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The alleged killer who stabbed a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on a train was revealed as a member of a family riddled with criminal records.
Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, is known for his life of crime and struggles with schizophrenia. He stands accused of stabbing Iryna Zarutska aboard a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina. His family history is filled with criminal backgrounds, including his siblings and father.
The crime family’s history of offenses was revealed through court records and law enforcement documents.
Brown Jr’s brother, Stacey, in October of 2012, killed a 65-year-old man and used the Charlotte light rail to escape police.
He pleaded guilty in April 2014 to second-degree murder and two counts of armed robbery, assault with intent to kill, and breaking a motor vehicle.
The brother was sentenced to 27-36 years in prison, according to the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office.
While incarcerated, Brown has accumulated 44 violations, encompassing acts like assault with a weapon, arson, property theft, and lock manipulation.
He was also served probation for a conviction in 2010 for threats against the government or assault, according to North Carolina’s prison database.

Stacey Brown, in October of 2012, killed a 65-year-old man and used the Charlotte light rail to escape police

Tracey Vontrea Brown, most recently was arrested in 2024 for felony conspiracy, shoplifting, and misdemeanor larceny
His sister, Tracey Vontrea Brown, 33, has a lengthy criminal history too. Her offenses include larceny, felony conspiracy, vehicle theft, obstruction of officers, minor shoplifting, and a recent 2024 arrest for felony conspiracy, shoplifting, and minor theft.
The father of the family, Decarlos Brown Sr., has been arrested as well, reportedly breaking and entering, felony conspiracy, larceny, and possession of a weapon on a university campus in 1990.
Decarlos Jr. has at least 14 prior arrests and was freed from jail in January on a ‘written promise to appear.’ he was charged with misusing the 911 system while he allegedly had a mental episode.
Months later, in August, on the same train service his brother used to flee from the police years ago, he allegedly stabbed Zarutska.
Since the stabbing, the video footage has gone viral of the woman bleeding out for minutes without any help. In the video, Brown can reportedly be heard saying, ‘I got that white girl.’
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the federal charges Brown would face: ‘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.’
‘We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable act of violence — he will never again see the light of day as a free man,’ Bondi said.

Iryna Zarutska was 23 years old and a refugee from UkraineÂ

Decarlos Jr. blamed the materials inside his body, planted inside him by the government, for making him kill the young girl

Since the stabbing, the video footage has gone viral of the woman bleeding out for minutes without any help. In the video, Brown can reportedly be heard saying, ‘I got that white girl’
Decarlos Jr. blamed the materials inside his body, planted inside him by the government, for making him kill the young girl.
His sister Tracey revealed the audio to the Daily Mail of his call from prison: ‘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?’
He added that he wants the police to investigate the materials in his body that caused him to kill her.