A California man who authorities say killed a woman last year and then posted a video on Facebook of her dying is now saying that his alleged subsequent confession was generated by artificial intelligence.
Mark Merchikoff was arrested in July 2023 in San Mateo, Calif., on accusations that he fatally stabbed Claribel Estrella and posted the gruesome video on Facebook, the Department stated.
He was charged with murder but has since pleaded not guilty KRON4 reported.
“Merchikoff mercilessly filmed the last moments of the victim’s life and posted the video to Facebook, then fled the area,” San Mateo police said in their July 2023 statement.
On Friday, more than six months after his arrest, Merchikoff claimed during a preliminary hearing saying his alleged confession was a creation of artificial intelligence.
“During the hearing, the defendant exclaimed to the court that he did kill the victim, but his confession was generated by AI (artificial intelligence),” prosecutors wrote, per the outlet.
It wasn’t immediately clear where or when the confession took place.
In the July 2023 incident, police received information about the stabbing from the Nye County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada. A witness gave them the name and phone number of the person who posted the video — later allegedly identified as Merchikoff, PEOPLE reported.
Nevada officials tracked Merchikoff’s location to San Mateo and informed police there, who arrested him, authorities added.
Merchikoff and Estrella knew each other, but the nature of their relationship wasn’t disclosed.
Merchikoff “felt a certain pride” in carrying out the killing, District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe previously said.
Wagstaffe said the social media posting could potentially be an aggravating circumstance in the murder charge.
“It is particularly callous to have posted on Facebook a dying victim that he just stabbed. That is an aggravating factor in the prosecution of this case,” Wagstaffe said, per the outlet.
