The heartbroken boyfriend of the Ukrainian refugee brutally stabbed to death on a train has spoken out about his anguish at her murder.
Stas Nikulytsia is described online as the ‘life partner’ of Iryna Zarutska, 23, who was killed on a light rail in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 22, allegedly by career criminal DeCarlos Brown Jr.
Since the tragedy, Nikulytsia has unleashed his fury and heartbreak in anguished Instagram stories, sharing his grief while also reposting outraged comments questioning why Brown, a career criminal, was ever released back on to the streets.
Tragic Iryna escaped Vladimir Putin‘s bombardment of her native Ukraine with her mother, Anna, sister Valeria and brother, Bohdan, arriving in the US in August 2022.
Having first found sanctuary with her uncle’s family in the quiet Charlotte suburb of Huntersville, Iryna had recently set up home with her long-term love in a trendy apartment in the city’s vibrant NoDa arts district, a 20-minute drive away.
Now, in the aftermath of her death, Nikulytsia has shared a series of poignant snaps of him and Iryna, accompanied by heartbroken emojis, in Instagram posts seen by the Daily Mail.
In one photo, the pair gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes as Iryna hugs her boyfriend’s arm and he places a gentle hand on her thigh while sitting by a lake in their swimsuits.
Other pictures from the trip shared online by her uncle, Scott Haskell, show the couple smiling with Iryna’s loved ones and their dog.
Stas Nikulytsia (left), the heartbroken ‘life partner’ of slain Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, 23, has taken to social media to unleash his fury over her horrific death by a repeat offender in Charlotte, North Carolina
Horrific footage shows the terror etched on Iryna’s face as career criminal DeCarlos Brown Jr. stabbed her from behind in a random act of violence on a train
Another lighthearted snap, taken after a dip in the water, shows a wet-haired Iryna laughing while her boyfriend has his arm around her and cheekily sticks his tongue out.
In a dedication to his girlfriend, Nikulytsia has a mushroom emoticon followed by a broken heart emoji at the top of his Instagram profile.
Iryna is seen in previous snaps wearing a beloved mushroom hoodie, and the resting place of her cremation urn was adorned with colorful mushroom stickers and a red toadstool tealight holder.
In a sign of Nikulytsia’s disbelief over his girlfriend’s senseless killing, he took to Instagram to share two brief video clips from the train surveillance footage of the incident.
He reposted a video about the aftermath of the assault, which highlighted the audio of someone saying, ‘got that white girl’.
It is unclear whether it was alleged killer Brown who made the comment, as has been claimed, or another passenger.
A caption on the video urged viewers to have their sound switched on, adding: ‘This is important to know’.
In later posts, he reshared a video reel that hit out at the alleged inaction of nearby train passengers immediately after Brown’s assault.
Stas Nikulytsia attached a broken heart emoji to a picture he posted of himself and Iryna after a swim
In happier times, photos from a lakeside getaway posted by her uncle Scott Haskell capture the pair smiling with Iryna’s loved ones and their dog
In disbelief over his girlfriend’s senseless killing, Nikulytsia reshared a reel taking aim at magistrate Teresa Stokes who freed Brown just seven months before the attack and another blasting passengers for failing to intervene during the stabbing frenzy
The reel circles the nearby passengers and has the caption: ‘That’s why they didn’t release the OG footage.’
He also appeared to take aim at North Carolina magistrate Teresa Stokes, who has come under intense criticism for her decision to free Brown seven months before he allegedly killed Iryna.
Stokes allowed Brown, who is homeless and had a lengthy list of previous arrests, to walk free on a ‘written promise’ that he would return for his next court appearance date.
In a taped phone call to his sister Tracey, 33, Brown said the government had planted foreign materials into his brain and had been in control of his actions when he pulled the knife on Iryna.
Nikulytsia reshared a video in which a man can be seen claiming that Stokes did not go to law school.
Iryna’s heartbroken boyfriend was nowhere to be seen at the trendy apartment building where the pair lived and did not immediately respond to Daily Mail’s approaches for an interview.
Currently available apartments in the artistic enclave rent for between roughly $1,200 a month and $2,400 and boast a saltwater pool, social spaces, a pet spa and park and a boutique gym.
Tragically, their new apartment also had a private entrance directly on the blue line light rail, which would have taken Iryna mere minutes to walk off the train platform and into the safety of her boyfriend’s arms.
And it was a community in which artistic and free-spirited Iryna felt safe and at ease.
In an apparently verified review on the building’s website in June, a resident named Iryna wrote: ‘This is my first experience living in Noda and I am very impressed by the beauty, diversity and creative here.
Iryna had recently set up home with long-term love Nikulytsia in a trendy apartment in the vibrant NoDa arts district, a 20-minute drive away from her uncle’s family in the suburbs
In earlier photos, Iryna is seen wearing her favorite mushroom hoodie—fittingly, her cremation urn was later surrounded with colorful mushroom stickers and a red toadstool tealight holder
‘Nice people around, beautiful neighborhood, very positive place. I recommend to everyone.’
A day later, Iryna shared a happy selfie from her new home, tagging the location as NoDa – a contraction of North Davidson arts district.
Iryna texted her boyfriend the night of August 22 to tell him she was on her way home from her full-time job at Zepeddie’s, a local pizza parlor, her devastated family has revealed.
But the ‘kind and hardworking’ young woman never made it back home after crossing paths with violent schizophrenic, Brown, 34.
When she did not arrive home at the expected time, her worried loved ones checked her phone’s location, which ‘alerted them that she was still at the station’.
‘Upon arriving at the station, they were devastated to learn that Iryna had died at the scene,’ the statement, released by their attorney, said.
Such are the painful memories associated with their fledgling love nest that Stas is looking to move out of the apartment, a resident claimed.
The resident, who did not give her name, told the Daily Mail that although she did not know Iryna, she wanted to organize a lasting memorial in the community, like a bench, so the young woman would never be forgotten.
On the night of August 22, Iryna texted her boyfriend to say she was heading home from her shift at Zepeddie’s, a local pizza parlor where she worked full-time
Iryna and her family had escaped Ukraine to find ‘peace and safety’ only for her life to be stolen on public transport in North Carolina
In a statement, a spokesperson for the family said: ‘We are heartbroken beyond words. Iryna came here to find peace and safety, and instead, her life was stolen from her in the most horrific way.
‘No family should have to go through this.’
Their lawyer added that the family’s ‘immediate priority is to ensure the man responsible for Iryna’s murder is brought to justice and remains behind bars’.
They are also demanding ‘a full investigation into the circumstances leading up to Iryna’s death, including lapses in security protocols and failures within the public transportation system’.
‘This could have been anyone riding the light rail that night,’ they added.
‘We are committed to making sure this never happens again.’
