Hey y’all, it’s Julie Mattson. This week on Pushing Up Lilies, we’re discussing the heartbreaking murder of Iryna Zarutska, a 23‑year‑old Ukrainian refugee, stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail train on August 22, 2025. She fled war-torn Ukraine seeking peace, only for her life to be tragically ended in a place she called home. We’ll walk through the chilling details: how surveillance captured the moments before and after the attack, her suspect Decarlos Brown Jr.’s history of arrests and struggles with mental illness, and the outcry from her family and community demanding accountability and transit safety reforms. This isn’t just a story about a crime, it’s about a young woman trying to rebuild her life, the vulnerabilities she faced, and the failures of systems meant to protect her. Grab your headphones, we need to talk about what justice looks like, especially for someone who came to escape violence, not to become a victim of it. * Listener discretion is advised.
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00:06
Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies. I'm your host, Julie Mattson. Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly true crime podcast with spine tingling, unusual and terrifyingly true stories from my perspective as a forensic death investigator and a sexual assault nurse examiner.
00:24
Do I have some stories for you? Are you ready? Hey guys, we're back for another week Pushing Up Lilies. Man, it's been a heavy week. I think that everyone can agree no matter what your beliefs are that it's been crazy.
00:44
I think we're all kind of still trying to process the assassination of Charlie Kirk and also the killing of Iryna Zarutska. I mean, there's been just a lot going on this week. We have a TV in our office and the day that Charlie Kirk got shot, we heard about it and so we don't often turn on the news because we kind of make our own throughout the day.
01:09
But we turned it on and watched it and I have to admit, and I'm kind of embarrassed to say I did not know who he was. I don't watch a lot of TV. I don't get too involved in politics. I definitely don't ever talk about politics, but I was, I guess, amazed by him.
01:31
Whenever I discovered who he was, I wished I had known but had just never heard anybody talk about him. And so now that I see some of the things that he stood for, it's just kind of hit heavy. And I think the worst for me was just the fact that it was actually on video and that we actually saw it on video and then that his wife and kids were actually there.
02:01
Can you imagine just seeing that in person? Just even if you weren't related, just if you were a spectator, but especially if you were his wife and kids. Prayer is going out to his family, but this week I want to talk a little about Iryna Zarutska.
02:19
So, this event happened before Charlie Kirk was shot. I've watched the video over and over and I don't know why it has hit me harder than some of the murders that I've seen. And I guess because it is on camera and I always talk about, you know, make sure your video cameras are working so you can catch everything on camera.
02:42
But in this case, I guess actually just seeing it and just seeing how people around her did nothing. They just sat there and did not try to help this poor girl, and I could only imagine what was going through her mind.
02:57
And if you watch the video, you can see the pure shock and fear on her face. The stabbing itself was very violent. And so, we're going to talk a little bit about that, but it was an absolutely crazy story.
03:13
So, we're going to cover this. But this happened on August 22nd. Iryna Zarutska boarded a light rail train, and this was in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was only 23, hardworking, full of life. She'd already lived through things that most of us will never live through and could never even imagine.
03:34
So, she had fled war-torn Ukraine about three years ago, back in 2022. And she came to the U.S. hoping for safety and peace, which is what a lot of people come to the U.S. for. She was working at a pizzeria.
03:48
She was taking English classes, and she was trying to build a future for herself. But on that evening, as she texted her boyfriend that she would be home soon, her life was taken in a sudden and very horrific way.
04:04
So, this is not just a story of a crime, but a life cut short and a city, even a nation, trying to reckon with questions about safety, justice, and compassion. I just got back from a trip, and I have to say that I watched my back a little bit closer than I used to.
04:25
I hate that we have to do that. I guess we should have always done that, but I guess maybe I've gotten a little bit lax, a little too trusting. But after this happened, I started kind of looking behind me, paying a little more attention.
04:40
She deserved more. It was a warm evening in Charlotte. The East West Boulevard station was busy with people. Iryna Zarutska was among them. She was there. She finished her shift at the pizzeria. She boarded the Lynx Blue Line, a train that she had taken many times before.
