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I'm Julia Cowley, retired FBI agent and profiler and former
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special agent forensic scientist with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
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This podcast is about criminal profiling. This is certainly an
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unusual case. I've never seen anything quite like this one.
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With many serial killers, it's the killing part that they enjoy.
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And once they've killed the person, they're done. Not Mark Twitchell. Action.
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Mark Twitchell was an aspiring filmmaker.
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I interviewed him for my book, and we corresponded for
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a number of years. He wrote me probably 30 or
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35 different letters, up to about 350 pages of letters.
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In one letter, Mark Twitchell wrote back to me, and
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this is what he said. The fact is society in
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general has a deep and profound fascination with the dark
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side of human nature.
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I do think Mark Twitchell was using the filmmaking as
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an outlet. to live out his fantasies, and it ultimately
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wasn't enough for him. And that's why his fantasies crossed
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into reality. I think Mark Twitchell believes that he is
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very smart, very methodical, very logical, very level-headed, much like
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the character of Dexter Morgan. And so I think he
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got ideas from the show. I think he was drawn
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to the character because that's what he wanted to be.
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There's significant links to Dexter. He had a kill room
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set up with plastic sheeting. He had a table set
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up for his victims. He had this kind of processing
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kit that was very similar to what Dexter uses.
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Never once did it cross his mind he'd ever be caught.
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They aren't going to catch me. I'm too smart. Nothing's
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going to lead them to me.
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Our job is to put together the pieces of the puzzle,
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and in this case, we had a written document.
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There was this document titled SK Confessions found in a
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deleted form on Mark Twitchell's laptop, and it appeared to
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read like a diary. This is the story of my
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progression into becoming a serial killer. And it documented luring
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people off the internet. His first victim was a man
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named Gilles Tetreault.
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I saw this lady. She had blonde hair. She was
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about five, six. She was very attractive looking.
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And what was her name?
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Her name was Sheena.
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Sheena. Yeah.
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I messaged her. She messaged me back. How about we
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go to dinner and a movie? I thought that was
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a great idea. She wouldn't give me the house number,
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but she just sent me really, really good directions on
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how to get there.
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He thought, what's the worst that could happen?
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Thank you very much.
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It would appear that I'm unique in the world. There
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is no key, no root cause. If I really were
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capable of premeditated murder. Normal, healthy, well-adjusted, 30 old men.
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I once heard the legend of another worthy victim. Wonderful
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young children and great futures. I dealt with his remains
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in a disrespectful manner that traumatized me forever.
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The psychopathic serial killer.
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My compassion.
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I quickly grew to resent and hate this man.
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These are the words of Mark Twitchell. Written to author
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Steve Lillebu.
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It is what it is, and I am what I am.
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For the first time on television, Lillibuen is revealing the
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contents of Twitchell's letters. It's a rare look inside the
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mind of a killer.
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Nobody would side with Dexter Morgan if he went around
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slaughtering schoolteachers and mail carriers on a whim.
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Police say Twitchell was fascinated by the fictional character in
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the hit Showtime series, Dexter.
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I need to kill him.
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Twitchell's been dubbed the Dexter Killer because of the numerous
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links between the television series and the real-life crimes.
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So how did this young Canadian filmmaker end up accused
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of horrific acts? The story begins in October 2008.
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To hear how everything happened, it was like you're watching
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the movies.
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Edmonton police detective Bill Clark.
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But now we have it happening in real life.
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Jill's Tetro was online on the plentyoffish.com website, which is
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a dating site.
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Tetro, who was 33 at the time, was excited to
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meet the woman who called herself Sheena.
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I was actually late, so I was driving quite fast
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to get there.
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She said, I'll just.
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Leave the garage door open for you. And then you
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just go in, go through the garage.
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I don't think he ever imagined in a million years
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what would happen to him in that garage.
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It was dark. Then I kind of looked around for
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the door she told me to go through. And that's
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when somebody came out and attacked me from behind. I
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finally looked back, and that's when I see this man
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with this painted-up hockey mask. I just chilled down my back. Wow,
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this is no date. He's about like six foot and
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has this Black and gold hockey masks all painted up
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on his face.
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The hockey mask-wearing man had ordered him to the ground
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at gunpoint.
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And he tore a piece of tape and he covered
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my eyes with it. I start hearing different things, like
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a jingling noise and stuff like that. In my head,
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it's just racing. It's like thinking, what's going on? What's
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he going to do? Is he taking another weapon out?
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Jill decided. He wasn't waiting to find out.
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I can't do this. I got to fight back. So
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I got up and ripped the tape off my eyes.
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He was stunned that I got up and started yelling
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at me to get back down on the ground.
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Instead, he grabbed the attacker's gun.
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When I grabbed the gun, I felt the gun was plastic.
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This is the greatest feeling I ever felt in my
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life because then I knew I had a fighting chance
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to get away. That's when I was ready to fight.
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I punched him and I felt really weak. I'm like, Wow,
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why was my punch so weak?
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What Gilles didn't realize was that he had been weakened
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by the effects of the stun baton.
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And then he starts punching me on the side of
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the head.
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Just about then, he came up with a plan.
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He grabbed my jacket. I jerked forward to make sure
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he had a good hold on it. I thought, that's
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the perfect time.
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That was part of your plan. You're thinking, okay, he
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grabs my jacket. And I can get free.
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So that's when I slipped out of the jacket, rolled
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underneath the garage door, and then got up.
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And it worked.
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And I tried to run, and all of a sudden
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my legs wouldn't work. And I just fell, boom, right
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on the gravel, trifling. That's when he grabbed my legs,
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and he started pulling me back to the garage. So
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I'm like, oh no, what am I going to do now?
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I'm dead.
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Gilles was thrown back in the garage. but he surprised
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himself by rolling out again. This time, Gilles managed to
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get into his truck.
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I stuck the key in the ignition, and then I
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just sped away.
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When Gilles got home, he discovered the profile on the
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dating site had been deleted, and he did his best
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to erase his own memory. Why didn't you go to
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the police immediately?
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At first, I was in shock. I said, I told myself,
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I'll do it tomorrow. And tomorrow came, and I felt
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so ashamed that I got duped.
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Embarrassed and confused, Gilles convinced himself that perhaps it wasn't
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as serious as he first thought.
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I really thought I was a mugging at the time.
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But just one week later, another man, Johnny Altinger, would
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answer a similar dating ad and disappear.
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Where is he? What's going on?
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He wouldn't do this to us.
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Gary Altinger, Johnny's older brother, says the last time anyone
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heard from him was on October 10, 2008, when the
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38-year-old left for a date with a woman named Jen.
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Not a message, nothing. And then not showing up for work,
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totally out of character. John was very, very, very responsible.
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And when did you grow concerned?
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When I received that email. And this email was completely
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out of character.
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What did it say?
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I've met a woman named Jen and I'm going away
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with her to Costa Rica and I'll call you at
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Christmas time. I just thought right away, after I had
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read this, that's got to be the weirdest message I've
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ever received.
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That identical strange message had gone out to all of
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Johnny's friends as well. Desperate for some answers, Johnny's friends
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broke into his apartment.
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They found his passport and they found dirty dishes and
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they found everything just like as if he were going
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to return an hour or two later. And with that information,
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then they went to the police and they said, hey, listen,
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you've got to do something.
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You know, his red Mazda was missing. He had taken
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his vehicle. It couldn't be found.
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So obviously that's what we're going to look for first.
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Easier to find a car than a person. Based on
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the emails and they talk about Costa Rica, the officers
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search all the parking lots at the airport.
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It's not found. Everything's turning up negative.
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But there was one clue that would give police their
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first big break in the case. On the day he disappeared,
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Johnny Altinger had forwarded the directions of where he was
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going to friends.
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Well, John's friends were concerned. His friend even questioned him
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on the emails.
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You know, be careful.
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And John said, yeah, well, here's the directions, and if
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anything happens to me, you'll know where to look.
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Armed with the directions, police were led directly to the garage.
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They learned the garage was rented out to an individual
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named Mark Twitchell.
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Action.
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Twitchell, then 29 years old, a married man with a
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young daughter, had used the garage as a set for
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a recent movie project.
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I'm glad I got the chance to work with you
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all and I hope I see you all in the industry.
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Mark denied knowing anything about a missing man or a
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red Mazda. And he had no problem with the police
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wanting to search the garage.
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They have a look around and they see some what
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looks like blood and Mark Twitchell's explaining, oh no, that's
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my movie prop. We did a film about killing a
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guy in here and I filmed it all and I've
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been cleaning it up over the last couple weeks.
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There were some.
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Things that were, you know, raising your spidey sense in
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this one, going, yeah, this isn't right.
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Something going on here.
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For detectives in the Edmonton Police Department, the disappearance of
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Johnny Altinger was a mystery. in more ways than one.
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It's a missing persons case. We don't know what foul
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plays happened here. We don't have a body. We don't
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even know if we have a crime.
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Their only lead was Mark Twitchell's film set garage. Voluntarily,
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the amateur filmmaker came down to the Edmonton police station
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to speak with detectives.
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All tainted.
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Does that name the Ring of Metal to you or
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mean anything to you?
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No.
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Never heard it before?
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No.
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Mark appeared to be eager to help. He had no
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history of violence and was hardly a suspect.
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Action.
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In fact, he seemed guilty of nothing more than wanting
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to brag about his film career.
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I'm working on a comedy right now, which is actually
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a full-blown feature. It's actually going to have a decent
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budget in the neighborhood of about $ 3.
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5 million.
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Mark Twitchell's first film project, a Star Wars fan film,
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had received some media buzz back in 2007.
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Word has gotten around that I'm making a $ 100 million
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movie for 60 grand, and some production and directing jobs
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have already come my way.
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But the police were more interested in Mark's latest production,
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a suspense thriller called House of Cards, where a hockey-mass
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serial killer lures a man to a garage via the
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Internet and kills him.
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I mean, it's kind of odd that you're filming that
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kind of thing.
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And we end up going to that garage because of
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a missing person who supposedly went there. That's really freaky, too.
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And as soon as they called me on the phone,
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I got this weird chill.
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He looked pretty comfortable in the interview. And when it
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was done and I watched, I went, wow, that guy
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interviewed well.
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Hours later, Mark Twitchell even agreed to let officers back
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00:14:28.419 --> 00:14:32.090
into the garage where he had filmed House of Cards.
