Murder suspect claims confession was AI-generated

US News

By Yaron Steinbuch

A California murder suspect accused of posting a sick Facebook video of his dying victim’s final moments has since claimed his confession was generated by artificial intelligence.

Mark Stephen Mechikoff, 39, of Pacifica, is charged with fatally stabbing Claribel Estrella inside her San Mateo apartment on July 26, 2023, filming her as she bled out on the kitchen floor, police said at the time.

“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,” cops have said.

Mechikoff has since pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder — blaming technology for his earlier alleged confession, KRON 4 reported from a preliminary court hearing Friday.

“During the hearing, the defendant exclaimed to the court that he did kill the victim, but his confession was generated by AI,” prosecutors told the outlet.

Prosecutors have said that Merchikoff was proud of his gruesome crime and wanted his Facebook followers to see what he had done.

“He then filmed it and posted it on his Facebook account. She was on the ground, and still alive, still moving a little bit,” District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told the outlet.

“By putting it on Facebook … he felt a certain pride,” he added. “That is the first time I’ve ever heard of anything like that. Certainly it’s never occurred in San Mateo County. It’s a horrific crime.”

Police were first alerted about the crime by a Florida woman who was a Facebook friend of the alleged killer.

She called a sheriff’s office in Nye County, Nevada, and said she had just watched a video of a woman covered in blood and lying on the ground, KRON 4 reported.

The woman called the Nevada agency because it was located in the last place where she knew Mechikoff lived.

Nye County authorities “pinged” a cellphone number associated to the Facebook account and tracked its location to an apartment complex in San Mateo, California.

San Mateo cops rushed to the complex on 37th Avenue and spent three hours searching before they found the victim’s body.

“After a door-to-door search, officers found victim Claribel Estrella stabbed to death on (the) kitchen floor,” prosecutors wrote.

Mechikoff was located two hours later in San Jose, where he was arrested, according to KRON 4.

The victim’s friend, Cherin Knuist, said Estrella briefly dated him before she broke off the relationship, the San Mateo Daily Journal reported.

“He seemed like a bad guy, that’s why she was his ex. She mentioned he was abusive,” Knuist told the outlet.

Mechikoff remains locked up in jail with no bail pending the next hearing on March 21.