|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The cold-blooded murder of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina last month has sparked outrage after authorities released video of her brutal slaying – and court records indicated her killer was repeatedly released despite facing serious criminal charges.
Zarutska’s obituary noted she emigrated to America with her mother, sister and brother in August 2022 to escape the war that followed from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier that year.
Her family remember her as “a gifted and passionate artist” who “loved sculpting and designing unique, eclectic clothing that reflected her vibrant spirit.”
***
***
Although she wasn’t proficient in English when she arrived in the United States, “she became fluent in English within a very short time,” and “dreamed of pursuing a career as a veterinary assistant.”
Her killer Decarlos Brown Jr.’s existence stands diametrically opposed to Zarutska’s search for a better life. Brown’s repeated run-ins with the law demonstrate a pattern of wanton entropic destruction – a pattern that predictably ended in an innocent and defenseless individual dying at his hands.
Brown’s multiple arrests date back to 2011, including convictions on charges of armed robbery, felony larceny, breaking and entering and shoplifting. Despite these convictions, Brown was allowed back on the streets after serving just six years in prison.
***
***
Brown was released in 2020 – only to be charged with assaulting his sister shortly thereafter.
While not all of Brown’s arrests involved violent crimes, his most recent arrest prior to murdering Zarutska indicated he suffers from severe mental illness.
Brown faced charges of misusing 911 after making repeatedly making calls claiming he had ingested a “man-made” material which controlled when he ate, walked and talked. Brown has reportedly been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Despite his prior convictions and his own mother refusing to take him in due to his mental illness and violent past, Mecklenburg County magistrate judge Teresa Stokes elected to release him without a bond or a place to go.
That decision cost Zarutska her life.
Surveillance footage released by the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) showed Zarutska boarding a light rail car in her pizza shop employee uniform at 9:46 p.m. EDT on August 22, 2025.
As she sat using her phone – unaware of the danger she was in – Brown unfolded a pocket knife and stood up as he prepared to strike.
He then plunged the blade into her neck three times.
Zarutska’s eyes widened into an expression of confused fear as she began hemorrhaging large amounts of blood.
Brown reportedly proudly proclaimed “I got that white girl,” before exiting the train at the next stop and dropping his knife.
Zarutska’s murder initially received little media fanfare, but the release of the surveillance footage lit a social media firestorm – and launched a national conversation about the dangers of repeatedly releasing violent criminals back into society.
President Donald Trump addressed the slaying in a somber Oval Office address, opining that “we cannot allow … violent repeat offenders to continue spreading destruction and death throughout our country.”
“We have to be vicious, just like they are,” Trump said. “It’s the only thing they understand.”
Entrepreneur Elon Musk also weighed in, drawing ten million views to an X post about the May 2025 murder of 20-year-old Logan Federico. Federico was also allegedly killed by a career criminal while visiting friends at the University of South Carolina.
***
He has already been arrested 40 times!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 9, 2025
Repeat violent offenders will eventually kill. Those we failed to prosecute and sentence the offenders are responsible. https://t.co/hpd6w9gR41
***
Musk correctly laid the blame at the feet of the criminal justice system keeping these killers on the street – echoing a refrain of FITSNews‘ coverage dating back nearly a decade.
While Musk’s post elicited widespread anger that the mainstream media had failed to report on Federico’s murder, FITSNews is proud to have given a voice to her family in the wake of her tragic execution-style slaying.
“This wasn’t some guy that just went off the rails one night,” Federico’s father, Stephen Federico, told FITSNews. “This guy had a 10-year criminal history. The system failed. It failed Logan.”
***
RELATED | CAREER CRIMINAL KILLS CO-ED, FATHER DEMANDS JUSTICE
***
Numerous South Carolina politicians joined Trump and Musk in demanding the public be protected from repeat offenders.
“The senseless murder of Logan Federico, an aspiring teacher from Waxhaw, North Carolina, visiting friends at USC in Columbia, and the tragic killing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a North Carolina train are heartbreaking reminders of what happens when repeat offenders slip through the cracks,” South Carolina attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Alan Wilson said in a statement to this news outlet. “Families deserve better than a system that lets predators walk free.”
Wilson emphasized the passage of bond reform legislation during his tenure as attorney general and promised to demand further reform if elected governor.