05:03
And she was probably super tired, y'all. She just got off work. She was probably thinking about getting home. She had texted her boyfriend. She sat there quietly, and you can see it on the video. She is minding her own business.
05:16
34-year-old DeCarlos Brown Jr. was sitting behind her. And for four minutes, everything looked pretty ordinary. Now, if you look at the video, he looks a little bit irritated. It's hard to see his face, but he's kind of moving around a lot.
05:36
But without any warning, without him saying anything, she didn't speak to him. She didn't even look at him. He pulled out a pocketknife and stabbed her three times. The wounds were one in her neck, and that was the one that she couldn't survive.
05:53
And then the other two appeared to be in the chest area. She never made it home. She never cried. I mean, she cried to herself, but she never screamed. She never asked for help. She was in shock. And again, you can tell by the video, she had already survived the war.
06:11
She was finally here, trying to find joy, and she was robbed of all of it in just seconds. Now the man accused of this killing, DeCarlos Brown Jr., was homeless. He had a long history of arrests, 14 total, over a 12-year period.
06:31
He had been charged with robbery, with a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering, larceny, and assault. He was known to struggle with mental illness. He was well known to law enforcement in that area.
06:45
Yet despite all of this, he was free, riding on the train. I know I've talked about this before. I, in some cases, do agree with second chances, but 14 chances? Come on, y'all, 14. This guy had been arrested 14 times.
07:05
Why was he out? Why was he even on this train? I don't understand. This wasn't the first time the Browns family name had been tied to violence, though. His older brother, Stacy, is actually serving a 27- to 36-year sentence for a 2012 shotgun murder of a 65-year-old man, and his sister, Tracy, has a history of shoplifting, larceny, and conspiracy.
07:34
Even their father has arrests on his record. So, this family has a cycle of crime, poverty, and trauma. And while every person is responsible for their own actions, the truth is that cycles like these tell us something about how much work our society still has to do.
07:56
We got to do something. Now in the days following Irina's death, her family released a statement. They called her a kind, hardworking young woman deeply loved by her family and friends and obviously heartbroken beyond words.
08:11
They said that she had come here for safety and peace and instead her life got just taken away in seconds. But their grief is about loss and justice. They demand accountability as I would. They wanted to see changes so that no other family will ever have to go through what they're enduring.
08:36
And of course, pointed out failures in security, in oversight and just a failure in I guess the system that's kind of meant to keep people safe. They begged officials to do better, and they pleaded with the public to remember Iryna not because of what happened.
08:58
but by the light that she brought to the world. This murder shook Charlotte. It shook North Carolina. I mean, it's shaken everybody. Mayor Lyles calls it senseless and tragic and city council members there are kind of urging reviews of transit safety, which, you know, I think it's kind of always been an issue.
09:21
We have like a rail here and we rode it a couple of times to a concert to downtown Dallas and there are a lot of trans ants on the train. There are a lot that just ride it kind of back and forth. It's kind of scary and it's not that I have anything against homeless people.
09:41
It's just a lot of them have mental illnesses that are not being treated and that's the scary part. The transit company pledged to increase their inspections and increase their security, but her death kind of became political because of where she was from.
10:00
Again, the family just wanted everybody to remember her and remember what a great person she was and realize that she deserved better. There are cracks in three major systems and the transit security definitely failed.
10:15
There were no officers in her car. Mental health systems failed because this man was allowed to go untreated and he had had repeated arrests and then the justice system failed. He'd been arrested multiple times, no real resolution, and Irina had to pay the price because these failures collided.
10:41
Our story makes us ask a lot of hard questions about things that need to change and what we can do to help prevent tragedies like this from happening. On August 31st, the community actually gathered with candles to honor Iryna and there were a lot of them.
10:58
remembered her laughter and her courage and her warmth. Another vigil was actually held at the station where she was killed. Her family chose to bury her here in the United States because she had hoped that this country would give her safety.
11:15
And we failed her. It was very random. It was senseless. It was heartbreaking. She was just like everybody, someone's daughter, someone's sister. She was a friend. She, again, was learning English, trying to build her future.
