EXCLUSIVE: Iryna Zarutska’s Best Friend Reveals Heartbreaking Final Text – But Phone Data Uncovers Mysterious Post-Attack Call
In an exclusive interview with this outlet, Sofia Kowalski, the best friend and coworker of slain Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, has broken her silence, sharing the devastating final text message Zarutska sent just moments before her brutal stabbing on a Charlotte light rail train. The six simple words – “Shift’s over, I’m going home” – now serve as a haunting epitaph for the 23-year-old’s unfulfilled American Dream. But in a startling twist, newly analyzed phone data obtained by investigators reveals an additional, mysterious call made from Zarutska’s device after the attack, raising questions about what – or who – might have been involved in her final moments.
Kowalski, 24, who worked alongside Zarutska at Zepeddie’s Pizzeria in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood, tearfully recounted the evening of August 22, 2025, during an emotional phone call from her apartment. “Iryna and I finished our shift together around 9:30 p.m. She was excited because she’d just bought her first used car and was practicing for her driver’s license test,” Kowalski said, her voice cracking. “She texted me right after clocking out: ‘Shift’s over, I’m going home.’ It was so typical of her – always positive, always looking forward. I replied with a heart emoji and told her to text me when she got back safe. She never did.”
Zarutska, who fled Ukraine’s war-torn Kyiv region in August 2022 with her mother, sister, and brother, had embraced life in North Carolina with remarkable resilience. An accomplished artist with a degree in Art and Restoration from Synergy College in Kyiv, she volunteered at local senior centers, cared for neighbors’ pets, and dreamed of becoming a veterinary assistant. “She was the kindest soul,” Kowalski added. “She’d sketch animals during breaks and give them away as gifts. Iryna loved America – she called it her ‘new canvas.’ Who could have imagined it would end like this?”
Surveillance footage from the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) captures the tragedy unfolding. At approximately 9:46 p.m., Zarutska boarded the Lynx Blue Line at Scaleybark station, dressed in her pizzeria uniform – khaki pants and a dark shirt – with her long blonde hair tucked under a hat. Earbuds in, she sat scrolling on her phone in an aisle seat, directly in front of 34-year-old Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., who was in a window seat wearing an orange sweatshirt. Four minutes later, without any apparent interaction, Brown pulled a pocketknife from his hoodie and stabbed Zarutska three times, including a fatal wound to her neck. She slumped in her seat, clutching her throat as blood pooled on the floor. Brown then calmly walked to the other end of the car, removed his hoodie, and exited at the East/West Boulevard station, where he was arrested minutes later.
The attack, captured in graphic detail on CATS cameras, has sparked national outrage and political firestorms. Brown, a Charlotte native with 14 prior arrests spanning 12 years – including armed robbery, felony larceny, breaking and entering, and assault – had been released from jail just weeks earlier on a minor charge. Court records indicate a history of mental health issues, including schizophrenia, and he was homeless at the time. Federal prosecutors charged him on September 9 with committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system, a crime eligible for the death penalty. A judge ordered a 60-day psychiatric evaluation, but Brown’s family insists the system failed him, with his sister Tracey noting in a recorded jail call that he had previously called 911 claiming “satellites in his brain.”
Zarutska’s boyfriend, Stas Nikulytsia, also a Ukrainian immigrant, confirmed to media outlets that she had texted him similarly that night, saying she was en route home – a message echoing the one to Kowalski. When she didn’t arrive, Nikulytsia and family friends tracked her phone to the station, only to learn she had been pronounced dead at the scene. “She was head over heels for the American Dream,” her uncle told People magazine in an exclusive, recounting how Zarutska had recently moved in with Nikulytsia and was taking English classes at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. The family opted to bury her in North Carolina rather than repatriate her body to Ukraine, a poignant symbol of her adopted home.
But the exclusive revelation from Kowalski about the “going home” text has been overshadowed by emerging phone data analyzed by the FBI as part of the federal probe. Sources familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity, disclose that Zarutska’s phone – recovered from the scene with a significant amount of blood – shows an outgoing call placed at 9:58 p.m., just three minutes after the stabbing was reported at 9:55 p.m. The call lasted 12 seconds and connected to an unidentified number traced to a burner phone in the Charlotte area. No voice was recorded due to the brevity, but the timing suggests it occurred while Zarutska was still alive, though gravely injured and possibly unconscious.
What makes this call “mysterious,” investigators say, is that it doesn’t match any known contacts in Zarutska’s recent call log. “It wasn’t to her boyfriend, her family, or Sofia,” one source explained. “The phone was in her hand when responders arrived, and the screen was still active. We’re not ruling out accidental dialing, but the precision – thumbprint unlock and speed dial? – raises eyebrows.” Speculation online, fueled by X posts and conspiracy threads, ranges from a final desperate plea for help to something more sinister, like involvement from an unknown party. Kowalski, upon hearing of the call, was stunned: “Iryna wouldn’t call a stranger. If she was hurt, she’d call me or Stas. This doesn’t make sense – it’s like a ghost in the machine.”
The redacted details in court filings echo the family’s earlier handwritten letter, which contained a blacked-out passage hinting at “deeper vulnerabilities.” Zarutska’s family, through attorney Lauren O. Newton, has demanded full transparency: “We are heartbroken beyond words. Iryna came here for peace and safety, not this horror.” They’ve also pleaded for an end to the circulation of the graphic video, emphasizing dignity over sensationalism.
Public reaction has been explosive. On X, #JusticeForIryna trends alongside debates on transit safety, with users decrying the lack of onboard security – officers were in the car ahead but unaware until after. President Donald Trump, speaking at the Museum of the Bible on September 8, called Brown a “madman” and blamed “soft-on-crime” policies in Democratic-led cities like Charlotte, vowing federal intervention if re-elected. Attorney General Pam Bondi echoed this, stating Zarutska’s murder was “a direct result of failed policies that put criminals before innocent people.” Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, facing re-election pressure, announced increased patrols and blamed “tragic failures by the courts and magistrates.”
Progressive voices, however, focus on mental health reform, with Brown’s sister revealing in the jail call that he believed “materials implanted in his brain” compelled the attack, and that he thought Zarutska was “reading his mind.” “The system failed Decarlos, and now Iryna’s gone,” Tracey Brown said. Yet Zarutska’s loved ones reject this narrative: “His history speaks for itself. No excuses,” Kowalski asserted.
The mysterious call has investigators digging deeper, subpoenaing cell tower data and reviewing passenger manifests. Was it a glitch, a cry for help, or evidence of something more? As the probe intensifies, Kowalski clings to memories of her friend: “Those six words were Iryna – hopeful, simple, full of life. Whatever that call was, it can’t take away her light.”
Vigils continue across Charlotte, with candles lit at Camden station. Community leaders link Zarutska’s death to broader issues: urban crime, immigrant safety, and mental health gaps. Her obituary paints her as a “homebody happiest with family,” an artist whose “radiant smile” lit up rooms. As one X user poignantly posted: “Iryna fled bombs for this? Demand better.”
The road to answers – and justice – remains fraught. For now, “Shift’s over, I’m going home” echoes as a tragic reminder of dreams deferred. Zarutska’s family, fractured by loss, urges reform: “For Iryna, protect the innocent.” Until the mysteries unravel, her story compels a nation to confront its shadows.
