What The Mainstream Media Won't Tell You About Iryna Zarutska’s Murder

A 23-year-old refugee who fled Ukraine for safety in the United States ended up murdered on a Charlotte light rail, no thanks to lenient judges.

On the night of August 22, Iryna Zarutska boarded the Charlotte Lynx Blue Line around 9:46 p.m., still dressed in her pizzeria uniform after a late shift. Surveillance video later released by the Charlotte Area Transit System shows her settling into a seat while a man in a red hoodie sat directly behind her. Within minutes, he unfolded a pocketknife, rose from his seat, and attacked her. Footage shows those in proximity appearing to ignore the assault. Witnesses alerted Mecklenburg Police to the brutal stabbing.

By the time police arrived, Zarutska, a 23-year-old refugee from Ukraine, was unresponsive and soon pronounced dead. The suspect, identified as 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., exited at the next stop before being arrested. He was taken to the hospital for a hand injury, then placed under a no-bond order and charged with first-degree murder. Federal prosecutors later added a count of causing death on a mass transportation system. His charge could lead to a potential life sentence or the death penalty.

Headlines claim that right-wingers have used this tragic story to fuel a race war. To that, we ask, is it “racist” to simply want to stay alive? Why is legacy media (and celebrities) ignoring the facts on this case? Maybe it's because acknowledging who the attacker was and who the victim was runs against the narrative mainstream media protects at all costs.

About Iryna Zarutska

Iryna Zarutska came to the US for a better life. Zarutska fled Ukraine in 2022 with her mother and siblings to escape the Russian invasion. She had studied art and restoration in Kyiv and dreamed of becoming a veterinary assistant. Friends described her as creative and kind, someone who “shared her creativity, generously gifting family and friends with her artwork.”

At the time of her death, she was working at a Charlotte pizzeria while studying English and preparing to take her driving test, all in pursuit of independence in her new life. Her obituary said her life was “an irreparable loss.”

Iryna is remembered as a warm, creative young woman whose presence left a mark on those around her. Her family includes her parents, Anna and Stanislav; her sister, Valeriia; her brother, Bohdan; her partner, Stas Nikulytsia; her aunt, Valeria Haskell; and cousins Vera and Viktor Falkner, along with many other relatives and friends who cherished her. Her father, Stanislav, was not able to attend the funeral service in Charlotte on August 27, as he remains in Ukraine under wartime restrictions that prevent men of fighting age from leaving the country.

Who the Killer Is

The man charged with her murder had been arrested no fewer than 14 times since 2011. His charges included felony larceny, armed robbery, breaking and entering, assault, and making threats. In 2014, he was convicted of armed robbery and served a five-year sentence, but just months after his 2020 release, he was arrested again for allegedly assaulting his sister, leaving her with minor injuries.

In January 2025, he was arrested for repeatedly making false 911 calls, insisting that a “man-made material” was controlling his body. Despite his long record, Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes released him on a written promise to return for his court date. That misdemeanor case was still pending when he stepped onto the Lynx Blue Line and killed Zarutska. His mother had previously sought an involuntary commitment, and doctors diagnosed him with schizophrenia. Yet even as his history of arrests and erratic behavior grew, Brown was repeatedly released back onto the streets.

When will judges stop the cycle of leniency? How many warnings, how many arrests, how many shattered lives must pile up before the system acknowledges that certain crimes demand confinement? Zarutska’s murder was not inevitable; if anything, it was preventable, had the courts treated Brown’s record with the gravity it deserved.

The Judge Who Let Him Walk

Adding to the outrage is the judge who released Decarlos Brown back in January on nothing more than a written promise to return for his hearing. That judge, Teresa Stokes, is a North Carolina magistrate, an important position that doesn’t require passing the bar or even being a lawyer. Magistrates are appointed and still hold the power to decide bond, issue warrants, and release defendants, decisions that can have life-or-death consequences.

