The horrendous murder of Ukrainian refugee Irina Zarutska aboard a Charlotte, North Carolina light rail has taken a significant turn for the worse, with the release of video showing Zarutzka’s heartbreaking final moments. But the legacy media appear to be already running away from an inconvenient story.
ABC World News Tonight devoted a scant 16 seconds to this story:
AARON KATERSKY: This comes as the Justice Department today charged another suspect with a long criminal record in the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a train in Charlotte. DeCarlos Brown, Jr. now facing a federal charge that could lead to the death penalty.
The new footage is explosive, and shows that Zarutska really had no time to react to what happened. Additionally there is clear audio, seemingly of the attacker, mumbling “I got that white girl.”
ABC’s brief wasn’t even a standalone story: it was tacked on at the end of a report on the elderly couple that was burned to death in New York City by a madman. After taking almost three weeks to report this story, it appears that ABC wants to get away from it as soon as possible.
CBS had Scott MacFarlane cover the story for the Evening News, which he did in a full report. Scottie Mac took care to report on the new federal charges, etc, but also neglected to mention the damning audio before going back to a “Trump Pounces” posture on the story.
Gabe Gutierrez’ report for NBC Nightly News is almost identical in that regard. However, there were mentions of proposed safety reforms to the light rail system. But it is unclear how many of these reforms would’ve been allowed to stand in the way of a deranged individual with 14 arrests intent on stabbing a random young woman to death.
This story is only getting worse, inasmuch as it exposes the downsides of years of liberal policies. Today’s reporting indicates that the legacy media want to get as far away from it as possible
Click “expand” to view the full transcripts of the aforementioned stories as aired on their respective networks, on Tursday,
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
9/9/25
6:40 PM
DAVID MUIR: Here in New York City tonight, the urgent manhunt under way right now after the chilling deaths of a couple, set on fire inside their own home. Police say the suspect asked to charge his phone. Here’s Aaron Katersky.
KATERSKY: Tonight, an urgent search in New York City for this man, who police say randomly murdered and set fire to an elderly couple who let him into their Queens home to charge his cell phone.
NEIGHBOR: The nicest neighbors you could ever ask for.
KATERSKY: Surveillance video showing the suspect in the neighborhood Monday after going door-to-door, police say, asking to charge his phone.
NEIGHBOR: Very chilling. It’s scary. It’s some random guy walking down the street, setting fire to older people. Anybody, for that matter.
KATERSKY: Once inside, police say the suspect terrorized the couple for five hours, stabbing 76-year-old Frank Olton, tying him to a pole in the basement with a bungee cord and setting him on fire. The body of Olton’s 77-year-old wife Maureen found severely burned in a separate part of the house. Investigators combing the charred home for clues. Blackened chairs and debris littering the lawn. And tonight, spolice say the suspect is Jamel McGriff, an armed and dangerous career criminal out on parole for robbery.
JESSICA TISCH: For the public, the message is clear. (VIDEO SWIPE) Do not allow anyone you don’t know or who you are not expecting into your home.
KATERSKY: This comes as the Justice Department today charged another suspect with a long criminal record in the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a train in Charlotte. DeCarlos Brown, Jr. now facing a federal charge that could lead to the death penalty.
And back here in New York, David, the man suspected of killing the elderly couple is also wanted for multiple violent robberies. Police say he has a criminal record that stretches back 30 years. David.
MUIR: Both just horrific cases. Aaron, thank you.
CBS EVENING NEWS
9/9/25
6:36 PM
JOHN DICKERSON: A 34-year-old man with a long rap sheet was hit today with a federal terror charge in the stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte, North Carolina, commuter train. That charge carries the death penalty.
MAURICE DuBOIS: The horrifying video of the attack is all over social media. Justice Correspondent Scott Macfarlane is following this case.
SCOTT MacFARLANE: Iryna Zarutska was 23 years old and fled from a bomb shelter during the war in Ukraine to find a new home and new job in North Carolina. Prosecutors say on August 22nd on her way home from work, she was killed while in that seat on the light rail system in Charlotte. The FBI says the man who stabbed and murdered Zarutska is DeCarlos Brown Jr., who they say was later seen walking off the train with a bloody knife.
RUSS FERGUSON: This is obviously a horrible, horrible situation. But this is why federal statutes exist. They exist to take care of situations like this.
MacFARLANE: Brown already faces local charges, but U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson of North Carolina today announced a federal charge is being added, citing the scene of the crime, a mass transit system, raising the possibility of the death penalty.
FERGUSON: It’s a terroristic act to make people afraid to go about their daily lives. That is what terrorism is.
MacFARLANE: Court records show Brown has been arrested 14 times, including a 2015 conviction for robbery with a dangerous weapon. President Trump and his allies have highlighted the incident as proof that his attention to crime is justified.
DONALD TRUMP: We have to respond with force and strength.
MacFARLANE: The president leaned into the case today, posting on social media that a repeat offender allegedly killing a young refugee warrants stronger federal intervention and deployments in Democratic-led cities.
Brown has not yet entered a plea in his federal criminal case, but recently a judge in North Carolina ordered he undergo a competency exam before that local murder case can move forward. John and Maurice.
DICKERSON: Justice Correspondent Scott MacFarlane, thank you.
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
9/9/25
6:38 PM
TOM LLAMAS: Now to new developments in that gruesome murder of a Ukrainian refugee who was stabbed to death as she sat on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina. The suspect now facing federal charges. Here’s Gabe Gutierrez.
GUTIERREZ: Tonight, a new federal charge against a man seen in this disturbing surveillance video pulling a knife from his pocket and repeatedly stabbing a Ukrainian refugee to death last month as she sat on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina.
RUSS FERGUSON: This is, obviously, a horrible, horrible situation.
GUTIERREZ: The U.S. Attorney choking back tears, describing how 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska had fled her war-torn country where she had been staying in a bomb shelter. Here in the U.S., the FBI says she quickly got a work permit and held jobs at a senior citizen center and a pizza restaurant.
JAMES BARNACLE: She was building her young life. She recently moved in with her partner.
GUTIERREZ: DeCarlos Brown Jr. had already been charged with murder at the state level. Now he also faces a federal count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system. President Trump today highlighting his lengthy criminal history, including a conviction for armed robbery, also blaming Democrats for enacting cashless bail.
DONALD TRUMP: She was slaughtered by a deranged monster who was roaming free after 14 prior arrests. We cannot allow a depraved criminal element of violent repeat offenders to continue spreading destruction and death throughout our country.
GUTIERREZ: The Trump administration also threatening to withhold federal funds if local authorities don’t do enough to protect mass transit riders.
KAROLINE LEAVITT Tragically, a public transportation system in a major American city was more dangerous than the active war zone she left.
GUTIERREZ: Charlotte’s Democratic mayor announcing the city will increase security on the light rail system.
MALCOLM GRAHAM: Too many guns on the street. Not enough police officers on the street. And we need to identify mental health as a public health crisis.
GUTIERREZ: The U.S. Attorney says the embassy in Ukraine offered to return Zarutska’s remains home. But her family responded that she loved America. And they wanted her buried here in the U.S. Tom.
LLAMAS: Gabe Gutierrez at The White House.
