FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI has been investigating the horrific murder of a Ukrainian refugee in Charlotte, North Carolina, "from day one."
Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old who fled Ukraine in 2022, was fatally stabbed by a career criminal on Aug. 22. The killing gained national attention over the weekend after authorities released surveillance video of the gruesome slaying.
The surveillance footage showed Zarutska sitting on a light rail seat in front of Decarlos Brown Jr., who took out a pocketknife and stabbed her multiple times.
Brown then paced around the rail car as her blood dripped from his knife.
"The FBI has been investigating the Charlotte train murder from day one. Stay tuned," Patel wrote Monday night on X.
The bureau's investigation could be related to the judges who released the alleged murderer — a homeless man with schizophrenia who had been arrested and released 14 times previously, the Washington Examiner reported.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also commented on X, saying ".@USDOT will investigate and make sure ZERO tax dollars go to soft-on-crime transit systems that allow horrific tragedies like what happened in Charlotte, North Carolina."
"Murders on public transit like that of Iryna Zarutska should never be allowed to happen again," Duffy added to his post.
Brown's criminal history, dating back to 2014, includes armed robbery with a dangerous weapon, for which he spent eight years in jail.
President Donald Trump on Monday night wrote on Truth Social that Zarutska's "blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail."
Reuters contributed to this story.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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