According to San Mateo police, a California man has been accused of murdering a woman and posting a video of the death on Facebook.
According to San Mateo police, the inquiry was launched after someone in Nye County, Nevada, told officials there that they had viewed the video.
As a result of that person giving the phone number and name of the poster, police were able to locate the city in the San Francisco Bay Area. Police claimed they searched for over three hours before discovering a woman deceased inside a large apartment building.
Police reported that Mark Merchikoff, 39, was detained in San Jose, some 20 miles southeast of San Mateo.
The victim, whose identity was withheld, was familiar to Merchikoff, according to San Mateo police. Police said on Thursday that they were looking into a possible motive.
According to authorities, “We do know Merchikoff mercilessly recorded the victim’s final moments and posted the footage to Facebook, then fled the area.”
According to the authorities, Merchikoff was detained on suspicion of murder. Online court records didn’t seem to indicate that he had a case as of Thursday night.
Thursday night, it was unclear if Merchikoff had a lawyer who could represent him.
According to NBC Bay Area, San Mateo police spokeswoman Jerami Surratt said, “It’s pretty hideous what that video contained.”
A request for comment was not immediately answered by Facebook’s parent company, Meta.