Screenshots from Bold.pro show Stokes listed as the Director of Operations at Second Chance Services, a behavioral health nonprofit, in addition to her position as magistrate, according to internet sleuths. The profile described her background in behavioral health and legal work, but was taken down after questions surfaced online. The page now reportedly shows a 404 error, though cached results still display her name, role, and description. Why would they pull down the website showing that Judge Teresa Stokes was also the director of operations at Second Chance Services?

The combination of her limited qualifications, her dual role in a “second chance” nonprofit, and the sudden disappearance of her online profile only amplifies the belief that the system bent over backwards to give Brown yet another chance, a chance that ended with the death of Iryna Zarutska.

Fortunately, Congressman Tim Moore recently announced his efforts to remove Stokes, writing on X, “Today, I led a letter calling for the removal of Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes, who released a 14-time offender who went on to murder Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte. This tragedy was preventable. There must be accountability. North Carolinians deserve better.”

The Wikipedia Edits

As outrage spread online, attention shifted to how the case was being documented and possibly erased. On Wikipedia, editors debated whether Zarutska’s murder warranted its own article. One editor nominated the page for deletion, calling it “nothing remarkable.” Others argued over whether to call the incident a “killing” or “murder,” and references to Brown’s race and criminal history were added and removed in rapid succession. At one point, Brown’s name disappeared from the entry entirely under the site’s crime policy.

The article went through nearly 350 edits in just over a day. Ultimately, it survived, but the controversy left many convinced that the same cultural forces minimizing the crime in national coverage were attempting to “memory hole” the killing in the digital record as well.

The description of Brown as "Black" was added and removed multiple times, as was the term "career criminal."

Political and Public Outrage

The video’s release sparked anger that transcended Charlotte. President Donald Trump said the murder was “horrible” and called Brown a “career criminal.” He demanded, “Criminals like this need to be LOCKED UP.” Days later, he went further, writing that the attacker should receive “THE DEATH PENALTY.”

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles called the death “senseless and tragic,” pledging to focus on safety. But she faced backlash for emphasizing compassion for Brown’s mental health, a line critics said revealed misplaced priorities. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed city officials, writing, “By failing to properly punish him, Charlotte failed Iryna Zarutska and North Carolinians.”

Meanwhile, online users amplified additional footage from inside the railcar after the stabbing. Many argued that Brown can be heard muttering, “I got that white girl.”

The line has gone largely ignored by mainstream coverage. Is it because they don’t want to report on it being a hate crime?

The White House Briefing

The clearest condemnation came from the White House press room. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt directly accused Democratic officials and judges of enabling a tragedy that could have been stopped.

“Today, I would like to address the tragedy that has not received nearly enough media attention, the brutal murder of Iryna Zarutska…” Leavitt said. “This beautiful, innocent 23-year-old young woman was a Ukrainian refugee who had recently fled her country for a chance at a safer life, and a promising new beginning here in the United States of America.”

Leavitt called Brown a “savage career criminal” and pointed out his lengthy record: “Decarlos Brown has been charged with crimes no fewer than 14 times, dating back to 2011.” She highlighted the decision by a Democratic judge to release him in January on nothing more than a written promise, saying, “Think about how crazy it is to ask a career criminal… to just sign a written promise and come back another day.”

“This monster should have been locked up, and Iryna should still be alive. But Democrat politicians, liberal judges, and weak prosecutors would rather virtue signal than lock up criminals and protect their communities.”

Why did it take days of online outrage before this story broke through? A 23-year-old refugee was stabbed to death on a train, caught on multiple surveillance angles, yet major outlets barely touched it until the footage went viral. Compare that to the Daniel Penny case in New York, where wall-to-wall coverage and instant commentary painted him as a villain for protecting women against a black man.

The difference raises an uncomfortable, yet important, question: whose stories get amplified, and whose tragedies get buried, depending on the races of those involved? Iryna, European and blonde, was attacked by a Black man. Yet, instead of becoming a national reckoning, her death was treated like a footnote until people forced the issue into the spotlight.

Finally, Leavitt ended with a pointed charge against those in power, stating, “The most enraging and unacceptable part of this story is that her death was entirely preventable. Decarlos Brown never should have been on that train that night. In fact, he should have been behind bars.”

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