Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska’s alleged murderer hit with federal charge
The sicko accused of brutally stabbing 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska to death on a train in North Carolina last month has been hit with a federal criminal charge, the Justice Department and FBI announced Tuesday.
Decarlos Brown Jr, 34, is now facing one federal count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system. That comes in addition to the first-degree murder in state court he is facing for allegedly killing Zarutska in the stabbing that was caught on camera.
“Iryna Zarutska was a young woman living the American dream — her horrific murder is a direct result of failed soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people,” US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Tuesday.
“I have directed my attorneys to federally prosecute DeCarlos Brown Jr., a repeat violent offender with a history of violent crime, for murder. We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable crime, and he will never again see the light of day as a free man.”
FBI Director Kash Patel ripped the savage stabbing as “a disgraceful act that should never happen in America.”
“The FBI jumped to assist in this investigation immediately to ensure justice is served, and the perpetrator is never released from jail to kill again,” he added in a statement.
Disturbing surveillance footage showed Zarutska looking up in horror as she was stabbed from behind repeatedly with what prosecutors said was a pocket knife during her ride on the Lynx Blue Line train on Aug. 22.
Police later described the attack as “seemingly unprovoked.”
She had taken refuge in the US back in 2022 after Russian invaders unleashed a bloody war on her home country.
At the time of her death, Zarutska was employed at local pizzeria, Zepeddie’s Pizza, and can be seen wearing her work attire on the security camera footage during the horrific stabbing.
Brown, a 34-year-old homeless man, had been arrested at least 14 times in North Carolina since 2007 for various offenses ranging from assault to robbery to illegal firearms possession, records reviewed by The Post show.
That included a stint in jail for armed robbery in 2014, from which he was later set free in September 2020, then thrown behind bars again five months later for assaulting his sister.
Most recently, Brown was arrested after making a false call to the police, telling cops he was given “man-made’ that controlled his talking, eating and walking, according to court filings. Police on the scene told him they couldn’t address that and he angrily called 911 again with them on the scene, prompting the arrest.
Magistrate Teresa Stokes let him go free on cashless bail two days later with a written promise to show up for his next court date.
On July 28, a judge ordered him to receive a forensic evaluation.
Following the attack that killed Zarutska, Brown’s mother claimed that her son was schizophrenic and argued he shouldn’t have been allowed to roam the streets, per an interview she did with local TV station WSOC.
Brown is allegedly a fare-beater who would ride public transit without paying for it.
The slaughter of Zarutska has drawn national attention, including from the White House, amid President Trump’s crime crackdown in Washington, DC and eyeing of other cities across the US.
Trump has called Brown a “lunatic.”