The knifeman who allegedly killed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska has spoken for the first time (Image: GoFundMe)
The knifeman who allegedly killed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska has spoken for the first time from jail in a harrowing phone call recorded by his sister.
Decarlos Brown, 34, was seen in surveillance footage lunging at Zarutska, 23, from behind as she sat scrolling on her phone on a train through Charlotte on August 22, reports Daily Mail.
The disturbing video has sparked widespread grief, anger, and questions about public safety in the Democrat-led city as the nation comes to terms with the horror. The report emerges after the death penalty called for man accused of killing Ukrainian refugee in brutal train stabbing.
Sister shares explosive audio of killer’s twisted confession
Now, his sister Tracey Brown, 33, has shared shocking audio with the Daily Mail of a phone call she had with Brown six days after he was arrested, where he explained what was going through his mind when he launched the bloody attack.
The 34-year-old, who is schizophrenic, can be heard telling his sister he believed the government had planted foreign “materials” into his brain and they had been in control of his actions when he pulled the knife on Iryna.
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Chilling admission: “I hurt my hand stabbing her”
In the audio recording from the afternoon of August 28, Brown can be heard telling Tracey: “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?”
He added he wanted police to “investigate” the “materials” which were “controlling” him, while referring to the attacker in third person.
Sister’s fury at system that failed her brother
She said Brown had tried to get admitted to hospital several times over the past few years as his mental health deteriorated to breaking point, but medics kept discharging him after just 24 hours.
“I strongly feel like he should not have been on the streets at all,” Tracey said.
“I’m going to be honest. I’m not blaming anyone for his actions, except for the state. I’m blaming the state for letting him down as far as seeking help.
“When you have mentally ill people seeking help, and you’re running tests on them, and you clearly see that you are dealing with a psychosis on an acute level, you do not let them go back into society.
“He was a high risk. He was not in his right mind. He was not safe for society.”
Tracey Brown, 33, has shared shocking audio with the Daily Mail of a phone call she had (Image: Tracey Brown)
“An innocent woman is dead” – sister’s heartbreaking admission
“We know what he has been dealing with the last three years,” she added. “And now an innocent woman is dead.
“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.”
Desperate 911 calls ignored by authorities
Brown also dialed 911 several times, and told cops directly that he believed his brain was being controlled by a microchip.
The latest recorded incidence of this was January 19, when he was arrested for “misuse of the 911 system” after he called the emergency number while police were conducting a welfare check on him.
During the ordeal, Brown told police he thought “man made” materials were inside his body controlling his movements.
“Brown wanted officers to investigate this ‘man-made’ material that was inside of his body,” the arrest affidavit reads.
“Officers advised Brown that the issue was medical issue and that there was nothing further they could do.”
Rage and arrest after police dismiss his pleas
This response sent Brown into a rage, and he called 911. Officers arrested him and charged him with a misdemeanor.
“He was seeking help,” Tracey said. “He called 911 multiple times. Instead of talking to him they thought charging him was going to help.”
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Judge grants bail despite mounting warning signs
Another opportunity to take Brown off the streets came when a magistrate was told about the case at a hearing on January 21, but she granted him cashless bail on a “written promise” that he would return to court.
Tracey said the judge ordered a psychiatric test for him through the courts, but “they pushed it back for a year and a half”.
Prison transformed gentle brother into dangerous stranger
She told the Daily Mail her brother first went to prison for armed robbery in 2016, and when he was released six years later he was a “completely different person”.
“When he came home, he was not the same brother that I remember,” she said.
“He used to be quiet and self-reserved. But he wasn’t that brother any more. He was still quiet, but he seemed like he was out of sorts.
“He seemed like he was not in our reality any more. He seemed distant every time I spoke with him. I think being incarcerated caused some kind of trauma.
“I could tell that he was still trying to talk like himself, but there was something there. It started coming out more and more.”
Paranoid delusions consumed his mind
“Every once in a while, he would bring up the microchip, and he would say ‘did you see that’, and just stop talking and stare out in space somewhere,” she added.
“He thought that I was in on it or that my mother was in on it.”
he explained what was going through his mind when he launched the bloody attack. (Image: Tracey Brown)
Violence erupted at family home before fatal attack
Brown had also been arrested for violent crimes before – including assaulting Tracey in her home shortly after his release from prison in 2022.
“It started with us arguing about cleaning the house,” Tracey told the Daily Mail.
“I had never had bugs, and I asked him to keep his room a little more clean. He would leave food in his room.
“We went back and forth about that and it just kind of went from there. He flipped out. He bit my hand and I kicked him out.
“He knocked the hinges off the door trying to get back in.”
Sister drops charges out of love and regret
Tracey said she reported the incident to police, but later dropped the charges because she could not bear to take legal action against her own brother.
“I dropped the charges because I understand him on a deeper level, because I was trying to put myself in his shoes,” she said.
“I understood what he was going through and I knew that he just needed to talk about it.”
“I blame myself because I feel like I gave up on him as for kicking him out of the house,” she added.
“I feel like I did everything I could, but if I had known that it was deeper that what I thought… I beat myself up about it. I wish I could have seen how serious this was.”
Childhood trauma in foster care system
Tracey said she also blames their mother. She said she and Brown were removed from the care of their parents and spent most of their childhood in foster care homes.
During that time, she was separated from Brown but they still remained “close” emotionally.