Crime runs deep in Decarlos Brown Jr.’s family. The homeless felon now accused of stabbing a young Ukrainian commuter to death on a Charlotte light rail train comes from a household where run-ins with the law have been a way of life.
Court records and law enforcement documents viewed by Fox News Digital reveal a disturbing family legacy: Stacey Dejon Brown, the older brother of the alleged killer, is locked up on a 27- to-36-year sentence for the 2012 shotgun slaying of a 65-year-old man during a robbery.
His sister, 33-year-old Tracey Vontrea Brown, has a criminal record that includes misdemeanor shoplifting, larceny, felony conspiracy, vehicle theft and resisting public officers, with her most recent arrests coming in 2024 for misdemeanor larceny, felony conspiracy and shoplifting, according to Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office records viewed by Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital reached out to Vontrae Brown.
Federal authorities announced Tuesday that Brown Jr. has been federally charged with one count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system.
“Iryna Zarutska had likely taken that train ride many times before. She was probably tired after a day at work and just wanted to go home, but tragically she never made it,” James C. Barnacle Jr., the FBI Charlotte special agent in charge, said Tuesday. “We hope this federal charge will help bring her family a measure of justice and the courts will hold the subject charged in this horrific act accountable. Everyone in this country deserves to go to work, to school or just across town without fear of being attacked.”
Booking photo of Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., taken Aug. 28, 2025, days after the fatal light-rail stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. (Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office)
Brown was previously charged with first-degree murder in state court for allegedly stabbing Zarutska to death.