11:31
She was very hopeful. But everyone deserves to get home at the end of the day. And always think about this like of our police officers. How many officers don't get home at the end of the day? How many are involved in incidents at work, and they don't ever get to go home?
11:49
I'm the one that has to go with the police to tell these families what happened. And it's devastating. It's a very hard part of our job. And, you know, it kind of brains to mind that public transportation in general is supposed to be kind of a lifeline.
12:06
You know, it's how we get to work, how we get to school. It's how a lot of people go visit family. It's meant to be safe and affordable and accessible. And a lot of people take subways and buses, and they don't even give it a second thought.
12:20
They don't have a choice. They have to use public transportation to get to work. And in super crowded areas, like I don't know how I would do on a subway because I'm a little bit claustrophobic, but that's just what you do.
12:33
I mean, if traffic doesn't allow you to get to work in a timely manner, and you find that public transportation works better for you, then many times you have no choice. But a lot of murders occur on public transportation.
12:47
Now, not every day, but they kind of shake our sense of safety. You know, when you get into a car, you assume some risk. But when you get into a train or a bus filled with strangers, or sit down, you know, in a train car or a bus full of people, you assume, or at least hope, that there are some sort of protections in place, cameras, other passengers there that might help you if something went wrong.
13:18
Some sense of order, maybe a security officer, just something. A few examples. In 1984 in New York, Bernard Goats shot four young men on subway. And that case was kind of sensed around self-defense, but it did expose a lot of fears about safety on a subway, rising crime.
13:42
And there is still a debate about whether subways are still actually safe. In London in 2005, coordinated terrorist attacks, targeted buses, and underground system, and actually killed 52 people. And these were acts of mass terrorism.
14:01
They weren't just random stabbings or shootings, but they forever changed how the public viewed safety in shared spaces. You always hope that being surrounded by people or having other people around you, that they're gonna step up and do something to help you if something bad happens.
14:19
But in Iryna's case, that did not happen. If you watch the video, everyone just sits there, and she eventually collapses. She eventually falls onto the floor on this train. No one even cares. No one tries to help her.
14:34
No one gives her any kind of comfort. And you can see the drops of blood on the floor. You can see what happened. And they saw him attack her. I in 2023. when a man suffering from mental illness actually died in a choke hold on a New York subway train.
14:55
And that sparked all kinds of protests and questions about mental health and what role bystanders play in preventing violence. Irina's death wasn't personal, and it wasn't targeted and it could have been anyone.
15:11
And I think that's kind of what makes it scary. Part of the reason why it sparks more fear than the average murder of someone who's targeted. She just sat down in front of him. That's all she did. She was just trying to go home.
15:30
I mean, on a train, you can't just pull over and get out. You're trapped. I mean, you're trapped surrounded by strangers. You're very vulnerable. And, you know, there could have been children in there.
15:42
There weren't that I could see on the video, but this is shared trauma. I mean, this guy murdered her in front of people and whether they want to admit it or not, I mean, it should bother them. It should bother them.
15:55
And of course, the nurse in me, I would have run right over, but no one seemed to care. That's what was heartbreaking to me is I was like, what if this was my child? What if this was me? Could she have been saved if someone would have done something?
16:11
It didn't look like there was a lot of blood. Again, if you look at the video and I don't know if they're edited or not, it didn't look like there was a lot of blood, but obviously, I mean, there were fatal, fatal wounds.
16:26
Maybe something could have been done, maybe not, but it sure would have been nice to know that someone had the heart to go over and help this poor girl. When murder like this happens on a train, I guess we realize it could have been us.
16:44
When someone gets murdered in their own home, again, it's targeted. Two people are fighting. or whatever, I mean unless it's a random break-in or whatever, but these kinds of cases tend to linger a little bit more in our memory because we do realize that it could be us, that it could have been us.
17:04
You know, we sit back and look at the video and think, God, why didn't anybody help? You know, what would I have done? I don't think I would have sat there quietly. I don't know. You never know what you would actually do, but the reality is public transit remains safe compared to the millions of rides taken every day, but every time there's a violent incident like this, especially a murder, it actually chips away at public trust.
