Man convicted of a Facebook rumor-motivated murder in Idaho learns his fate

An Idaho Falls, ID man will spend at least 45 years and possibly life in prison for the 2022 murder of a man who the killer claimed spread rumors about him on social media. According to East Idaho News, the rumors said the now-convicted killer was an undercover cop.

One final grace note to the already strange and tragic story: The man reportedly confessed to the murder on Facebook. In that online confession, Mark Bent, now 43, explained he met the victim, Nikolas Bird, in a Facebook group called East Idaho Speedhunters and a car club called the Castaways.

According to Bent, those groups engaged in illegal activities, so he decided to leave, and around that same time, Bird, who was 23 when he died, started a rumor that Bent was an undercover cop.  Bent said the rumors persisted in Speedhunters’ posts, leading him to consider killing Bird, whom Bent claimed revealed to the group where he lived and worked, though Bent added he had recently lost his job when Bird was killed.

Bent’s confession post concluded, “Please let this be a lesson for those who think it’s ok to spread rumors about someone and try to negatively impact their life on social media. You never know when someone is going to decide to do something about it. Because if they do, it’s too late.”

Bent also confessed to his parents and the police

As well as his Facebook confession, Bent reportedly called Idaho Falls police and told them what he’d done, and also texted his parents, “I am really sorry to tell you this, but I have just committed murder. I tried to talk myself out of it,” to confess. Bent’s father told the court his son also called him the day Bird died and threatened suicide, but he convinced him not to.

Bent shot Bird 17 times outside his home. The prosecution said in court that Bent continued to fire after Bird was on the ground and no longer posed a threat, giving Bent ample time to change his mind. The victim later died at a local hospital. In their testimony, Bird’s family denied Bird harassed Bent and said there was no evidence to suggest Bird bullied Bent online.

At the trial, his defense attorney, Serhiy Stavynskyy, said that Bent had mental health and substance use issues dating back to his childhood that were never properly treated. According to Utah news outlet KSL, Stavynskyy told the court, “I think that was a big factor to what had happened. I think if he’d gotten proper mental health treatment when he was still young, we wouldn’t be here today.”

But Bonneville County prosecutor Randy Neal called Bent a “ticking time bomb.” He said, ” … [T]his victim was stalked like prey. We watched a video where he drove for several minutes from Pocatello to Idaho Falls, according to his own words, intending to find Nik and confront him.”

Bent told the court he was sorry for what he’d done and would do anything to take it back, but he could not change the past. “All I can do is use this experience and try to use the experience to help others to try and prevent similar incidents,” Bent added. “I pray for Nik’s friends and family every day, and I hope that they can forgive me.” After Bent’s sentence was read, the judge said, “If anybody wants to do a case study on the problems with social media today, this would be one of them.”