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Little did they know The case was about to take
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an unusual turn.
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00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:40.879
Detective Murphy goes, you know, and meets him and talks
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00:14:40.899 --> 00:14:43.179
to him and there's this huge revelation about, oh.
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Yeah, I bought a red car off a guy.
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00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:49.120
It's like, I remember getting the phone call at the
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00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:51.370
police station just thinking, holy crap.
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00:14:52.070 --> 00:14:56.850
That's because police were still looking for Johnny Altinger's red Mazda.
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00:14:57.269 --> 00:15:02.350
So investigators called Mark again. And again, he voluntarily agreed
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00:15:02.450 --> 00:15:08.590
to answer more questions. This time, Bill Clark conducted the interview.
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00:15:08.610 --> 00:15:11.029
So as you know, Mark, we're just here trying to
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find this John, John, John Altinger.
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00:15:14.149 --> 00:15:17.350
Clark listened while Mark told him how he came into
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00:15:17.409 --> 00:15:20.750
possession of a red car, a detail he failed to
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00:15:20.789 --> 00:15:23.230
mention when he spoke with police earlier.
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This guy taps on my window, you know, hey buddy,
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do you want to buy a car? I said, I've
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00:15:29.350 --> 00:15:32.909
checked up with this really rich lady and she's going
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00:15:32.950 --> 00:15:34.990
to buy me a new car. So I'm just looking
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00:15:35.070 --> 00:15:37.009
to unload buying. How much do you have on you?
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00:15:37.889 --> 00:15:42.379
Mark claimed he bought the red Mazda for just $ 40
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and that it was parked at a friend's house. So
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what are you thinking when you hear that, that he
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purchased a car for $ 40?
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00:15:50.259 --> 00:15:53.360
I just thought that's unbelievable. That's just, right away I'm
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00:15:53.419 --> 00:15:55.500
thinking to myself, this is a bunch of crap.
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The strange story about the red car. the serial killer
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00:15:59.789 --> 00:16:04.409
movie being filmed. For Clark, it could only mean one thing.
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00:16:04.889 --> 00:16:08.600
There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that you're involved
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00:16:08.789 --> 00:16:10.559
in the disappearance of John Altinger.
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00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:13.500
No doubt in my mind at all.
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00:16:14.460 --> 00:16:14.860
Why?
288
00:16:16.500 --> 00:16:20.139
But it was only a hunch. Clark had no hard
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00:16:20.279 --> 00:16:25.159
evidence against Mark. Police began digging deeper into his background.
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00:16:25.669 --> 00:16:29.110
They were interested in speaking with anyone who had worked
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00:16:29.350 --> 00:16:33.070
on House of Cards, where actor Chris Hewitt's character meets
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00:16:33.129 --> 00:16:35.950
an untimely, bloody end in the film.
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00:16:36.649 --> 00:16:39.330
My character was killed with the samurai sword. They said
294
00:16:39.350 --> 00:16:41.389
they would have a mannequin or a dummy to run
295
00:16:41.429 --> 00:16:43.570
the sword through, and when I got there, there was none.
296
00:16:43.809 --> 00:16:46.240
I looked at the weapons, that was my first sign.
297
00:16:46.250 --> 00:16:48.659
When I saw that they were real, I thought, this
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00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:50.899
is off. Why didn't I tell somebody where I am?
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00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:55.789
Hewitt left the garage film set unharmed, but rattled. And
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00:16:55.830 --> 00:16:59.850
his unease only escalated when police asked him about that
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00:16:59.970 --> 00:17:03.490
allegedly fake movie blood they spotted in the garage.
302
00:17:04.089 --> 00:17:05.990
How much of the blood splatter on the wall was
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00:17:06.019 --> 00:17:06.730
from your filming?
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00:17:07.059 --> 00:17:08.680
I said, none of the blood splatter was from us.
305
00:17:10.059 --> 00:17:14.220
And then, in a search of Twitchell's belongings, police found
306
00:17:14.339 --> 00:17:15.140
his laptop.
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00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:18.420
They pulled off the hard drive a deleted file titled
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00:17:18.660 --> 00:17:19.700
SK Confessions.
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00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:26.200
SK Confessions. Police believed SK was Shorthand. for serial killer.
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00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:30.339
One of the first lines, it says, I'm not sure
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00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:32.400
when I decided I'm a serial killer, but it was
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00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:34.039
a feeling of pure euphoria.
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00:17:34.700 --> 00:17:37.839
SK Confessions told the story of a man who was
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00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:41.039
lured to a garage and stabbed to death, a plot
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00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:45.740
strikingly similar to House of Cards. I plunged the knife
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00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:47.200
deep into his neck.
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00:17:48.029 --> 00:17:49.009
It was unbelievable.
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00:17:49.049 --> 00:17:52.730
I just remember reading it all and just was fascinated
319
00:17:52.789 --> 00:17:55.150
by this document going, holy mackerel.
320
00:17:55.210 --> 00:17:58.829
But was the document a screenplay or was it in
321
00:17:58.869 --> 00:18:01.930
fact Mark Twitchell's confession of murder?
322
00:18:23.109 --> 00:18:27.799
It just doesn't make sense. Where there's smoke, there's fire.
323
00:18:28.339 --> 00:18:31.960
Two weeks after the disappearance of Johnny Altinger at a
324
00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.420
garage film set, police had sharpened their focus on filmmaker
325
00:18:36.660 --> 00:18:41.049
Mark Twitchell. Police cameras were rolling as the forensics team
326
00:18:41.130 --> 00:18:46.309
processed Twitchell's family car and the garage he rented. And
327
00:18:46.329 --> 00:18:49.950
a few miles away, detectives had been at the Twitchell
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00:18:49.990 --> 00:18:54.680
home where they found just Twitchell, Mark's unsuspecting wife of
329
00:18:54.740 --> 00:18:55.380
two years.
330
00:18:55.880 --> 00:18:58.380
What I said was, we're investigating a missing person. I
331
00:18:58.420 --> 00:19:00.579
believe your husband's got something to do with it. And
332
00:19:01.220 --> 00:19:04.819
it's quite possibly, you know, could be a homicide. I
333
00:19:04.859 --> 00:19:06.880
didn't really go into anything more, but I think that
334
00:19:06.900 --> 00:19:08.900
was enough. I mean, she was emotional.
335
00:19:10.349 --> 00:19:14.809
Police soon discovered that the Twitchell marriage was already fractured.
336
00:19:15.529 --> 00:19:18.430
They had been living in, basically sleeping in separate bedrooms.
337
00:19:18.529 --> 00:19:20.049
She was basically living on the main floor. He was
338
00:19:20.089 --> 00:19:20.869
living in the basement.
339
00:19:20.890 --> 00:19:23.529
So there was obviously... Trouble's in paradise there.
340
00:19:23.609 --> 00:19:24.210
We knew that.
341
00:19:26.890 --> 00:19:30.069
Twitchell had been having an affair with an old girlfriend
342
00:19:30.269 --> 00:19:32.980
and lying to his wife about having a job.
343
00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:35.720
He found out that he was telling his wife he
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00:19:35.740 --> 00:19:37.359
was going to work every day. He had no job.
345
00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:40.579
He was getting his friends to invest in his alleged
346
00:19:40.779 --> 00:19:44.890
movie-making business with his Hollywood connections, and basically Mark Twitchell
347
00:19:44.910 --> 00:19:46.049
was living off their money.
348
00:19:46.890 --> 00:19:51.349
Interestingly, the document police had found in Twitchell's laptop, titled
349
00:19:51.549 --> 00:19:57.460
SK Confessions, also referenced a crumbling marriage and secrets. It read,
350
00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:00.500
and went through great lengths to bring my wife over
351
00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:03.599
to the comfortable belief I wasn't cheating on her.
352
00:20:03.900 --> 00:20:07.180
It was basically almost like a movie script.
353
00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:11.460
But what was real? And what was fiction? The closer
354
00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:17.400
police looked, the more the lines blurred. Police discovered Twitchell
355
00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:21.480
spent countless hours making elaborate Halloween costumes.
356
00:20:22.349 --> 00:20:24.369
It's almost like at times Mark Twitchell lives in a
357
00:20:24.410 --> 00:20:25.190
fantasy world.
358
00:20:25.549 --> 00:20:29.750
But it was Twitchell's Facebook page comparing himself to TV's
359
00:20:29.890 --> 00:20:35.230
fictional serial killer, Dexter Morgan, that really raised eyebrows. Mark
360
00:20:35.269 --> 00:20:39.000
has way too much in common with Dexter Morgan, read
361
00:20:39.319 --> 00:20:40.740
twitchell status.
362
00:20:40.859 --> 00:20:44.650
He talked a lot about how he loved the show dexter.
363
00:20:47.349 --> 00:20:51.950
I need to kill him twitchell even posed as dexter morgan.
364
00:20:51.750 --> 00:20:54.750
On facebook we all have a dark side some darker
365
00:20:54.789 --> 00:20:57.470
than others and you're not the only one to relate
366
00:20:57.509 --> 00:21:00.529
to dexter it sometimes scares me how much i relate
367
00:21:00.849 --> 00:21:03.319
i mean look at this profile That.
368
00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:06.720
Profile had caught the attention of a woman named Renee
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00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:08.180
from Cleveland, Ohio.
370
00:21:08.740 --> 00:21:11.460
I am a huge fan of the Showtime show, Dexter.
371
00:21:11.700 --> 00:21:14.359
So I thought, oh, well, you know, I'll be friends
372
00:21:14.420 --> 00:21:14.819
with him.
373
00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:18.559
Eventually, Twitchell revealed his true identity.
374
00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:20.619
He was a filmmaker.
375
00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:22.480
We are rolling.
376
00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:26.940
And he was working on a new thing called House
377
00:21:26.980 --> 00:21:27.460
of Cards.
378
00:21:28.119 --> 00:21:28.759
Camera's rolling.
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00:21:29.849 --> 00:21:33.509
Renee was intrigued. After all, she was an aspiring writer.
380
00:21:33.849 --> 00:21:37.009
And her friendship with the movie maker could open doors.
381
00:21:37.490 --> 00:21:39.890
I thought it was going to be like a working relationship,
382
00:21:39.930 --> 00:21:43.410
a working friendship. You know, we had a lot in common.
