCarlos Brown Jr claimed he killed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska because he believed she was "reading his mind", according to jailhouse audio shared by his sister with The Post.
In the recording, Brown, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic with a history of violence, can be heard rambling about "material in his body" forcing him to carry out the attack.
"I don’t even know the lady. I never said not one word to the lady at all. That’s scary, ain’t it. Why would somebody stab somebody for no reason?" he says in the call made six days after the murder.
His sister, Tracey Brown, who previously suffered a violent assault by him in 2022, told that Brown Jr had long expressed paranoid delusions, including beliefs that the government implanted a chip in him. She said she visited him several times after the killing to try to understand what triggered the attack.
“When I went to visit him, he was mumbling and talking to himself,” she said. “Well, what’s on your mind?’ He looked at me and he was like, ‘I have to get you to.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean you have to get me?"
In a later visit, Brown Jr reportedly made threats toward Tracey and their mother, accusing them of being trafficked by the government to get to him.
“He said, ‘You and mama. Y’all are being trafficked.’ And I said, ‘Well, how are we being trafficked?’ And he said, ‘The government is trafficking y’all to get to me,’” Tracey recalled.
She added, "He said he was on his way to the hospital, the mental hospital… I just wanted to know why her, because he had been on the train for a while before she got on. And he said, well, she was reading my mind. He said she was reading my thoughts."
Tracey asked Brown, "Out of all people, why her? She’s from the Ukraine, she’s from Russia, and they had a war going on against the United States, so I’m just trying to understand, of all people, why her?"
To which Brown responded to his sister, "They just lashed out on her, that’s what happened. Whoever was working the materials, they lashed out on her. That’s all there is to it. Now they really gotta investigate what my body was exposed to … Now they gotta do an investigation as to who was the motive behind what happened.”
Tracey Brown describes her brother DeCarlos Brown Jr as not being 'like himself'
Tracey Brown and her mother say they tried to get help for DeCarlos Brown Jr before he fatally stabbed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, but the system, and even their own family, failed him.
Brown Jr’s mother reported she had attempted to place him in a long-term mental health facility, but was unable to do so because she wasn’t his legal guardian.
Tracey said her brother’s mental health rapidly declined after his release from prison in 2022, where he served five years for armed robbery. “He didn’t seem like himself,” she said, describing how he became increasingly aggressive, withdrawn, and unable to keep a steady job.
“I feel like family first and foremost just gave up on him for their personal selfish reasons,” Tracey told. “He was mentally ill. That’s all I can say — he was mentally ill.”
According to her, Brown Jr had even called 911 several times trying to express what he was going through. “No one can understand or agree, [but] he was reaching out for help in a lot of ways. And I’m not making any excuses for him.”
DeCarlos Brown's sister says she is in fear for her own life
Tracey also revealed that she now fears retaliation because of her brother’s actions. “I’m thinking people may recognize me, want to attack me, recognize that I’m his sister…,” she said. “And it’s really got me in shock. And then I started thinking about, you know, what if somebody runs up and, you know, has an episode or whatever and wants to hurt me?”
In a plea for compassion, Tracey urged President Trump to oppose the death penalty for her brother, pointing to years of documented mental health struggles that went largely ignored by the system.
She reported that he was going "back and forth" to hospitals and appointments for three years, trying to get help.
"Authorities turned a blind eye to it because they just figured, oh, well, it’s drugs or I don’t know. They didn’t take it seriously," she added.
“So before they say, well, death penalty, why not look into how he has been dealing with this for three years since he’s been home from prison, and he actually was fighting and trying to get help before he broke."
