‘I don’t even know the lady’: Iryna Zarutska’s murder suspect speaks from prison for first time

Decarlos’ sister asked him: ‘Out of all people, why her?’

Decarlos Brown Jr, the man accused of fatally stabbing Iryna Zarutska in horrific footage, has issued a statement from behind bars, telling his sister that “‘I never said not one word to the lady at all.”

The brutal incident took place on August 22 when Ukrainian refugee Iryna, who moved to the US with her family, boarded the CATS Blue Line in Charlotte, North Carolina. Still wearing her uniform from her job, Iryna was seated for under five minutes when Decarlos attacked with three strikes of a knife, a police detective said, according to CNN.

Police officers arrested him at the next stop, and while we’ve already heard from Decarlos’ mother, he’s since spoken to his sister, Tracey Brown.

Credit: Charlotte Area Transit System

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Decarlos Brown Jr said he never spoke to Iryna Zarutska

Sharing audio from a prison call with her brother, 33-year-old Tracey recalled him claiming that the government had planted foreign “materials” in him to control his actions.

“I hurt my hand, stabbing her. I don’t even know the lady,” he reportedly said in the audio, according to the MailOnline. “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?”

Tracey allegedly asked her brother why, “of all people”, he chose Iryna Zarutska to attack. Decarlos, who has schizophrenia, was on his way “downtown to the hospital” to get “rid of the material… to stop going crazy” when he attacked Iryna.

Credit: Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office

He allegedly replied: “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.”

Tracey visited her brother in Mecklenburg County Jail last week, and speaking through the glass panel, he claimed Iryna was “reading” his mind. Ultimately, she believes he should not have been allowed out on the streets after numerous arrests and showing signs of mental decline.

Credit: Charlotte Area Transit System

She told the MailOnline that she is blaming “the state” for his actions because there were so many times he sought help for being “mentally ill.”

“He was not in his right mind. He was not safe for society. We know what he has been dealing with the last three years. And now an innocent woman is dead,” she added. “He was asking and crying for help, and no one heard him or took him seriously. He reached a level of his mental illness that caused him to commit a heinous crime.”

Decarlos Brown Jr could now be facing the death penalty.