383
00:21:43.650 --> 00:21:45.349
I mean, you spoke to him a couple of times
384
00:21:45.430 --> 00:21:46.009
a day online?
385
00:21:46.029 --> 00:21:46.890
A couple of times a day.
386
00:21:47.170 --> 00:21:52.450
Was it flirtatious? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Their email exchanges soon
387
00:21:52.539 --> 00:21:56.900
became dark. It was shortly before Johnny Altinger disappeared.
388
00:21:57.240 --> 00:21:57.559
We couldn't.
389
00:21:58.220 --> 00:22:01.019
Talked about, you know, serial killers and, you know, the
390
00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:03.720
psychology behind a serial killer.
391
00:22:04.539 --> 00:22:08.980
At the time, Renee was upset with her ex-husband's new wife.
392
00:22:09.420 --> 00:22:11.539
And I wanted her dead at the time, but I
393
00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:15.359
said I couldn't do it. And hypothetically, how would you get.
394
00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:15.849
Away with it?
395
00:22:15.859 --> 00:22:17.130
How do you get away with it?
396
00:22:17.420 --> 00:22:20.980
He said, you cut her up in little pieces. You
397
00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:24.880
put her in trash bags like Dexter. And since I
398
00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:29.210
was close to the lake, you run a boat. and
399
00:22:29.250 --> 00:22:30.849
dump her out in the middle of Lake Erie.
400
00:22:33.579 --> 00:22:36.500
But then she began to wonder.
401
00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:39.599
He said over the weekend he did something and he
402
00:22:39.660 --> 00:22:44.759
liked it. I crossed the line and I did something
403
00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:45.519
and I liked it.
404
00:22:46.500 --> 00:22:47.559
And what did you take that to mean?
405
00:22:48.819 --> 00:22:53.230
That he killed somebody. What other line is there to cross?
406
00:22:53.650 --> 00:22:57.529
Something inside my head just gave me red flags and said,
407
00:22:58.099 --> 00:22:58.569
He did it.
408
00:23:00.359 --> 00:23:04.349
And her suspicions kept growing with another email he sent.
409
00:23:05.329 --> 00:23:09.710
There's an enormous missing person, possible homicide investigation, going on
410
00:23:09.789 --> 00:23:12.750
centralized around a location I've been renting for film work.
411
00:23:14.009 --> 00:23:16.650
So of course the police have tossed my house and
412
00:23:16.710 --> 00:23:20.400
impounded my car. Not fun considering they won't find anything.
413
00:23:20.859 --> 00:23:23.839
But Twitchell had underestimated the police.
414
00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:27.730
He thought he was way smarter than the police. One
415
00:23:27.750 --> 00:23:30.250
of the biggest mistakes I think that he made was
416
00:23:30.309 --> 00:23:32.490
he had no idea how we do our job, and
417
00:23:32.509 --> 00:23:33.910
that was a huge advantage to us.
418
00:23:35.069 --> 00:23:39.880
Adding to their circumstantial case, Twitchell possessing Altinger's car, the
419
00:23:40.059 --> 00:23:45.400
SK Confessions document, and his Dexter obsession, investigators finally had
420
00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:50.789
hard evidence. They found Altinger's blood in Twitchell's trunk.
421
00:23:51.509 --> 00:23:54.819
When we got the word that the DNA matched We
422
00:23:54.859 --> 00:23:57.779
briefed our tactical team, our arrest team, and we had
423
00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:59.339
officers ready to make the arrest.
424
00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:04.700
On Halloween morning, 2008, while Twitchell was putting the finishing
425
00:24:04.740 --> 00:24:08.250
touches on his Halloween costume at his parents' home, police
426
00:24:08.309 --> 00:24:09.970
were busy laying a trap.
427
00:24:10.609 --> 00:24:13.829
We got an undercover operator to work the internet and
428
00:24:13.950 --> 00:24:17.529
pretend he was an investor. He was lured out on
429
00:24:17.549 --> 00:24:19.650
the promise to meet this guy at this coffee shop,
430
00:24:19.769 --> 00:24:21.549
and when he got about three blocks from his house...
431
00:24:22.509 --> 00:24:24.829
Tactical team swooped in on him and took him down.
432
00:24:24.849 --> 00:24:31.430
Tough guy Mark Twitchell peed his pants. He was so scared,
433
00:24:31.829 --> 00:24:34.190
and it was a little taste of his own medicine,
434
00:24:34.230 --> 00:24:34.549
I guess.
435
00:24:38.500 --> 00:24:42.759
Back at the station, Detective Clark and Twitchell came face-to-face
436
00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:45.099
in the interrogation room once again.
437
00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:47.319
As I told you that night, I knew that you
438
00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:51.069
were involved in the disappearance at that time of Johnny Altinger.
439
00:24:52.170 --> 00:24:56.150
That's changed slightly. I now know that you killed John Altinger.
440
00:24:56.670 --> 00:25:02.670
Three weeks after Altinger's disappearance, police charged Twitchell with first-degree murder.
441
00:25:03.329 --> 00:25:09.859
The once talkative movie director barely uttered a line. You
442
00:25:09.880 --> 00:25:11.420
didn't get much of a reaction, did you?
443
00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:12.240
No.
444
00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:13.200
He's, uh.
445
00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:16.819
Well, he knows not to say anything. Talking to his lawyers,
446
00:25:16.859 --> 00:25:18.119
he's not going to admit to anything.
447
00:25:18.519 --> 00:25:22.019
He didn't have to. Ask a confession. which police had
448
00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:26.460
been dissecting word by word, spoke volumes. They were now
449
00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:31.299
convinced it was no screenplay, but rather a diary of murder.
450
00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:35.950
One passage about a knife red I thrusted into his gut.
451
00:25:36.269 --> 00:25:38.930
His reaction was pure Hollywood.
452
00:25:39.170 --> 00:25:42.069
We do believe as investigators that the account written by
453
00:25:42.150 --> 00:25:46.490
Mark Twitchell in that SK Confessions is exactly what he
454
00:25:46.529 --> 00:25:47.470
did to John Altinger.
455
00:25:49.400 --> 00:25:53.279
By now, Renee had called the police. As authorities began
456
00:25:53.380 --> 00:25:56.680
building their case, there was one crucial part of SK
457
00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:02.240
Confessions they wanted to verify about a victim who had survived.
458
00:26:03.059 --> 00:26:05.019
It was just a huge piece of evidence because not
459
00:26:05.099 --> 00:26:08.259
only would it verify what was written in SK Confessions,
460
00:26:09.140 --> 00:26:11.380
it would also have a living witness.
461
00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:14.460
So it was paramount that we find this person.
462
00:26:32.460 --> 00:26:36.200
Detective Bill Clark knew his next move was finding the
463
00:26:36.259 --> 00:26:39.759
alleged victim who had escaped from Mark Twitchell's garage.
464
00:26:40.700 --> 00:26:42.190
You know, one of the first things we did was
465
00:26:42.250 --> 00:26:45.589
check the police records, figuring hopefully someone called the police
466
00:26:45.650 --> 00:26:46.869
on this, and we have nothing.
467
00:26:47.670 --> 00:26:51.309
But police had found a helpful clue during the search
468
00:26:51.509 --> 00:26:52.450
of Twitchell's home.
469
00:26:53.210 --> 00:26:55.880
One of the things they had found was a hockey mask.
470
00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:59.779
The SK Confessions talked about how Mark Twitchell had worn
471
00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:01.819
this mask when he attacked both victims.
472
00:27:02.539 --> 00:27:04.420
But we figured it was something the first victim would
473
00:27:04.460 --> 00:27:04.910
key on.
474
00:27:05.210 --> 00:27:07.589
Police soon took to the airwaves.
475
00:27:07.910 --> 00:27:10.009
We have some details on this male victim who was
476
00:27:10.049 --> 00:27:11.769
attacked and we would like him to come forward.
477
00:27:12.210 --> 00:27:15.609
Gilles Tetreault was at home oblivious to the horror he
478
00:27:15.650 --> 00:27:18.640
had escaped when a friend told him to watch the news.
479
00:27:19.259 --> 00:27:21.140
To date, we do not know who this victim is.
480
00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:24.059
I believe the victim entered the garage and was attacked
481
00:27:24.099 --> 00:27:26.000
by another male who was wearing a hockey mask.
482
00:27:26.380 --> 00:27:30.190
And it's the same hockey mask that I saw him. wow, yeah,
483
00:27:30.250 --> 00:27:32.349
this is the guy. This is what happened to me.
484
00:27:32.349 --> 00:27:33.849
It's the same mask, everything.
485
00:27:34.269 --> 00:27:38.509
What Gilles heard next came as an even greater shock.
486
00:27:38.990 --> 00:27:41.950
Another man had been lured to the same garage and
487
00:27:42.019 --> 00:27:43.490
met a gruesome man.
488
00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:46.039
We have not found John Altinger's body.
489
00:27:46.619 --> 00:27:48.940
And what were you thinking when you heard this?
490
00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:52.940
I couldn't believe it. Once you find out the whole story,
491
00:27:53.400 --> 00:27:56.440
I knew at that point it was not just a mugging.
492
00:27:56.619 --> 00:27:58.799
It was actually, he was probably going to kill me.
493
00:27:58.940 --> 00:28:02.359
I'm like, wow, I have to go forward now. I
494
00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:03.160
have to come forward.
495
00:28:04.099 --> 00:28:08.619
Exactly one month after he was attacked, Gilles Tetreault walked
496
00:28:08.660 --> 00:28:13.470
into the Edmonton Police Department and told police his incredible story.
497
00:28:14.009 --> 00:28:16.329
I was all off balance. I couldn't run. I fell
498
00:28:16.349 --> 00:28:21.400
down from the gravel driveway and basically crawling. So he
499
00:28:21.460 --> 00:28:22.960
dragged me back to the garage.
500
00:28:23.380 --> 00:28:27.390
Gilles' story matched nearly word for word what was in
501
00:28:27.650 --> 00:28:30.890
SK Confessions. I grabbed him by the leg, as if
502
00:28:30.930 --> 00:28:34.490
to drag him back into the garage, caveman style.
503
00:28:34.990 --> 00:28:37.829
So I know that this diary we have is true.
504
00:28:38.269 --> 00:28:40.230
After this all happened, I realized how lucky I was.
