SICK new footage shows alleged murderer Decarlos Brown maniacally laughing to himself just before stabbing Iryna Zarutska.
The newly released surveillance footage captured the moment Brown, 34, boarded the bus in Charlotte, North Carolina, two hours before Zarutska, 23, took her seat on the light rail.
Iryna Zarutska was allegedly stabbed by Decarlos Brown on a public bus[/caption]
Iryna Zarutska was a 23-year-old Ukrainian immigrant[/caption]
Brown faces the death penalty if convicted[/caption]
In the new footage, obtained by CBS affiliate WBTV, Brown is first captured entering the bus without paying his fare or showing a bus pass on August 22.
For the first few minutes on the bus, Brown remains silent, but then he appears to laugh at seemingly nothing.
Following the disturbing laugh, Brown dramatically yawns.
An hour later, at 8:34 pm, Brown had moved further back on the bus and laughed in the same cartoonish fashion as he did earlier.
While on board, the suspected stabber also seemed to be moving his body in strange ways.
An hour later, at 9:46 pm, Iryna Zarutska was seen boarding the light rail after finishing up her shift at work.
Four minutes later, as Brown was exiting the bus, he allegedly fatally stabbed Zarutska as bystanders watched.
The new footage also captured the moment police apprehended the man moments after he was suspected of murdering the Ukrainian immigrant.
The suspect slowly exited the light rail and leisurely crossed the train tracks.
People could be seen running away from the suspect as he wandered around the Charlotte transit center.
Fifteen minutes later, Brown was caught on camera at the Charlotte transit center arena train stop, where police arrested him.
Brown has been in and out of jail since 2007, racking up a rap sheet of 14 charges, including his most recent arrest in January.
The suspect spent five years in prison for robbery with a dangerous weapon in 2015.
Brown’s family claims that he’s struggled with mental illness and schizophrenia for years, ABC News reported.
Decarlos Brown Jr.’s criminal history
This is a timeline of Decarlos Brown Jr.’s criminal history since 2011
- 2011-Present: Arrested 14+ times for various crimes such as felony larceny, armed robbery with a dangerous weapon, burglary, shoplifting, assault, making threats/communicating threats, misuse of 911/false emergency calls
- 2020: Sentenced to prison for felony larceny and armed robbery
- 2021: Assaulted his sister shortly after release, causing minor injuries
- January 2025: Arrested for misusing 911 and claiming man-made substances controlled his body
- July 2025: Mental Health evaluation ordered with a schizophrenia diagnosis, but the evaluation was not carried out
While talking to his sister days after his arrest, Brown claimed that there were “materials” in his body that caused him to allegedly murder Zarutska.
“Make sure it was me that did it, not the material. And I’m telling you, the material did it,” Brown said in a recorded conversation between him and his sister.
“I never said not one word to the lady at all. That scary, ain’t it? So, like, why would somebody stab somebody for no reason?” Brown could be heard saying.
Brown now faces the death penalty as he was charged with committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system.
“This brutal attack on an innocent woman simply trying to get to her destination is an attack on the American way of life,” US Attorney Russ Ferguson said in a statement.
“Of course, crimes like this affect the victim the most — Iryna deserves justice, and we will bring justice to her and her family.”
