by Mona Mahadevan The New Haven independent
What the mural looked like on Wednesday, with name and years visible. Credit: Thomas Breen photo
The face of Iryna Zarutska still looks out over Trumbull and Lincoln streets — but the slain Ukrainian refugee’s name, birth year, and death year have now been covered up.
The painting’s sky-blue letters and numbers were obscured by strips of black tape on Thursday, a day after the Independent reported that a mural of Zarutska had been installed downtown.
The 10-by-24-foot painting of Zarutska — located on the side of a three-story apartment building at 46-48 Trumbull St. — was funded through Remember Iryna, a campaign started by tech CEO Eoghan McCabe and boosted by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. Both McCabe and Musk have ties to President Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement.
The mural’s Hartford-area artist, Ben Keller, did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Nor did the landlord, Kumail Zar, who owns 46-48 Trumbull St. through the holding company 4648 Trumbull LLC.
It is not clear if Keller, Zar, or someone else modified the painting on Thursday. Keller’s pictures of the piece on social media, posted Wednesday, include the original lettering.
Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, was fatally stabbed on Aug. 22, 2025 while riding a commuter train in North Carolina. Her alleged killer, a 35-year-old Black man named Decarlos Brown Jr., has a lengthy arrest record and history of mental illness.
Murals of Zarutska have drawn scrutiny around the country, as President Trump and his allies cite Zarutska’s death to bolster conservative arguments about crime and race. Keller maintains that he painted Zarutska to honor a refugee whose brutal killing was recorded by security cameras and circulated on social media.