FBI Director, Transportation Secretary Investigating Charlotte Stabbing Murder

Video footage released last week shows the moments before the victim, Iryna Zarutska, was stabbed to death, prompting a national debate.

A still from a video shows Iryna Zarutska (Bottom R) before she was fatally stabbed on a commuter train in Charlotte, N.C., on Aug. 22, 2025. Charlotte Area Transit System via AP

The FBI and Transportation Department have both signaled that federal officials will investigate the fatal stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee in North Carolina after video footage of the incident was released last week.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on the night of Sept. 8 that the agency “will be investigating Charlotte over its failure to protect Iryna Zarutska,” referring to the victim in the stabbing murder.

“If mayors can’t keep their trains and buses safe, they don’t deserve the taxpayers’ money,” Duffy said on X. “Murders on public transit like that of Iryna Zarutska should never be allowed to happen again.”

At the same time, FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media that the bureau was continuing to investigate the incident.

“The FBI has been investigating the Charlotte train murder from day one,” Patel wrote on the evening of Sept. 8 on X. “Stay tuned.”

Patel did not provide other details about the nature of the investigation.

Critics have said the death of Zarutska, 23, could have been prevented, and they have blamed officials for failing to keep a man with a history of mental illness, arrests, and erratic behavior off the streets before he killed her.

On Sept. 8, President Donald Trump wrote on social media, “Criminals like this need to be LOCKED UP.”

The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, had served time in prison, been briefly committed for schizophrenia, and was arrested earlier this year after repeatedly calling 911 from a hospital, according to court records.

Zarutska had come to the United States to escape the war in Ukraine, relatives wrote in a GoFundMe post and in an obituary, describing her as determined to build a safer life.

Video footage of the incident shows the moments leading up to the stabbing death on a Charlotte Area Transit System light-rail train. Zarutska is seen wearing a baseball cap and sitting on the train in front of Brown as she scrolls on a phone before Brown pulls out a knife and stabs her from behind. The two did not appear to have any interaction beforehand.

The footage does not show the stabbing; it cuts away to when Brown is seen walking on the light-rail line covered in blood.

Brown was arrested at the scene and charged with first-degree murder, officials said in a statement in August. Court records show that he had cycled through the criminal justice system for more than a decade, with 14 previous cases in Mecklenburg County. He served five years for robbery with a dangerous weapon.

On Sept. 8, Duffy said his office would conduct an investigation into the issue, warning that his department could withhold funding to municipalities if public safety is not made a priority.

“Your federal tax dollars go to fund a lot of these transit systems across the country,” Duffy told Fox News in an interview on Sept. 8. “And we have to look at them and say, ‘Well, maybe it’s appropriate that we start pulling some of that money back because I don’t think the American taxpayer wants to pay for the homelessness and criminal element that harm little 23-year-old girls like this who are going home from work.’”

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, a Democrat, issued a statement on X on Sept. 6 about the video showing the moments before the woman’s death.

“The video of the heartbreaking attack that took Iryna Zarutska’s life is now public,” Lyles wrote. “I want to thank our media partners and community members who have chosen not to repost or share the footage out of respect for Iryna’s family.

“This was a senseless and tragic loss. My prayers remain with her loved ones as they continue to grieve through an unimaginable time.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.