Decarlos Brown Jr., who is accused of killing Iryna Zarutska on the train in Charlotte, told his family that he acted because he believed the victim “read his mind.”

The suspect’s sister, Tracey Brown, said her brother suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, repeatedly claiming the government had implanted the chip in his body. In 2022, Brown attacked Tracy, biting and breaking down the door during a psychotic episode.

In a recording of a call from prison on Aug. 28, six days after the murder, Brown repeatedly told his sister that “something implanted in his body” had forced him to murder Zarutska. “He hurt his whole hand when he stabbed her. He didn’t even know who she was, never said a word. Scary, isn’t it? Why would someone stab a stranger for no reason?” – Brown said in the recording released by the Daily Mail on September 11.

Suspect Decarlos Brown Jr. Photo: Reuters

Tracey said her brother also threatened both her mother and sister, accusing them of being “bribed by the government to reach him”. Brown claimed that on the train, Zarutska had “read his mind” so he took action. “Now they have to investigate what my body was exposed to, and who is behind this,” Brown said in the video.

Brown’s mother said she tried to put her son in a long-term psychiatric center but failed because he was not a legal guardian. After being released from prison in 2022 after a 5-year sentence for armed robbery, Brown became increasingly erratic, out of control and unable to keep a stable job.

Iryna Zarutska before her death. Photo: Instagram

Records show that in January 2024, Brown called 911 to report that his brain was controlled by a chip and asked the police to investigate. When denied for alleged medical issues, he became enraged, arrested for abusing the 911 system, but was later released on bail.

Tracey said the family and the entire medical system “neglected” her brother, causing the tragedy to occur. She urged US President Donald Trump not to impose the death penalty on Brown: “He’s been going back and forth between hospitals and psychiatric clinics for the last three years, trying to get help. People just think it’s a drug or something, and they don’t care.”

After the incident, Tracey feared that she could become the target of a revenge attack because she was the suspect’s sister: “I was afraid that someone would recognize me, then get angry and want to harm me.”