505
00:28:41.029 --> 00:28:45.569
Seven days after Gilles was attacked, police say Twitchell wasn't
506
00:28:45.609 --> 00:28:50.589
going to make the same mistake twice. How did he
507
00:28:50.630 --> 00:28:51.650
kill John?
508
00:28:52.529 --> 00:28:54.109
We know that he lured him to the garage in
509
00:28:54.150 --> 00:28:57.190
the same way he lured Jules Tetreault. And then in
510
00:28:57.250 --> 00:29:00.190
this case, because he learned from Jules that the taser
511
00:29:00.210 --> 00:29:02.690
didn't work, he hit him over the head with a
512
00:29:02.730 --> 00:29:03.210
lead pipe.
513
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:09.099
Following the narrative, police believe Altinger was then stabbed and
514
00:29:09.160 --> 00:29:13.289
dismembered on a makeshift autopsy table. What was the most
515
00:29:13.329 --> 00:29:15.210
damning piece of evidence that you discovered?
516
00:29:15.430 --> 00:29:19.079
We had a luminol test done on the floor. Large
517
00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:21.099
amounts of blood had been spilled on the floor of
518
00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:21.660
the garage.
519
00:29:21.859 --> 00:29:23.359
Probably one of the biggest pieces.
520
00:29:23.420 --> 00:29:26.640
A piece of tooth that was found inside there. That
521
00:29:26.700 --> 00:29:28.980
piece of tooth matched up to our victim.
522
00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:33.630
According to SK Confessions, the killer then broke into Altinger's
523
00:29:33.670 --> 00:29:38.329
apartment and sent out those emails about taking an exotic vacation.
524
00:29:38.630 --> 00:29:42.339
The killer then attempted to... burn the remains in a barrel,
525
00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:46.349
but failed. He next tried to dump them into the river,
526
00:29:46.490 --> 00:29:48.269
but was afraid of being seen.
527
00:29:49.109 --> 00:29:50.920
Ultimately, Mark Twitchell drove around with it.
528
00:29:51.230 --> 00:29:54.410
According to the SK Confessions documentary, He even talked about
529
00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:56.640
driving around with them and pulling up beside people at
530
00:29:56.680 --> 00:29:58.799
red lights and looking at them and thinking that they
531
00:29:58.819 --> 00:30:00.279
don't know I have a dead body in the trunk
532
00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:00.859
of my car.
533
00:30:01.339 --> 00:30:06.200
But where was Johnny Altinger's body? SK Confessions described the
534
00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:10.680
killer finally choosing a sewer to dump the remains. But
535
00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:14.390
that's where the pages stopped. It was a story without
536
00:30:14.670 --> 00:30:15.250
an ending.
537
00:30:15.730 --> 00:30:18.769
In any homicide investigation, you obviously want to bring closure
538
00:30:18.789 --> 00:30:21.119
to the family, so... Not only do you want to
539
00:30:21.140 --> 00:30:22.960
make that phone call saying, we got the guy that
540
00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:25.519
did this to your loved one, but in this case,
541
00:30:25.559 --> 00:30:27.539
we wanted to say to him, look, we found Johnny.
542
00:30:28.900 --> 00:30:32.829
Detective Clark hoped Twitchell would provide the final chapter.
543
00:30:33.140 --> 00:30:34.009
I'm going to get the car ready.
544
00:30:34.029 --> 00:30:35.210
We're going to take a drive.
545
00:30:36.170 --> 00:30:39.390
You guys were driving around and there was a camera
546
00:30:39.430 --> 00:30:41.569
trained on him in the back of the police car.
547
00:30:41.750 --> 00:30:42.490
Tell me about that.
548
00:30:42.670 --> 00:30:45.029
When you read all the experts' books about these type
549
00:30:45.049 --> 00:30:47.410
of individuals is they tend to like the media attention.
550
00:30:47.450 --> 00:30:49.430
So we thought, well, maybe if we drive him around
551
00:30:49.539 --> 00:30:52.180
and We'll put a camera on him. Maybe we'll just
552
00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:54.200
take him to places. Because we had no idea where
553
00:30:55.480 --> 00:30:57.730
Johnny's remains were at that time. So in order to
554
00:30:57.809 --> 00:31:01.390
finish the movie, we'd find the body, take it back
555
00:31:01.430 --> 00:31:01.910
to the people.
556
00:31:03.589 --> 00:31:03.930
Family.
557
00:31:04.910 --> 00:31:05.109
Done.
558
00:31:05.750 --> 00:31:06.349
Movie's over.
559
00:31:06.730 --> 00:31:07.569
We're all done.
560
00:31:08.609 --> 00:31:12.599
Detective Clark was relentless, taking Twitchell on a tour of
561
00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:13.579
his old neighbourhood.
562
00:31:14.380 --> 00:31:16.420
And we first drove to his parents' house where he
563
00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:18.980
had been staying. We actually demanded that he tell us.
564
00:31:19.220 --> 00:31:21.170
He wouldn't. Look familiar, Mark?
565
00:31:22.190 --> 00:31:23.710
Are we parked right on top of the sewer where
566
00:31:23.730 --> 00:31:24.390
you dumped the body?
567
00:31:26.329 --> 00:31:28.579
Next stop, the scene of the crime.
568
00:31:29.259 --> 00:31:32.740
So here we are back at the killing garage, the
569
00:31:32.859 --> 00:31:33.839
Dexter garage.
570
00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:36.059
Bring back any memories?
571
00:31:36.980 --> 00:31:38.200
Want to tell us where the body is now?
572
00:31:39.059 --> 00:31:39.859
We'll get this over with.
573
00:31:40.619 --> 00:31:44.990
But Twitchell remained silent. So police kept searching on their own,
574
00:31:45.589 --> 00:31:47.529
looking in sewer after sewer.
575
00:31:48.259 --> 00:31:50.880
So all these manhole covers were pulled off in this alley.
576
00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:53.019
So anytime I'd see one, I always had my flashlight
577
00:31:53.059 --> 00:31:54.960
with me and would get out and actually take a look.
578
00:31:57.509 --> 00:32:01.549
Weeks, then months passed and still no luck. Then a
579
00:32:01.589 --> 00:32:06.170
year and a half after Johnny Altinger disappeared, Twitchell, while
580
00:32:06.349 --> 00:32:10.950
awaiting trial, broke his silence and gave the police a map.
581
00:32:12.630 --> 00:32:15.839
Just up here on the left, it's about a block
582
00:32:16.099 --> 00:32:16.700
south of his.
583
00:32:16.660 --> 00:32:21.250
Parents' house. Investigators followed it to an alleyway just a
584
00:32:21.410 --> 00:32:24.359
half block away from where they had stopped the search.
585
00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:26.940
And he had marked an X. X marks the spot.
586
00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:30.160
It took its way to this sewer cover here.
587
00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:34.839
We could see what looked like pieces of human torso
588
00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:35.359
down there.
589
00:32:35.380 --> 00:32:46.089
In March of 2011, Mark Twitchell went on trial for
590
00:32:46.119 --> 00:32:50.710
the murder of Johnny Alting. Prosecutors called Gilles Tetreault to
591
00:32:50.769 --> 00:32:54.670
testify and to prove that what Twitchell described in S.K.
592
00:32:54.710 --> 00:32:59.069
Confessions was not a work of fiction, but an account
593
00:32:59.190 --> 00:33:00.910
of what had actually happened.
594
00:33:01.390 --> 00:33:04.559
I wasn't really afraid of him at that time. I
595
00:33:04.579 --> 00:33:05.779
knew he couldn't hurt me anymore.
596
00:33:06.779 --> 00:33:10.779
The only witness the defense called was Mark Twitchell, and
597
00:33:10.819 --> 00:33:15.630
he had one unbelievable tale to tell. Steve Lillibuen, a
598
00:33:15.690 --> 00:33:20.390
college professor and an investigative journalist, was covering the trial
599
00:33:20.450 --> 00:33:23.490
for the Edmonton Journal and went on to write a book,
600
00:33:23.829 --> 00:33:26.089
The Devil's Cinema, about the case.
601
00:33:26.750 --> 00:33:29.890
Mark Twitchell testified that this was all a big misunderstanding
602
00:33:30.130 --> 00:33:33.240
and he had killed Johnny in self-defense.
603
00:33:33.940 --> 00:33:37.839
Twitchell claimed that Altinger's death was nothing more than a
604
00:33:37.960 --> 00:33:42.480
publicity stunt gone horribly awry. He said he intended to
605
00:33:42.539 --> 00:33:45.470
let both men go, so they would create a buzz
606
00:33:45.549 --> 00:33:49.130
for his film by telling people that this had actually
607
00:33:49.190 --> 00:33:53.230
happened to them. But he claimed Altinger became enraged at
608
00:33:53.299 --> 00:33:56.839
being tricked, and he accidentally killed him in self-defense.
609
00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:00.680
He blames Johnny, saying it was Johnny's reaction to his
610
00:34:00.740 --> 00:34:02.619
attempt at this promotion is what happened.
611
00:34:03.259 --> 00:34:06.339
In the end, the jury took just five hours to
612
00:34:06.420 --> 00:34:11.440
find Mark Twitchell guilty. He was sentenced to 25 years
613
00:34:11.579 --> 00:34:16.250
to life. But for Lillebu, there were still so many questions.
614
00:34:16.989 --> 00:34:19.329
So the motive is the mystery, the why did he
615
00:34:19.369 --> 00:34:22.800
do this? What is Mark Twitchell's psyche? What led to
616
00:34:22.840 --> 00:34:23.480
this happening?
617
00:34:24.500 --> 00:34:28.280
Questions little Buenhot might be answered when he got a
618
00:34:28.340 --> 00:34:31.860
call out of the blue from Mark Twitchell himself.
619
00:34:32.739 --> 00:34:34.300
He just said straight out, if you're going to be
620
00:34:34.340 --> 00:34:36.159
writing a book about me, you might as well come
621
00:34:36.179 --> 00:34:36.880
straight to the source.
622
00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:43.429
What do you think Mark Twitchell's motive was?
623
00:34:44.059 --> 00:34:48.000
See the evidence presented at trial and more at 48hours.
624
00:34:47.019 --> 00:34:48.000
Com.
625
00:34:57.019 --> 00:34:59.760
The first time I met him, he actually had me laughing.