“As Attorney General, I fought hard to fix this broken system by demanding bond reform, and together with SLED Chief Mark Keel, we helped secure the passage of H.3532, which became Act No. 83 of 2023. ‘This law strengthens GPS monitoring for defendants out on bond and creates real oversight and accountability in the process,” he said.
***
Wilson noted the law “ensures SLED certifies all monitoring entities, requires real-time reporting of violations to law enforcement, and mandates courts and bonding companies use only certified monitoring services.”
“As Governor, I will build on this success. Violent repeat offenders belong behind bars, not roaming our streets,” Wilson told FITSNews.
S.C. fifth district congressman and gubernatorial candidate Ralph Norman called for Brown’s execution in a press release.
“We don’t need more ‘compassion’ for sick and twisted criminals,” Norman said. “They need jail sentences. And this one needs the death penalty.”
First district congresswoman Nancy Mace – the current frontrunner in the 2026 governor’s race – agreed with Norman’s assessment.
“This is a hate crime,” Mace wrote on X. “And death penalty appears in order.”
***
***
Eighth judicial circuit solicitor David Stumbo, who is launching his bid to succeed Wilson as attorney general in the near future, echoed Norman’s calls for the death penalty.
Stumbo called the the incident “yet another reminder that we have to stay vigilant in South Carolina to reject soft-on-crime, liberal criminal justice policies.”
Stumbo told FITSNews he hoped district attorney Spencer B. Merriweather III, whom he has “met a couple of times over the years… considers seeking the death penalty on this case.”
S.C. first circuit solicitor David Pascoe – who is also running for attorney general – emphasized the role the judicial system played in Zarutska’s death.
“It’s a failure of the court system when you have 12-plus judges who’ve left this violent felon out of jail – a violent felon whose own mother asked for him to be locked up because he can’t stay in her home,” Pascoe said.
“Why was this person even released from prison with these alleged mental deficiencies, and why was he released so early in his sentence?,” Pascoe asked, adding “It’s just awful.”
***
RELATED | SYSTEMIC FAILURES LED TO MURDER ON CHARLOTTE TRAIN
***
Federal and state authorities have charged Brown with murder, and both could potentially seek the death penalty.
U.S. attorney general Pam Bondi promised Brown will “never again see the light of day as a free man.”
While this news outlet commends the DOJ’s commitment to ensuring Brown never walks the streets as a free man again, it must be emphasized he had criminal convictions and was facing criminal charges which should have prevented him from being on the streets in the first place.
While Brown must be held accountable, he cannot be the only one held to account.
The judges who exercised discretion in sentencing Brown must be held to account.
The prosecutors who offered Brown plea deals must be held to account.
The magistrates who put him back on the streets must be held to account.
The lawmakers who authored a criminal code that allowed Brown to roam the streets must be held to account.
Taking Brown off the streets isn’t enough, it’s time to reform the system that catered to Brown and which indirectly killed Iryna Zarutska.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
12 comments
Concur with all said about this POS Brown. He should not be in the streets. However, Mr Wilson, what about Weldon Boyd – he murdered Scott Spivey after chasing him for miles and you allowed an idiot deputy to say it was “citizens arrest” and “stand your ground”. Neither requires the other as a defense and NEITHER ARE APPLICABLE TO THE MURDER OF SCOTT SPIVEY BY WELDON BOYD.
Are you talking about the same Spivey guy who reportedly pointed his gun at random motorist(s) while playing his part in a rolling road rage scenario along the highways and roads of Horry County? The same Spivey guy who I believe was said to have pointed his gun at at least one female motorist who was not involved in the rolling road rage scenario, and was possibly intoxicated and/or rhoid (steroids) raging as he did so? That guy sounds like a menace to public safety to me.
No doubt, Mr Boyd and his friend probably wish they had turned off and gone the other way. They certainly would be suffering less legal expense, less legal jeopardy, and less berating by Monday morning armchair quarterbacks. Likewise, an armed citizen in a mall or store which was being attacked by an active shooter terrorist would be taking a safer choice to flee the other way once identifying the threat, rather than engaging him. But what becomes of the hapless bystanders when the one(s) with the means to engage a menace breaks contact and flees the other way and “lets the police handle it”? That question bears double or triple asking if the bystanders are unlucky enough to be drawing their police response from the likes of “The Broward (FL) Coward”, or those heroes in Uvalde, Texas who badly let down teachers and children in that school.
