Photo: Charlotte Police Department/@Lucaveros225/Instagram
Decarlos Brown Jr., the suspect accused of murdering Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a North Carolina train, told his family he stabbed the victim because he believed she was reading his mind.
Disturbing audio from Brown's phone conversation with his sister, Tracey, who he previously assaulted during a biting incident in 2022, including him claiming that "the material in his body" was responsible for killing Zarutska, not himself, six days after the murder took place, the Daily Mail reports.
“I hurt my hand, stabbing her. 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?” Decarlos said on the audio.
“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?” Tracey asked.
“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," Decarlos responded.
Tracey said Decarlos, who is homeless, is a paranoid schizophrenic who had claimed that the government had implanted a chip in him multiple times prior to the fatal incident on a Charlotte, North Carolina, train.
“A person that is hearing voices in their head and believes the world is against them, they’re going to break. And I think that night he broke,” Tracey told CNN.
Decarlos' mother also told WSOC that her son is schizophrenic and shouldn't have ever been freed prior to stabbing. President Donald Trump shared a post calling for Brown to face the death penalty on his Truth Social account Wednesday (September 10) morning.
"The ANIMAL who so violently killed the beautiful young lady from Ukraine, who came to America searching for peace and safety, should be given a “Quick” (there is no doubt!) Trial, and only awarded THE DEATH PENALTY. There can be no other option!!!" Trump wrote.
Brown was charged with a federal count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system Tuesday (September 9), having already faced a first-degree murder charge. Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly stated her intention to "seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable crime" and vowed that Brown would "never again see the light of day as a free man.”
Brown was freed after a magistrate released him with just a "written promise" to appear in court, despite having been arrested at least 14 times in North Carolina since 2007. The suspect's mother told WSOC that her son, who is homeless, was schizophrenic and shouldn't have ever been freed prior to stabbing Zarutska, 23, to death.
Surveillance video shows a man identified as Brown pulling out a pocket knife and stabbing Zarutska in the neck. Brown is currently being held in Mecklenburg County Jail without bond.