626
00:35:00.219 --> 00:35:01.420
He's very charismatic.
627
00:35:01.719 --> 00:35:06.800
Mark Twitchell was nothing like author Steve Lillibuen expected.
628
00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:10.699
He has very much that salesman, slick behavior. He knows
629
00:35:10.739 --> 00:35:12.659
how to put it on to get people to like him.
630
00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:18.679
Twitchell began writing to Lillebuen before he was even convicted
631
00:35:18.760 --> 00:35:23.440
in 2011. Over the course of almost three years, they
632
00:35:23.500 --> 00:35:25.449
exchanged dozens of letters.
633
00:35:26.090 --> 00:35:29.090
I learned really quickly that he preferred to talk through writing.
634
00:35:29.909 --> 00:35:33.530
These weren't ramblings of a crazy man. There was actually
635
00:35:33.590 --> 00:35:37.369
some substance in these letters. Yes, absolutely.
636
00:35:37.409 --> 00:35:40.469
So he's not, he's not crazy. He is, he is lucid.
637
00:35:41.110 --> 00:35:45.409
At first, Lillibuen didn't want to push Twitchell away with
638
00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:48.599
too many probing questions about his crimes.
639
00:35:49.139 --> 00:35:51.219
I asked him a lot of softball questions just about
640
00:35:51.260 --> 00:35:53.940
who he was, his family, his upbringing, all that kind
641
00:35:53.960 --> 00:35:57.719
of background detail. He was newly married and a new father,
642
00:35:57.820 --> 00:36:02.989
so he was just a typical local guy who had
643
00:36:03.050 --> 00:36:06.010
dreams of making it big in Hollywood and really no
644
00:36:06.130 --> 00:36:09.409
red flags, no warning signs that something like this was
645
00:36:09.630 --> 00:36:10.269
on the horizon.
646
00:36:11.929 --> 00:36:15.760
In letters, Twitchell clung to his defense that he had
647
00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:20.719
no choice but to kill Johnny Altinger and then dismember him.
648
00:36:21.940 --> 00:36:25.780
He writes, I killed Johnny Altinger in a horrific accident
649
00:36:26.119 --> 00:36:32.280
of self-defense. After cursorily shoving aside my human sensibilities, I
650
00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:35.570
dealt with his remains in a disrespectful manner that traumatized
651
00:36:35.610 --> 00:36:36.230
me forever.
652
00:36:36.789 --> 00:36:38.010
He still is.
653
00:36:38.130 --> 00:36:40.670
Adamant that this was not a planned and deliberate murder.
654
00:36:41.190 --> 00:36:42.750
And to be frank, he's wrong.
655
00:36:43.409 --> 00:36:48.199
Lillibuen points to SK Confessions, where Twitchell describes how he
656
00:36:48.280 --> 00:36:52.500
turned that garage into a kill room, set up a
657
00:36:52.579 --> 00:36:57.579
makeshift autopsy table, had plastic sheeting, and a processing kit
658
00:36:58.219 --> 00:37:00.579
similar to the one Dexter Morgan used.
659
00:37:01.340 --> 00:37:05.090
Mark Twitchell wrote to me quite extensively about his interest
660
00:37:05.150 --> 00:37:05.690
in Dexter.
661
00:37:06.090 --> 00:37:11.340
Dexter on his mind. Twitchell drew this portrait of Michael C. Hall,
662
00:37:12.010 --> 00:37:16.210
the actor who plays him. And to Lil' Buon's surprise,
663
00:37:16.489 --> 00:37:21.269
even behind bars, Twitchell was able to feed his obsessions.
664
00:37:21.750 --> 00:37:22.869
Previously on Dexter.
665
00:37:23.110 --> 00:37:26.820
Mark Twitchell had actually been granted access to finish watching
666
00:37:26.840 --> 00:37:29.079
the series while he was incarcerated.
667
00:37:30.139 --> 00:37:35.059
In 2012, Dexter star Michael C. Hall was asked about
668
00:37:35.139 --> 00:37:37.500
Mark Twitchell on a Canadian radio.
669
00:37:39.110 --> 00:37:44.019
It's horrifying to entertain the notion that something you did
670
00:37:44.260 --> 00:37:45.320
inspired that.
671
00:37:47.019 --> 00:37:51.739
Twitchell's response to Hall's comments was to downplay his fascination
672
00:37:52.420 --> 00:37:53.679
with the Dexter character.
673
00:37:54.699 --> 00:37:57.699
So he wrote to me, as you're aware, Dexter has
674
00:37:57.780 --> 00:37:59.340
almost nothing to do with my case.
675
00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:07.280
Throughout their correspondence, Lillebuen continued to grapple with what drove Twitchell.
676
00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:11.000
And then Twitchell told him.
677
00:38:12.059 --> 00:38:15.800
There is no key, no root cause. There's no school
678
00:38:15.860 --> 00:38:19.820
bully or impressionable gory movies or Showtime television series to
679
00:38:19.860 --> 00:38:22.840
point the finger at. It is what it is, and
680
00:38:22.900 --> 00:38:23.579
I am what I am.
681
00:38:24.260 --> 00:38:26.699
He's a depraved individual, and he knows that.
682
00:38:27.429 --> 00:38:32.230
Retired FBI criminal profiler Julia Calley didn't work on this case,
683
00:38:32.309 --> 00:38:36.250
but she spoke with Detective Clark and reviewed Mark Twitchell's
684
00:38:36.309 --> 00:38:40.349
writings and letters for 48 hours. She thinks she knows
685
00:38:40.570 --> 00:38:42.150
what made Twitchell tick.
686
00:38:43.170 --> 00:38:47.150
I think he identified with Dexter to some degree. I
687
00:38:47.170 --> 00:38:50.420
think he's different than Dexter. He's not killing bad guys.
688
00:38:50.460 --> 00:38:54.599
He's killing very innocent, good people, living productive lives. And
689
00:38:54.619 --> 00:38:58.019
while he's technically not a serial killer, he was headed
690
00:38:58.079 --> 00:38:59.920
in that direction if they hadn't have caught him.
691
00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:06.750
Callie believes Twitchell took pleasure in planning and executing his
692
00:39:06.869 --> 00:39:10.400
crimes as if They were romantic trysts.
693
00:39:11.579 --> 00:39:13.780
I think the primary motivation was sexual.
694
00:39:14.440 --> 00:39:15.460
Sexual? Yes.
695
00:39:16.219 --> 00:39:20.389
He's targeting men that perhaps he would be interested in
696
00:39:20.429 --> 00:39:25.449
having a date with. It's a combination of sexual motive
697
00:39:25.510 --> 00:39:28.809
and a thrill killing. He's pretending to be a woman.
698
00:39:29.570 --> 00:39:33.909
He writes extensively about what he's going to wear, the
699
00:39:33.969 --> 00:39:37.670
weapon that he chooses. He sort of describes it in
700
00:39:38.010 --> 00:39:41.860
seductive language. He said, I wanted the weapon used for
701
00:39:41.889 --> 00:39:44.900
the deed itself to be simple, elegant, and beautiful.
702
00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:50.059
And in a strange twist, Twitchell's been able to feed
703
00:39:50.380 --> 00:39:55.400
that obsession too. In 2017, he was allowed to join
704
00:39:55.440 --> 00:39:58.280
an online dating website for inmates.
705
00:39:58.960 --> 00:40:03.059
Which, you know, I find quite surprising considering the way
706
00:40:03.099 --> 00:40:03.969
he ended up in prison.
707
00:40:04.320 --> 00:40:05.929
I believe it's been taken down since then.
708
00:40:06.929 --> 00:40:09.610
The man who was tricked into that very bad date
709
00:40:09.869 --> 00:40:14.489
in Twitchell's garage, Gilles Tetreault, continues to be haunted by
710
00:40:14.550 --> 00:40:18.110
the experienced We caught up with him recently.
711
00:40:19.289 --> 00:40:23.710
I still think about the pad up hockey mask. I
712
00:40:23.730 --> 00:40:29.320
still think about the stun gun, you know, fight for
713
00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:29.760
my life.
714
00:40:33.699 --> 00:40:40.199
Mark Twitchell cannot be rehabilitated. This is who he is. Action.
715
00:40:40.630 --> 00:40:44.409
And for Mark Twitchell, the aspiring filmmaker, there may be
716
00:40:44.650 --> 00:40:49.369
one final plot twist. Author Steve Lillebuen sold the rights
717
00:40:49.510 --> 00:40:52.829
to his book, The Devil Cinema, to a film company.
718
00:40:53.730 --> 00:41:03.170
Twitchell's story may be coming to the big screen. A
719
00:41:03.250 --> 00:41:04.269
son with secrets.
720
00:41:04.590 --> 00:41:05.929
He just lied to everybody.
721
00:41:06.090 --> 00:41:07.800
His parents vanish.
722
00:41:08.030 --> 00:41:09.260
Cars go off the road.
723
00:41:09.340 --> 00:41:09.940
Things happen.
724
00:41:10.119 --> 00:41:11.500
What happened to the Haldersons?
725
00:41:11.659 --> 00:41:12.760
Not making any sense.
726
00:41:13.099 --> 00:41:16.360
It's taking weird and weird turns. Nobody saw this coming.
727
00:41:17.840 --> 00:41:21.460
The 48 Hours Crime Time double feature continues next on CBS.
1
00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:18.629
I'm Julia Cowley, retired FBI agent and profiler and former
2
00:00:18.670 --> 00:00:22.890
special agent forensic scientist with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
3
00:00:23.269 --> 00:00:27.730
This podcast is about criminal profiling. This is certainly an
4
00:00:27.789 --> 00:00:32.200
unusual case. I've never seen anything quite like this one.
5
00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:43.049
With many serial killers, it's the killing part that they enjoy.
6
00:00:43.530 --> 00:00:48.649
And once they've killed the person, they're done. Not Mark Twitchell. Action.
7
00:00:49.189 --> 00:00:51.700
Mark Twitchell was an aspiring filmmaker.
8
00:00:55.939 --> 00:00:59.340
I interviewed him for my book, and we corresponded for
9
00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:02.329
a number of years. He wrote me probably 30 or
10
00:01:02.329 --> 00:01:06.209
35 different letters, up to about 350 pages of letters.