17:34
Now some cities respond by adding police. Others may invest in like community outreach and mental health services, but the best solution isn't really one or the other, it's both. I mean, we need stronger security, and we need stronger safety nets and behind every statistic, behind every headline, there's a person like Irena, someone who just boarded a train or boarded a bus believing they were going to get home safe,
18:04
that they were going to reach their destination, that they were going to see their family. She deserved to live out life and not become a tragic reminder of what can go wrong and what is going wrong.
18:18
So next time you step on a train or a bus, just remember that it's a shared space. Show some vigilance, show some compassion and accountability. We can actually push for change that honors the lives of people who have been lost everywhere because everybody deserves to go home safely.
18:38
This story just kind of bothered me more, I guess, because it was so random and the fact that the system kind of failed her and this guy should never have been on the train. Anyway, I encourage you to read or learn a little bit more about this story if you haven't.
18:57
Cute, cute little girl, just literally trying to make a life for herself, trying to get on the train to get home after she had worked hard for the day. Anyway, I want to remind y'all that I believe well over half of the tickets have been sold for the first annual Pushing Up Lily's Murder Mystery Dinner that's going to be at 6 p.m.
19:20
at Prairie House Restaurant in Crossroads, Texas on October 11th. It's coming up, y'all. It's September. I can't hardly believe it. Like I was sitting there thinking the other day, it's only three months until Christmas, like three months and nine days.
19:36
I've already started buying stocking stuffers, but we need to get on it. I have been accepted to LTK, which is Like to Know, and my site is called Lipstick and Luminous. Y’all so please follow me on that and there'll be videos of things you know home decor and different things related to, I don't know death and lipstick, I guess. Because I do own a Med Spa and also work as a death investigator, so I try and think of the cute way to kind of mix the two jobs. So, I thought lipstick and luminol would be cute. But that is my handle on Like to Know, and so I would love for you to join me there. Don't forget to follow me on Facebook on Instagram, and also on Pinterest. And our website, pushinguplilies.com still has our murder merch. We have been selling tons of murder merch at the McCart Street Mercantile in Crumb Texas, which is where my booth is, and a lot of my murder merch is there. And it has been Selling like hotcakes y'all I love it! So, everyone loves true crime! And I again appreciate and love getting emails and messages from y'all about how to get into the field of forensics, and how to get into forensic nursing. And just good basic questions about my career and people asking for advice.
20:59
I get emails and messages every day and I love getting those and just so you know I do personally answer those. I don't have someone doing that for me. When you get a response, it is me. Please don't forget to go online and order those tickets for the murder mystery.
21:15
I hate for y'all to miss it. I really would love to see everyone there. There's going to be giveaways and prizes. It's going to be really cool. I've hired this company to do the entertainment, and it's going to be all kinds of fun.
21:27
So highly encourage y'all. You can go to eventbrite.com and when you search Crossroad Texas or just type in pushing up lilies it'll bring the event up for you, and they added some fees to the total costs.
21:40
I couldn't tell you exactly what it comes up to. I think it was close to $90 or something like that for tickets. So not terrible considering you're getting three hours of entertainment, appetizers, and chicken and beef fajitas.
21:54
I mean who doesn't love that? So, it's going to be a night of a lot of fun. Headed to work this morning. Hopefully the county is good to me. They were fairly good yesterday. We didn't have too rough of a day.
22:08
It looks like their weekend wasn't too terribly busy. Had a lot of decomps. Talked to someone from another office who said that they've had a lot of decomps, but the weather here is cooling off, which is amazing.
22:20
So cool, so much better than it has been. But we just didn't have as hot of a summer as we normally do. So, I'm thankful for that. But anyway, y'all have a day on Pushing Up Lilies. If you like this podcast and would like to share with others, please do me a quick favor and leave a review on Apple Podcast.
22:45
This helps to make the podcast more visible to the public. Thanks again for spending your time with me and be sure to visit me at pushinguplilies.com for merchandise and past episodes.