Overview
- Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, was indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death, a capital-eligible offense.
- Prosecutors say surveillance video shows Brown sitting behind 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska before stabbing her from behind with a pocketknife on Aug. 22 on the Lynx Blue Line.
- Investigators recovered a pocketknife and a bloodied shirt, and officers arrested Brown on the station platform minutes after the attack.
- Brown also faces a state first-degree murder case, and a Rule 24 hearing on seeking the death penalty was postponed to April 2026 with competency and mental-health proceedings ongoing.
- The killing spurred passage of “Iryna’s Law” in North Carolina to tighten pretrial release and expand mental-health evaluations, as CATS reports a roughly 10% September drop in Blue Line ridership and has increased security and fare enforcement.