The brutal stabbing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who came to North Carolina to escape war, has shaken America and ignited fury online.
On August 22, Zarutska was riding a train in Charlotte when she was fatally attacked in what authorities have described as an unprovoked assault.
The suspect, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., was later arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Shockingly, Brown blamed the attack on “materials” inside his body, which he claimed caused him to lash out.
Iryna had texted her boyfriend that evening to say she “would be home soon.”
Instead, her life was stolen before she could ever return.
”Most horrific way”
Zarutska’s family released a heartbreaking statement following the tragedy:
“We are heartbroken beyond words. Iryna came here to find peace and safety, and instead her life was stolen from her in the most horrific way. No family should have to go through this.”
According to her obituary, Iryna fled Ukraine with her mother, brother, and sister in 2022 to escape Russia’s invasion. In Charlotte, she had been “working full-time at a local pizzeria while attending community college to improve her English.”
The attorney representing her family said, “She was a kind and hardworking young woman, deeply loved by her family and friends.”
That night, her boyfriend Stanislav “Stas” Nikulytsia, 21, — who had been living with her in Charlotte for the past year — arrived at the station, only to learn that she had died at the scene.
Boyfriend’s anger
”Stas” broke his silence on Wednesday by posting a tender photo of himself and Iryna in bathing suits, captioned only with a broken heart emoji — his first public expression of grief since her murder.
Nikulytsia has since shared his grief and anger online, reposting videos that criticized Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes, the official who released Brown on cashless bail seven months before the killing.
North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore echoed the outrage, stating:
“North Carolina’s justice system failed Iryna Zarutska. She came to Charlotte looking for safety and a better life, but instead, she was brutally murdered by a repeat offender who never should’ve been let back on the streets.”
Moore called Judge Stokes “unfit” and added:
“Judge Stokes had the chance to protect the public and chose not to. It’s clear that she’s unfit to hold this consequential position and should be removed from the bench immediately.”
Troubled past
Brown’s history paints a disturbing picture. According to reports, he had been arrested 14 times prior to the killing.
In January, Judge Stokes freed Brown — a repeat offender with over a dozen prior arrests — on nothing more than a “written promise” that he’d return for a future court date.
His mother admitted she had tried to have him involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital after his behavior turned violent.
His sister, Tracey Brown, described him as “a paranoid schizophrenic” following a jailhouse visit after the stabbing.
“When I went to visit him, he was mumbling and talking to himself,” she told The Post. “And I 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?’ 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.’”
A Life Cut Short
Zarutska, who once dreamed of building a future free from violence, instead became the victim of it. The family’s attorney summed it up simply:
“That night, she texted her boyfriend that she would be home soon. Tragically, her journey ended in violence near the Camden light rail station.”
