Iryna Zarutska’s Boyfriend Speaks Out

The devastated boyfriend of Iryna Zarutska has shared his heartbreak and lashed out at the “unqualified” magistrate judge who let her suspected killer walk free before she was stabbed to death on a North Carolina train.

Stanislav “Stas” Nikulytsia, 21, shared a sweet picture of himself and Zarutska together in bathing suits on his Instagram account on Wednesday, accompanied by a simple broken heart emoji — his first public statement since Zarutska’s murder.

In his Instagram stories, Nikulytsia reposted clips slamming Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes, who freed Zarutska’s alleged killer, Decarlos Brown, on cashless bail seven months before the horrific knife attack onboard a Charlotte train on Aug. 22.

One of the stories claimed Stokes was not even a qualified lawyer.

Stokes released Brown, a career criminal with more than a dozen previous arrests, in January on a “written promise” to appear at a future court date.

Nikulytsia, who was living with his love in Charlotte for the past year and was described as Zarutska’s “life partner” in her obituary, also changed his Instagram bio to a mushroom emoji, a favorite symbol of Iryna’s, and a broken heart.

Zarutska’s family revealed that they first feared something was wrong when she didn’t arrive home on time, and her phone location “alerted them that she was still at the station,” according to a statement shared with WSOC.

“That night, she texted her boyfriend that she would be home soon,” the statement read.

“Upon arriving at the station, they were devastated to learn that Iryna had died at the scene.”

Zarutska fled the war in Ukraine in Aug. 2022 along with her mother and two younger siblings, but in just three years she built strong foundations in the US, touching the lives of everyone she met, her family said.

More than 100 people came from an assisted living facility where she used to work in one of her first jobs in the US to pay their respects, with buses arranged to bring residents to her services, an uncle told PEOPLE.

“What motivated us to get them out of Ukraine was seeing a picture of them huddled up in a bomb shelter near their apartment there in Kyiv,” said the uncle, who asked to remain anonymous.

She felt so at home in the US that her family has asked for her to be buried in America, despite the State Department offering to foot the bill of flying her remains back to Ukraine.

“They didn’t want to come to this country and be a burden. They wanted to come to this country to build a new life,” Zarutska’s uncle said.

In the family’s emotional statement, they said they were “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.”

They also called on city officials and the Charlotte Area Transit System to bring in reforms to improve safety.

“This could have been anyone riding the light rail that night. We are committed to making sure this never happens again,” the statement said.