A California man was arrested after police say he fatally stabbed a woman and posted a video of her dying on Facebook.
According to a release issued by the San Mateo Police Department on Thursday, they were alerted by the Nye County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada on Wednesday about a report on Facebook of someone who witnessed a “stabbing” and were provided the name and phone number of the person who posted the video.
“Due to the seriousness of the crime, Nye County ‘pinged’ the phone number associated to the Facebook account, and it came back to the area of the 200 block of 37th Ave., a large apartment complex” in San Mateo, the release said.
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Given the “variance of the ping accuracy” and the fact that the SMPD did not have an apartment number, officers went door-to-door in the complex to find the suspect, the release stated.
“After almost three hours of systematically searching, officers established a possible connection and located a decedent in an apartment” in the same complex. They identified the suspect as Mark Merchikoff and, two hours later, arrested him without incident, in San Jose, California, the statement detailed.
According to the release, the suspect knew the victim and “while the motive for stabbing the victim is still under investigation, we do know Merchikoff mercilessly filmed the last moments of the victim’s life and posted the video to Facebook, then fled the area.”
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Associated Press reported that prosecutors have identified the victim as Claribel Estrella and that the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office charged Merchikoff on Friday with one count of murder with enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury with a knife.
District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said in an emailed statement to AP that Merchikoff appeared in court but did not enter a plea, and his arraignment was postponed for a week as he awaits his court-appointed attorney.
Wagstaffe added that the extent of Merchikoff and Estrella’s relationship was unclear and that the victim was discovered inside one of the apartments of the pinged complex close to three hours after her death, per AP.
The district attorney also told AP that a SMPD pinged Merchikoff’s cell phone and his Facebook page and the video have since been taken down.
Anyone with information should contact Detective Sergeant Dave Manion at (650) 522-7660 or [email protected]. Anonymous tips can also be submitted to http://tinyurl.com/SMPDTips or by calling (650) 522-7676.
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Source: HIS Education