Brutal Murder Video Uploaded to Facebook Shows Suspect Reciting Bible Verses During Stabbing
Police arrested a California man who allegedly “mercilessly filmed” a woman he stabbed while spouting “Bible verses” and streamed her final moments on Facebook.
Mark Mechikoff, of Pacifica, Calif., was captured Wednesday by San Mateo Police after a five-hour manhunt in the killing of Claribel Marie Estrella, 41, police said.
Mechikoff, 39, knew Estrella, but the motive for the horrific killing is still being investigated.
“We do know Mechikoff mercilessly filmed the last moments of the victim’s life and posted the video to Facebook, then fled the area,” San Mateo Police said in a release posted on its Facebook page.
Ryan Lanahan, a childhood friend of Mechikoff’s, said the gruesome video of the stabbing appeared on his Facebook account.
“There was a person bleeding out, [he was] standing over the person, repeating Bible verses and other types of incoherent nonsense,” Lenahan told KTVU.
Disturbed by the images, Lenahan told the station that he left a comment on the video, saying “I hope you’re in custody.”
Two hours later, Mechikoff called him, he said.
“He was just talking all sorts of babble, and he appeared to be in the same location as the crime took place,” Lenahan said, adding that he contacted the police.
San Mateo Police were also notified by the Nye County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada that they had received a tip from a woman who said she saw a “stabbing” on Facebook and gave authorities the name and phone number of the person who posted the video.
The sheriff’s office “pinged” the number and discovered it came from an apartment complex in San Mateo.
After a three-hour door-to-door search of the apartment complex, San Mateo officers found the victim.
Two hours later, they arrested Mechikoff in San Jose.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, removed the video from the social media platform.
“This is just sad all the way around that this person lost their life and had to deal with violence in their final moments,” Lenahan said.
