On Wednesday, an unidentified man allegedly stabbed a woman to death in the San Francisco Bay Area, and then uploaded a video of the crime to Facebook. The perpetrator, eventually identified as 39-year-old Mark Mechikoff, was apprehended thanks to the graphic film.
About 30 miles south of where the body was discovered in a San Mateo apartment building is where he was apprehended. “While the motive for stabbing the victim is still under investigation, we do know Mechikoff mercilessly filmed the victim’s last moments of life and posted the video to Facebook, then fled the area,” San Mateo police said in a statement.
Claribel Estrella, the victim, has been named by prosecutors. Mechikoff will be charged with one count of murder with an enhancement for use of a knife by the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office on Friday. DA Stephen Wagstaffe said in an email that on Friday afternoon, he will be arraigned and an attorney appointed to represent him.
Someone who watched the stabbing video on Facebook called the Nye County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada to report it. The Facebook page’s phone number was “pinged” by the sheriff’s office, and the investigation led them to a huge apartment complex in San Mateo.
Officers there reportedly knocked on doors for nearly three hours before discovering Estrella inside a residence. The police have said that Mechikoff knew her, but they haven’t said how.
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