11
00:01:06.569 --> 00:01:08.909
In one letter, Mark Twitchell wrote back to me, and
12
00:01:08.930 --> 00:01:11.469
this is what he said. The fact is society in
13
00:01:11.530 --> 00:01:14.379
general has a deep and profound fascination with the dark
14
00:01:14.420 --> 00:01:15.420
side of human nature.
15
00:01:20.700 --> 00:01:23.819
I do think Mark Twitchell was using the filmmaking as
16
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an outlet. to live out his fantasies, and it ultimately
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wasn't enough for him. And that's why his fantasies crossed
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into reality. I think Mark Twitchell believes that he is
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very smart, very methodical, very logical, very level-headed, much like
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the character of Dexter Morgan. And so I think he
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got ideas from the show. I think he was drawn
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to the character because that's what he wanted to be.
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There's significant links to Dexter. He had a kill room
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set up with plastic sheeting. He had a table set
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up for his victims. He had this kind of processing
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kit that was very similar to what Dexter uses.
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Never once did it cross his mind he'd ever be caught.
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They aren't going to catch me. I'm too smart. Nothing's
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going to lead them to me.
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Our job is to put together the pieces of the puzzle,
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and in this case, we had a written document.
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There was this document titled SK Confessions found in a
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deleted form on Mark Twitchell's laptop, and it appeared to
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read like a diary. This is the story of my
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progression into becoming a serial killer. And it documented luring
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people off the internet. His first victim was a man
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named Gilles Tetreault.
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I saw this lady. She had blonde hair. She was
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about five, six. She was very attractive looking.
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And what was her name?
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Her name was Sheena.
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Sheena. Yeah.
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I messaged her. She messaged me back. How about we
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go to dinner and a movie? I thought that was
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a great idea. She wouldn't give me the house number,
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but she just sent me really, really good directions on
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how to get there.
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He thought, what's the worst that could happen?
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Thank you very much.
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It would appear that I'm unique in the world. There
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is no key, no root cause. If I really were
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capable of premeditated murder. Normal, healthy, well-adjusted, 30 old men.
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I once heard the legend of another worthy victim. Wonderful
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young children and great futures. I dealt with his remains
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in a disrespectful manner that traumatized me forever.
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The psychopathic serial killer.
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My compassion.
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I quickly grew to resent and hate this man.
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These are the words of Mark Twitchell. Written to author
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Steve Lillebu.
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It is what it is, and I am what I am.
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For the first time on television, Lillibuen is revealing the
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contents of Twitchell's letters. It's a rare look inside the
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mind of a killer.
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Nobody would side with Dexter Morgan if he went around
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slaughtering schoolteachers and mail carriers on a whim.
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Police say Twitchell was fascinated by the fictional character in
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the hit Showtime series, Dexter.
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I need to kill him.
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Twitchell's been dubbed the Dexter Killer because of the numerous
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links between the television series and the real-life crimes.
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So how did this young Canadian filmmaker end up accused
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of horrific acts? The story begins in October 2008.
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To hear how everything happened, it was like you're watching
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the movies.
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Edmonton police detective Bill Clark.
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But now we have it happening in real life.
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Jill's Tetro was online on the plentyoffish.com website, which is
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a dating site.
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Tetro, who was 33 at the time, was excited to
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meet the woman who called herself Sheena.
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I was actually late, so I was driving quite fast
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to get there.
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She said, I'll just.
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Leave the garage door open for you. And then you
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just go in, go through the garage.
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I don't think he ever imagined in a million years
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what would happen to him in that garage.
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It was dark. Then I kind of looked around for
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the door she told me to go through. And that's
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when somebody came out and attacked me from behind. I
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finally looked back, and that's when I see this man
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with this painted-up hockey mask. I just chilled down my back. Wow,
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this is no date. He's about like six foot and
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has this Black and gold hockey masks all painted up
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on his face.
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The hockey mask-wearing man had ordered him to the ground
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at gunpoint.
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And he tore a piece of tape and he covered
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my eyes with it. I start hearing different things, like
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a jingling noise and stuff like that. In my head,
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it's just racing. It's like thinking, what's going on? What's
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he going to do? Is he taking another weapon out?
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Jill decided. He wasn't waiting to find out.
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I can't do this. I got to fight back. So
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I got up and ripped the tape off my eyes.
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He was stunned that I got up and started yelling
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at me to get back down on the ground.
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Instead, he grabbed the attacker's gun.
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When I grabbed the gun, I felt the gun was plastic.
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This is the greatest feeling I ever felt in my
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life because then I knew I had a fighting chance
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to get away. That's when I was ready to fight.
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I punched him and I felt really weak. I'm like, Wow,
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why was my punch so weak?
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What Gilles didn't realize was that he had been weakened
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by the effects of the stun baton.
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And then he starts punching me on the side of
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the head.
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Just about then, he came up with a plan.
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He grabbed my jacket. I jerked forward to make sure
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he had a good hold on it. I thought, that's
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the perfect time.
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That was part of your plan. You're thinking, okay, he
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grabs my jacket. And I can get free.
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So that's when I slipped out of the jacket, rolled
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underneath the garage door, and then got up.
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And it worked.
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And I tried to run, and all of a sudden
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my legs wouldn't work. And I just fell, boom, right
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on the gravel, trifling. That's when he grabbed my legs,
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and he started pulling me back to the garage. So
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I'm like, oh no, what am I going to do now?
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I'm dead.
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Gilles was thrown back in the garage. but he surprised
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himself by rolling out again. This time, Gilles managed to
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get into his truck.
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I stuck the key in the ignition, and then I
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just sped away.
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When Gilles got home, he discovered the profile on the
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dating site had been deleted, and he did his best
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to erase his own memory. Why didn't you go to
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the police immediately?
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At first, I was in shock. I said, I told myself,
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I'll do it tomorrow. And tomorrow came, and I felt
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so ashamed that I got duped.
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Embarrassed and confused, Gilles convinced himself that perhaps it wasn't
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as serious as he first thought.
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I really thought I was a mugging at the time.
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But just one week later, another man, Johnny Altinger, would
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answer a similar dating ad and disappear.
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Where is he? What's going on?
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He wouldn't do this to us.
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Gary Altinger, Johnny's older brother, says the last time anyone
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heard from him was on October 10, 2008, when the
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38-year-old left for a date with a woman named Jen.
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Not a message, nothing. And then not showing up for work,
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totally out of character. John was very, very, very responsible.
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And when did you grow concerned?
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When I received that email. And this email was completely
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out of character.
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What did it say?
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I've met a woman named Jen and I'm going away
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with her to Costa Rica and I'll call you at
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Christmas time. I just thought right away, after I had
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read this, that's got to be the weirdest message I've
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ever received.
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That identical strange message had gone out to all of
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Johnny's friends as well. Desperate for some answers, Johnny's friends
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broke into his apartment.
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They found his passport and they found dirty dishes and
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they found everything just like as if he were going
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to return an hour or two later. And with that information,
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then they went to the police and they said, hey, listen,
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you've got to do something.
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You know, his red Mazda was missing. He had taken
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his vehicle. It couldn't be found.
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So obviously that's what we're going to look for first.
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Easier to find a car than a person. Based on
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the emails and they talk about Costa Rica, the officers
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search all the parking lots at the airport.
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It's not found. Everything's turning up negative.
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But there was one clue that would give police their
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first big break in the case. On the day he disappeared,
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Johnny Altinger had forwarded the directions of where he was
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going to friends.
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Well, John's friends were concerned. His friend even questioned him
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on the emails.
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You know, be careful.
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And John said, yeah, well, here's the directions, and if
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anything happens to me, you'll know where to look.
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Armed with the directions, police were led directly to the garage.
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They learned the garage was rented out to an individual
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named Mark Twitchell.
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Action.
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Twitchell, then 29 years old, a married man with a
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young daughter, had used the garage as a set for
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a recent movie project.
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I'm glad I got the chance to work with you
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all and I hope I see you all in the industry.
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Mark denied knowing anything about a missing man or a
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red Mazda. And he had no problem with the police
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wanting to search the garage.
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They have a look around and they see some what
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looks like blood and Mark Twitchell's explaining, oh no, that's
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my movie prop. We did a film about killing a
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guy in here and I filmed it all and I've
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been cleaning it up over the last couple weeks.
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There were some.
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Things that were, you know, raising your spidey sense in
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this one, going, yeah, this isn't right.
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Something going on here.
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For detectives in the Edmonton Police Department, the disappearance of
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Johnny Altinger was a mystery. in more ways than one.
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It's a missing persons case. We don't know what foul
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plays happened here. We don't have a body. We don't
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even know if we have a crime.
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Their only lead was Mark Twitchell's film set garage. Voluntarily,
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the amateur filmmaker came down to the Edmonton police station
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to speak with detectives.
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All tainted.
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Does that name the Ring of Metal to you or
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mean anything to you?
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No.
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Never heard it before?
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No.
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Mark appeared to be eager to help. He had no
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history of violence and was hardly a suspect.
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Action.
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In fact, he seemed guilty of nothing more than wanting
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to brag about his film career.
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I'm working on a comedy right now, which is actually
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a full-blown feature. It's actually going to have a decent
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budget in the neighborhood of about $ 3.
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5 million.
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Mark Twitchell's first film project, a Star Wars fan film,
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had received some media buzz back in 2007.
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Word has gotten around that I'm making a $ 100 million
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movie for 60 grand, and some production and directing jobs
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have already come my way.
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But the police were more interested in Mark's latest production,
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a suspense thriller called House of Cards, where a hockey-mass
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serial killer lures a man to a garage via the
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Internet and kills him.
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I mean, it's kind of odd that you're filming that
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kind of thing.
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And we end up going to that garage because of
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a missing person who supposedly went there. That's really freaky, too.
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And as soon as they called me on the phone,
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I got this weird chill.
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He looked pretty comfortable in the interview. And when it
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was done and I watched, I went, wow, that guy
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interviewed well.
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Hours later, Mark Twitchell even agreed to let officers back
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into the garage where he had filmed House of Cards.
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Little did they know The case was about to take
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an unusual turn.
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Detective Murphy goes, you know, and meets him and talks
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to him and there's this huge revelation about, oh.
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Yeah, I bought a red car off a guy.
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It's like, I remember getting the phone call at the
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police station just thinking, holy crap.
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That's because police were still looking for Johnny Altinger's red Mazda.
