North Carolina Man Found Incompetent to Stand Trial for Light Rail Murder

A man from North Carolina, DeCarlos Brown Jr., has been deemed incompetent to stand trial for the alleged murder of a young woman on a light rail train, according to court documents that have recently come to light. Brown, 34, is accused of fatally stabbing Irina Zalutka, a 23-year-old Ukrainian woman, on August 22, 2025, while she was on the Lynx Blue Line light rail train in Charlotte.

A psychiatric evaluation conducted while Brown was a patient at Central Regional Hospital determined that he is “incompetent” to proceed with a criminal trial. Currently, he is in federal custody on unrelated charges tied to the murder accusation.

Brown’s defense team requested to postpone a court hearing set for April 30, suggesting that efforts to “restore competency” regarding his mental health cannot proceed while he is held in federal custody. This ultimately led to a delay in his legal proceedings, pending further psychiatric evaluation.

Described as a homeless individual with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, Brown has a history of multiple run-ins with law enforcement. His family has indicated that mental illness has been a recurring issue for him.

In the year leading up to Zalutka’s murder, authorities reportedly documented six interactions with Brown, including welfare checks in response to his repeated 911 calls. One striking incident occurred a year prior when he reached out from a hospital, expressing a need to eliminate an “artificial” material that he believed was controlling him.

Following the stabbing, it seems Brown made similar claims during a phone call from jail, stating confusion over his actions and alleging that the government had implanted something in his brain. “They just lashed out at her and that’s what happened,” he reportedly said, suggesting that something beyond his control led to the attack.

Surveillance footage captured Zalutka boarding the train and sitting nearby Brown, who is alleged to have pulled out a knife just minutes later, stabbing her three times before exiting the train. Zalutka was declared dead at the scene, and Brown was apprehended shortly thereafter at the platform.

Facing both federal and state charges related to this shocking incident, Brown is expected to remain in federal custody while awaiting trial. A U.S. magistrate judge has called for an additional federal psychiatric assessment ahead of the upcoming legal proceedings.

Brown’s lawyer is said to have requested a six-month postponement for the state hearing, a request that prosecutors agreed to. As of now, Brown’s legal team has yet to provide any comment following these developments.