Prepared, Nye County uncover murder in San Mateo

Last week, 39-year-old Mark Mechikoff reportedly posted a video of himself on Facebook stabbing and killing a woman. One of his Facebook friends saw the video and immediately called to report it to law enforcement. The issue was: she was on the other side of the country…and didn’t know where Mechikoff was.

Mechikoff had recently been arrested in Nye County, Nevada, so she assumed he was in that area and called the Nye County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO), Prepared’s first partner agency. Using Prepared Live, NCSO Deputy Cory Buendicho was able to receive a screen recording of the murder, as well as the name and phone number of the suspect.

Upon reaching out to the suspect and getting a location ping from his phone, NCSO realized he was actually in San Mateo, California. Within 15 minutes of the original call, they were able to alert the San Mateo Police Department, who immediately began their search for the victim and suspect.

According to KSNV, “After [an] almost three-hour search, officers located the dead victim in an apartment on the 200 block of 36th Ave. in the same complex…The suspect was not on scene but was located within two hours and arrested without incident.”

“They may not have located this victim for days or weeks or months or years or ever, for all we know,” said Sheriff McGill of NCSO to KSNV, continuing, “I couldn't be more proud of how they (Nye County Sheriff’s Office staff) handled this and solved this crime.”

Prepared extends its deepest condolences to the family and friends of the victim and commends both NCSO and SMPD for their quick work in apprehending the suspect.