A man in California has been arrested after allegedly stabbing a woman to death – and then sharing a video of the grisly murder on social media. Warning, Perezcious readers, the details are beyond horrific.
According to the San Mateo Police Department, they received a call a little before 4 p.m. on Wednesday from the Nye County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada. They called SMPD after receiving a report from someone who witnessed a “stabbing” on Facebook and provided them with the name and phone number of the person who uploaded the heinous story. The sheriff’s office in Nevada “pinged” the number associated with the social media account and traced it to a large apartment complex in San Mateo. It turned out the page belonged to 39-year-old Mark Mechikoff of Pacifica, California. SMPD said:
“Mechikoff mercilessly filmed the last moments of the victim’s life and posted the video to Facebook, then fled the area.”
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The San Mateo Police Department public information officer Jerami Surratt added to NBC Bay Area:
“It’s pretty hideous what that video contained. Not only was there a victim that ultimately lost her life, which is bad enough, for him to take it a step further and post a video about it is pretty disturbing.”
The clip of the graphic crime quickly popped up on the feeds of Mechikoff’s friends on Facebook, including his childhood acquaintance Ryan Lenahan. He recalled to KTVU some of the contents in the video, saying:
“There was a person bleeding out, [he was] standing over the person, repeating Bible verses and other types of incoherent nonsense.”
Upon seeing the video, Lenhan called Mechikoff “sick” in the comments and then added, “I hope you’re in custody.” Oddly enough, two hours later, he received a call from the suspect:
“He was just talking all sorts of babble, and he appeared to be in the same location as the crime took place.”
That’s when Lenahan called the police. From there, the sheriff’s office in Nevada “pinged” Mechikoff’s phone and traced it to a large apartment complex in San Mateo, California before contacting the local authorities. When SMPD officers arrived at the scene, they didn’t have an exact apartment number and proceeded to go door-to-door to locate the victim and Mechikoff. Per police, they spent “3 hours of systematically searching” for the place before finding the deceased woman in one of the apartments.
But the suspect was nowhere to be found at the scene. Fortunately, it did not take police long to track Mechikoff down. They found him within two hours and arrested him “without incident.” Per NBC Bay Area, police said he had the suspected murder weapon on him when he was apprehended.
While the motive for the crime is unknown at this time, Mechikoff “had known” the victim – who was later identified by prosecutors as Claribel Estrella. The extent of the relationship is unclear. ABC News reported that the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office has since charged him with a single count of murder with enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury and the use of a knife.
It’s awful what happened to this woman. Our heartbreaks for her loved ones following this tragedy. At this time, ABC News reported Mechikoff has not entered a plea despite appearing in court on Friday. His arraignment was postponed for a week while waiting for him to be given a court-appointed attorney.
[Image via San Mateo Sheriff’s Office]
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