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So investigators called Mark again. And again, he voluntarily agreed
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to answer more questions. This time, Bill Clark conducted the interview.
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So as you know, Mark, we're just here trying to
267
00:15:11.070 --> 00:15:13.129
find this John, John, John Altinger.
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00:15:14.149 --> 00:15:17.350
Clark listened while Mark told him how he came into
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00:15:17.409 --> 00:15:20.750
possession of a red car, a detail he failed to
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00:15:20.789 --> 00:15:23.230
mention when he spoke with police earlier.
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00:15:23.429 --> 00:15:26.570
This guy taps on my window, you know, hey buddy,
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00:15:26.590 --> 00:15:29.330
do you want to buy a car? I said, I've
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00:15:29.350 --> 00:15:32.909
checked up with this really rich lady and she's going
274
00:15:32.950 --> 00:15:34.990
to buy me a new car. So I'm just looking
275
00:15:35.070 --> 00:15:37.009
to unload buying. How much do you have on you?
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00:15:37.889 --> 00:15:42.379
Mark claimed he bought the red Mazda for just $ 40
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00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:44.139
and that it was parked at a friend's house. So
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00:15:45.100 --> 00:15:46.879
what are you thinking when you hear that, that he
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00:15:46.940 --> 00:15:51.019
purchased a car for $ 40?
280
00:15:50.259 --> 00:15:53.360
I just thought that's unbelievable. That's just, right away I'm
281
00:15:53.419 --> 00:15:55.500
thinking to myself, this is a bunch of crap.
282
00:15:55.620 --> 00:15:59.750
The strange story about the red car. the serial killer
283
00:15:59.789 --> 00:16:04.409
movie being filmed. For Clark, it could only mean one thing.
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00:16:04.889 --> 00:16:08.600
There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that you're involved
285
00:16:08.789 --> 00:16:10.559
in the disappearance of John Altinger.
286
00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:13.500
No doubt in my mind at all.
287
00:16:14.460 --> 00:16:14.860
Why?
288
00:16:16.500 --> 00:16:20.139
But it was only a hunch. Clark had no hard
289
00:16:20.279 --> 00:16:25.159
evidence against Mark. Police began digging deeper into his background.
290
00:16:25.669 --> 00:16:29.110
They were interested in speaking with anyone who had worked
291
00:16:29.350 --> 00:16:33.070
on House of Cards, where actor Chris Hewitt's character meets
292
00:16:33.129 --> 00:16:35.950
an untimely, bloody end in the film.
293
00:16:36.649 --> 00:16:39.330
My character was killed with the samurai sword. They said
294
00:16:39.350 --> 00:16:41.389
they would have a mannequin or a dummy to run
295
00:16:41.429 --> 00:16:43.570
the sword through, and when I got there, there was none.
296
00:16:43.809 --> 00:16:46.240
I looked at the weapons, that was my first sign.
297
00:16:46.250 --> 00:16:48.659
When I saw that they were real, I thought, this
298
00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:50.899
is off. Why didn't I tell somebody where I am?
299
00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:55.789
Hewitt left the garage film set unharmed, but rattled. And
300
00:16:55.830 --> 00:16:59.850
his unease only escalated when police asked him about that
301
00:16:59.970 --> 00:17:03.490
allegedly fake movie blood they spotted in the garage.
302
00:17:04.089 --> 00:17:05.990
How much of the blood splatter on the wall was
303
00:17:06.019 --> 00:17:06.730
from your filming?
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00:17:07.059 --> 00:17:08.680
I said, none of the blood splatter was from us.
305
00:17:10.059 --> 00:17:14.220
And then, in a search of Twitchell's belongings, police found
306
00:17:14.339 --> 00:17:15.140
his laptop.
307
00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:18.420
They pulled off the hard drive a deleted file titled
308
00:17:18.660 --> 00:17:19.700
SK Confessions.
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00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:26.200
SK Confessions. Police believed SK was Shorthand. for serial killer.
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00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:30.339
One of the first lines, it says, I'm not sure
311
00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:32.400
when I decided I'm a serial killer, but it was
312
00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:34.039
a feeling of pure euphoria.
313
00:17:34.700 --> 00:17:37.839
SK Confessions told the story of a man who was
314
00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:41.039
lured to a garage and stabbed to death, a plot
315
00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:45.740
strikingly similar to House of Cards. I plunged the knife
316
00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:47.200
deep into his neck.
317
00:17:48.029 --> 00:17:49.009
It was unbelievable.
318
00:17:49.049 --> 00:17:52.730
I just remember reading it all and just was fascinated
319
00:17:52.789 --> 00:17:55.150
by this document going, holy mackerel.
320
00:17:55.210 --> 00:17:58.829
But was the document a screenplay or was it in
321
00:17:58.869 --> 00:18:01.930
fact Mark Twitchell's confession of murder?
322
00:18:23.109 --> 00:18:27.799
It just doesn't make sense. Where there's smoke, there's fire.
323
00:18:28.339 --> 00:18:31.960
Two weeks after the disappearance of Johnny Altinger at a
324
00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.420
garage film set, police had sharpened their focus on filmmaker
325
00:18:36.660 --> 00:18:41.049
Mark Twitchell. Police cameras were rolling as the forensics team
326
00:18:41.130 --> 00:18:46.309
processed Twitchell's family car and the garage he rented. And
327
00:18:46.329 --> 00:18:49.950
a few miles away, detectives had been at the Twitchell
328
00:18:49.990 --> 00:18:54.680
home where they found just Twitchell, Mark's unsuspecting wife of
329
00:18:54.740 --> 00:18:55.380
two years.
330
00:18:55.880 --> 00:18:58.380
What I said was, we're investigating a missing person. I
331
00:18:58.420 --> 00:19:00.579
believe your husband's got something to do with it. And
332
00:19:01.220 --> 00:19:04.819
it's quite possibly, you know, could be a homicide. I
333
00:19:04.859 --> 00:19:06.880
didn't really go into anything more, but I think that
334
00:19:06.900 --> 00:19:08.900
was enough. I mean, she was emotional.
335
00:19:10.349 --> 00:19:14.809
Police soon discovered that the Twitchell marriage was already fractured.
336
00:19:15.529 --> 00:19:18.430
They had been living in, basically sleeping in separate bedrooms.
337
00:19:18.529 --> 00:19:20.049
She was basically living on the main floor. He was
338
00:19:20.089 --> 00:19:20.869
living in the basement.
339
00:19:20.890 --> 00:19:23.529
So there was obviously... Trouble's in paradise there.
340
00:19:23.609 --> 00:19:24.210
We knew that.
341
00:19:26.890 --> 00:19:30.069
Twitchell had been having an affair with an old girlfriend
342
00:19:30.269 --> 00:19:32.980
and lying to his wife about having a job.
343
00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:35.720
He found out that he was telling his wife he
344
00:19:35.740 --> 00:19:37.359
was going to work every day. He had no job.
345
00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:40.579
He was getting his friends to invest in his alleged
346
00:19:40.779 --> 00:19:44.890
movie-making business with his Hollywood connections, and basically Mark Twitchell
347
00:19:44.910 --> 00:19:46.049
was living off their money.
348
00:19:46.890 --> 00:19:51.349
Interestingly, the document police had found in Twitchell's laptop, titled
349
00:19:51.549 --> 00:19:57.460
SK Confessions, also referenced a crumbling marriage and secrets. It read,
350
00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:00.500
and went through great lengths to bring my wife over
351
00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:03.599
to the comfortable belief I wasn't cheating on her.
352
00:20:03.900 --> 00:20:07.180
It was basically almost like a movie script.
353
00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:11.460
But what was real? And what was fiction? The closer
354
00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:17.400
police looked, the more the lines blurred. Police discovered Twitchell
355
00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:21.480
spent countless hours making elaborate Halloween costumes.
356
00:20:22.349 --> 00:20:24.369
It's almost like at times Mark Twitchell lives in a
357
00:20:24.410 --> 00:20:25.190
fantasy world.
358
00:20:25.549 --> 00:20:29.750
But it was Twitchell's Facebook page comparing himself to TV's
359
00:20:29.890 --> 00:20:35.230
fictional serial killer, Dexter Morgan, that really raised eyebrows. Mark
360
00:20:35.269 --> 00:20:39.000
has way too much in common with Dexter Morgan, read
361
00:20:39.319 --> 00:20:40.740
twitchell status.
362
00:20:40.859 --> 00:20:44.650
He talked a lot about how he loved the show dexter.
363
00:20:47.349 --> 00:20:51.950
I need to kill him twitchell even posed as dexter morgan.
364
00:20:51.750 --> 00:20:54.750
On facebook we all have a dark side some darker
365
00:20:54.789 --> 00:20:57.470
than others and you're not the only one to relate
366
00:20:57.509 --> 00:21:00.529
to dexter it sometimes scares me how much i relate
367
00:21:00.849 --> 00:21:03.319
i mean look at this profile That.
368
00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:06.720
Profile had caught the attention of a woman named Renee
369
00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:08.180
from Cleveland, Ohio.
370
00:21:08.740 --> 00:21:11.460
I am a huge fan of the Showtime show, Dexter.
371
00:21:11.700 --> 00:21:14.359
So I thought, oh, well, you know, I'll be friends
372
00:21:14.420 --> 00:21:14.819
with him.
373
00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:18.559
Eventually, Twitchell revealed his true identity.
374
00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:20.619
He was a filmmaker.
375
00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:22.480
We are rolling.
376
00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:26.940
And he was working on a new thing called House
377
00:21:26.980 --> 00:21:27.460
of Cards.
378
00:21:28.119 --> 00:21:28.759
Camera's rolling.
379
00:21:29.849 --> 00:21:33.509
Renee was intrigued. After all, she was an aspiring writer.
380
00:21:33.849 --> 00:21:37.009
And her friendship with the movie maker could open doors.
381
00:21:37.490 --> 00:21:39.890
I thought it was going to be like a working relationship,
382
00:21:39.930 --> 00:21:43.410
a working friendship. You know, we had a lot in common.
383
00:21:43.650 --> 00:21:45.349
I mean, you spoke to him a couple of times
384
00:21:45.430 --> 00:21:46.009
a day online?
385
00:21:46.029 --> 00:21:46.890
A couple of times a day.