Going back some years, we seem to be plagued by increasingly bizarre crimes and crazier criminals in this country who think nothing of invading a random home or business, taking hostages, or much worse; even when being hunted by police. Had Mr Boyd and his friend chosen to break contact and go the other way, assuming Spivey didn’t choose to pursue them putting them at a serious tactical disadvantage, where might he have gone, then? Might he have invaded a random home or business, taken a hostage(s) or much worse? I can hear you now. You are probably saying that my point is based on a lot of “maybe’s”. You could be right, but there also may be people living or working along the routes that Spivey would have taken if not monitored by Boyd and friend, who will never realize that they enjoy the company of family members today who were not seriously traumatized or worse that day, because Boyd and his friend did not choose to break contact and go the other way.
The allegation of steroids appears to be the direct result of an effort by the HCPD to create the scenario – the autopsy toxicology report showed no evidence of steroid use. Maybe he bought them that day – but “roid rage” takes longer than a day to build.
It is undeniable that Boyd’s actions contributed to (or caused) Spivey’s “…rolling road rage scenario…”. Simply backing off would have served to defuse the situation.
There is some question as to whether Spivey fired any aimed shots – there was apparently only one expended shell casing in or around his truck and that could have been expended as an autonomous function of his body when he was shot.
Who authorized or empowered Bold and Williams to “monitor” the route taken by Spivey that day? I wonder what would have happened if Boyd had been two minutes faster or slower leaving that day. Answer probably nothing, Spivey would probably still be alive, and Boyd wouldn’t be needing to hire a lawyer for the beat down he’s fixing to get in civil court. His actions are indefensible.
Curious about both the cases you describe here. One involved mental illness, so you don’t think that should be the focus? Any thoughts on why the system has trouble with mental illness? And great for all these candidates to get votes, but he is not going to be executed with schizophrenia so they are just wasting our time and money. But you wouldn’t dare question them would you?
And the other one (according to your reporting so I guess whatever that is worth) was released because the police kept entering the wrong information. Yet here we are again, it’s the judicial system that needs reform. Maybe you should look a little harder. You might get less clicks, but wouldn’t some real actual reporting give you a little satisfaction?
Why do the murders of attractive young white women always get so much attention but the murders of young black or Hispanic women, who are much more often the victims of crime, get generally ignored? By this outlet and others.
How ridiculous. If this NC murder had the races switched around it would have been on every channel. It would not have taken 2 weeks for someone to get hold of the train camera. No official spoke on it until the conservative press forced them into it. Still many main stream media outlets have ignored it. Doesn’t play into their oppressed narrative.
““We have to be vicious, just like they are,” Trump said. “It’s the only thing they understand.””
I don’t think mentally ill people understand that despite what Stable Genius says.
It’s funny how in this case conservatives are all in favor of it being a hate crime, when in a lot of other cases they don’t. What is different about this I wonder?
I believe Ford v Wainwright (1986) set the standard that not all individuals with severe mental illness, including schizophrenia, are protected from the death penalty as many are still capable of understanding the punishment they can receive. Simply having a mental illness doesn’t render you legally insane. As a matter of fact, as recently as 2021 a schizophrenic man in NC was sentenced to death.
Wilson should be worried about holding Weldon Boyd and Horry County accountable
Here is another thought, what about the other passengers in the car that got up and walked way, did NOTHING to render aid. Has this world turned this cold and callous that we do not give a crap about anyone else?
What were they to do? Charlotte, and almost all other public transit, forbids good citizens with concealed carry permits from carrying on their light rail system. This effectively empowers and emboldens criminals, particularly violent ones. Criminals have no problem violating these stupid laws and rules. The law-abiding citizens, the people who are NOT the problem, are rendered helpless by these laws. By the time the suspect had attacked the woman, he was pretty much finished with what he started to do. Had any of the sheep on the train with her tried to take issue with this rather large man, they would likely have gotten the same treatment.
As with most crimes of this type, the police’s main function was to draw the proverbial chalk outline and see that the body was hauled away. When seconds count, police are minutes away.
They could have helped the victim with the bleeding. Perhaps applied pressure, helped her out. No they all pack their stuff and get up.