Man accused of murdering woman in video posted on Facebook

A Bay Area man has been arrested for allegedly stabbing a woman to death while reciting Bible verses — and then sharing a “hideous” video of the grisly murder on Facebook.

Mark Mechikoff, 39, of Pacifica, was arrested after a five-hour manhunt Wednesday for killing 41-year-old Claribel Marie Estrella in San Mateo, local police said.

San Mateo police said they got a call at around 4 p.m. from the Nye County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada to report a 911 call from a local resident who said they’d seen a stabbing on Facebook — and provided the name and phone number of the user who’d uploaded the graphic recording.

“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.

Ryan Lenahan, a childhood friend of Mechikoff, told KTVU that he also saw the sick video when it popped up on his Facebook feed.

“There was a person bleeding out, [he was] standing over the person, repeating Bible verses and other types of incoherent nonsense,” Lenahan said.

Lenahan said he left a comment saying, “I hope you’re in custody.”

Two hours later, Lenahahn said he got a video call from Mechikoff.

“He was just talking all sorts of babble, and he appeared to be in the same location as the crime took place,” said Lenahan, who immediately alerted police.

The sheriff’s office in Nevada “pinged” the phone number associated with the Facebook account where the post appeared, leading cops to a vast apartment complex on 37th Ave. in San Mateo.

Without an apartment number, police officers fanned out across the complex and went door-to-door — finding Estrella dead inside one of the units three hours into the search.

“The suspect was not on scene, but his identity had been learned,” police said. “And within two hours of locating the victim, our suspect was in custody.”

Investigators tracked Mechikoff to San Jose and arrested him without incident on a homicide charge. He allegedly still had the suspected murder weapon in his possession at the time of his capture.

Although there was no word on a possible motive for the killing, cops said Mechikoff knew the victim.

“It’s tough enough when we lose someone in our community. For someone to post a Facebook video is just hideous and horrible,” said San Mateo PD officer Jerami Surratt.

“I think everyone would agree it’s pretty hideous.”

Mechikoff has a past criminal history, including a 2019 Florida arrest for allegedly punching a woman and threatening to stab her with a knife.

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, later deleted Mechikoff’s account along with the video of the stabbing.