ChaoticMusings

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

'Out of all people, why her?' Tracey asked her brother. 'She's from the Ukraine, she's from Russia, and they had a war going on against the United States, so I'm just trying to understand, of all people, why her?' 

'They just lashed out on her, that's what happened,' Decarlos replied. '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, who lives in Charlotte and works as an Amazon delivery associate, also asked her brother where he was heading on the fateful train journey. 

'I was going downtown to the hospital to tell them… that I'm trying to get rid of the material… to stop going crazy,' Brown replied.

During a long and candid phone call with the Daily Mail, Tracey described how Brown went from being her 'protective' older brother to an alleged killer who believed the government was controlling his brain.

Tracey also said she 'strongly' believes he should not have been on the streets, and recounted the missed opportunities North Carolina state officials had to remove him.

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.'

'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.' 

Brown also dialed 911 several times, and told cops directly that he believed his brain was being controlled by a microchip.

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.'

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.'

Another opportunity to take Brown off the streets came when Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes 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'.

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.' 

Iryna was working at Zepeddie's pizzeria in south Charlotte to pay the bills, while learning to drive to secure her independence. 

The surveillance footage of her final moments on August 22 shows her wearing her unassuming work uniform - long pants with a black t-shirt and cap branded with the Zepeddie's logo. 

She had been riding back from the restaurant just before 10pm that day when Decarlos lunged at her from behind with a knife, ending her life in a matter of moments. 

Footage showed the moment Decarlos struck, before skipping the graphic slaughter to show him carrying a knife dripping with blood as he walked through the train carriage and another passenger sprinted away.