386
00:21:47.170 --> 00:21:52.450
Was it flirtatious? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Their email exchanges soon
387
00:21:52.539 --> 00:21:56.900
became dark. It was shortly before Johnny Altinger disappeared.
388
00:21:57.240 --> 00:21:57.559
We couldn't.
389
00:21:58.220 --> 00:22:01.019
Talked about, you know, serial killers and, you know, the
390
00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:03.720
psychology behind a serial killer.
391
00:22:04.539 --> 00:22:08.980
At the time, Renee was upset with her ex-husband's new wife.
392
00:22:09.420 --> 00:22:11.539
And I wanted her dead at the time, but I
393
00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:15.359
said I couldn't do it. And hypothetically, how would you get.
394
00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:15.849
Away with it?
395
00:22:15.859 --> 00:22:17.130
How do you get away with it?
396
00:22:17.420 --> 00:22:20.980
He said, you cut her up in little pieces. You
397
00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:24.880
put her in trash bags like Dexter. And since I
398
00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:29.210
was close to the lake, you run a boat. and
399
00:22:29.250 --> 00:22:30.849
dump her out in the middle of Lake Erie.
400
00:22:33.579 --> 00:22:36.500
But then she began to wonder.
401
00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:39.599
He said over the weekend he did something and he
402
00:22:39.660 --> 00:22:44.759
liked it. I crossed the line and I did something
403
00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:45.519
and I liked it.
404
00:22:46.500 --> 00:22:47.559
And what did you take that to mean?
405
00:22:48.819 --> 00:22:53.230
That he killed somebody. What other line is there to cross?
406
00:22:53.650 --> 00:22:57.529
Something inside my head just gave me red flags and said,
407
00:22:58.099 --> 00:22:58.569
He did it.
408
00:23:00.359 --> 00:23:04.349
And her suspicions kept growing with another email he sent.
409
00:23:05.329 --> 00:23:09.710
There's an enormous missing person, possible homicide investigation, going on
410
00:23:09.789 --> 00:23:12.750
centralized around a location I've been renting for film work.
411
00:23:14.009 --> 00:23:16.650
So of course the police have tossed my house and
412
00:23:16.710 --> 00:23:20.400
impounded my car. Not fun considering they won't find anything.
413
00:23:20.859 --> 00:23:23.839
But Twitchell had underestimated the police.
414
00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:27.730
He thought he was way smarter than the police. One
415
00:23:27.750 --> 00:23:30.250
of the biggest mistakes I think that he made was
416
00:23:30.309 --> 00:23:32.490
he had no idea how we do our job, and
417
00:23:32.509 --> 00:23:33.910
that was a huge advantage to us.
418
00:23:35.069 --> 00:23:39.880
Adding to their circumstantial case, Twitchell possessing Altinger's car, the
419
00:23:40.059 --> 00:23:45.400
SK Confessions document, and his Dexter obsession, investigators finally had
420
00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:50.789
hard evidence. They found Altinger's blood in Twitchell's trunk.
421
00:23:51.509 --> 00:23:54.819
When we got the word that the DNA matched We
422
00:23:54.859 --> 00:23:57.779
briefed our tactical team, our arrest team, and we had
423
00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:59.339
officers ready to make the arrest.
424
00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:04.700
On Halloween morning, 2008, while Twitchell was putting the finishing
425
00:24:04.740 --> 00:24:08.250
touches on his Halloween costume at his parents' home, police
426
00:24:08.309 --> 00:24:09.970
were busy laying a trap.
427
00:24:10.609 --> 00:24:13.829
We got an undercover operator to work the internet and
428
00:24:13.950 --> 00:24:17.529
pretend he was an investor. He was lured out on
429
00:24:17.549 --> 00:24:19.650
the promise to meet this guy at this coffee shop,
430
00:24:19.769 --> 00:24:21.549
and when he got about three blocks from his house...
431
00:24:22.509 --> 00:24:24.829
Tactical team swooped in on him and took him down.
432
00:24:24.849 --> 00:24:31.430
Tough guy Mark Twitchell peed his pants. He was so scared,
433
00:24:31.829 --> 00:24:34.190
and it was a little taste of his own medicine,
434
00:24:34.230 --> 00:24:34.549
I guess.
435
00:24:38.500 --> 00:24:42.759
Back at the station, Detective Clark and Twitchell came face-to-face
436
00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:45.099
in the interrogation room once again.
437
00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:47.319
As I told you that night, I knew that you
438
00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:51.069
were involved in the disappearance at that time of Johnny Altinger.
439
00:24:52.170 --> 00:24:56.150
That's changed slightly. I now know that you killed John Altinger.
440
00:24:56.670 --> 00:25:02.670
Three weeks after Altinger's disappearance, police charged Twitchell with first-degree murder.
441
00:25:03.329 --> 00:25:09.859
The once talkative movie director barely uttered a line. You
442
00:25:09.880 --> 00:25:11.420
didn't get much of a reaction, did you?
443
00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:12.240
No.
444
00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:13.200
He's, uh.
445
00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:16.819
Well, he knows not to say anything. Talking to his lawyers,
446
00:25:16.859 --> 00:25:18.119
he's not going to admit to anything.
447
00:25:18.519 --> 00:25:22.019
He didn't have to. Ask a confession. which police had
448
00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:26.460
been dissecting word by word, spoke volumes. They were now
449
00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:31.299
convinced it was no screenplay, but rather a diary of murder.
450
00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:35.950
One passage about a knife red I thrusted into his gut.
451
00:25:36.269 --> 00:25:38.930
His reaction was pure Hollywood.
452
00:25:39.170 --> 00:25:42.069
We do believe as investigators that the account written by
453
00:25:42.150 --> 00:25:46.490
Mark Twitchell in that SK Confessions is exactly what he
454
00:25:46.529 --> 00:25:47.470
did to John Altinger.
455
00:25:49.400 --> 00:25:53.279
By now, Renee had called the police. As authorities began
456
00:25:53.380 --> 00:25:56.680
building their case, there was one crucial part of SK
457
00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:02.240
Confessions they wanted to verify about a victim who had survived.
458
00:26:03.059 --> 00:26:05.019
It was just a huge piece of evidence because not
459
00:26:05.099 --> 00:26:08.259
only would it verify what was written in SK Confessions,
460
00:26:09.140 --> 00:26:11.380
it would also have a living witness.
461
00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:14.460
So it was paramount that we find this person.
462
00:26:32.460 --> 00:26:36.200
Detective Bill Clark knew his next move was finding the
463
00:26:36.259 --> 00:26:39.759
alleged victim who had escaped from Mark Twitchell's garage.
464
00:26:40.700 --> 00:26:42.190
You know, one of the first things we did was
465
00:26:42.250 --> 00:26:45.589
check the police records, figuring hopefully someone called the police
466
00:26:45.650 --> 00:26:46.869
on this, and we have nothing.
467
00:26:47.670 --> 00:26:51.309
But police had found a helpful clue during the search
468
00:26:51.509 --> 00:26:52.450
of Twitchell's home.
469
00:26:53.210 --> 00:26:55.880
One of the things they had found was a hockey mask.
470
00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:59.779
The SK Confessions talked about how Mark Twitchell had worn
471
00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:01.819
this mask when he attacked both victims.
472
00:27:02.539 --> 00:27:04.420
But we figured it was something the first victim would
473
00:27:04.460 --> 00:27:04.910
key on.
474
00:27:05.210 --> 00:27:07.589
Police soon took to the airwaves.
475
00:27:07.910 --> 00:27:10.009
We have some details on this male victim who was
476
00:27:10.049 --> 00:27:11.769
attacked and we would like him to come forward.
477
00:27:12.210 --> 00:27:15.609
Gilles Tetreault was at home oblivious to the horror he
478
00:27:15.650 --> 00:27:18.640
had escaped when a friend told him to watch the news.
479
00:27:19.259 --> 00:27:21.140
To date, we do not know who this victim is.
480
00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:24.059
I believe the victim entered the garage and was attacked
481
00:27:24.099 --> 00:27:26.000
by another male who was wearing a hockey mask.
482
00:27:26.380 --> 00:27:30.190
And it's the same hockey mask that I saw him. wow, yeah,
483
00:27:30.250 --> 00:27:32.349
this is the guy. This is what happened to me.
484
00:27:32.349 --> 00:27:33.849
It's the same mask, everything.
485
00:27:34.269 --> 00:27:38.509
What Gilles heard next came as an even greater shock.
486
00:27:38.990 --> 00:27:41.950
Another man had been lured to the same garage and
487
00:27:42.019 --> 00:27:43.490
met a gruesome man.
488
00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:46.039
We have not found John Altinger's body.
489
00:27:46.619 --> 00:27:48.940
And what were you thinking when you heard this?
490
00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:52.940
I couldn't believe it. Once you find out the whole story,
491
00:27:53.400 --> 00:27:56.440
I knew at that point it was not just a mugging.
492
00:27:56.619 --> 00:27:58.799
It was actually, he was probably going to kill me.
493
00:27:58.940 --> 00:28:02.359
I'm like, wow, I have to go forward now. I
494
00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:03.160
have to come forward.
495
00:28:04.099 --> 00:28:08.619
Exactly one month after he was attacked, Gilles Tetreault walked
496
00:28:08.660 --> 00:28:13.470
into the Edmonton Police Department and told police his incredible story.
497
00:28:14.009 --> 00:28:16.329
I was all off balance. I couldn't run. I fell
498
00:28:16.349 --> 00:28:21.400
down from the gravel driveway and basically crawling. So he
499
00:28:21.460 --> 00:28:22.960
dragged me back to the garage.
500
00:28:23.380 --> 00:28:27.390
Gilles' story matched nearly word for word what was in
501
00:28:27.650 --> 00:28:30.890
SK Confessions. I grabbed him by the leg, as if
502
00:28:30.930 --> 00:28:34.490
to drag him back into the garage, caveman style.
503
00:28:34.990 --> 00:28:37.829
So I know that this diary we have is true.
504
00:28:38.269 --> 00:28:40.230
After this all happened, I realized how lucky I was.
505
00:28:41.029 --> 00:28:45.569
Seven days after Gilles was attacked, police say Twitchell wasn't
506
00:28:45.609 --> 00:28:50.589
going to make the same mistake twice. How did he
507
00:28:50.630 --> 00:28:51.650
kill John?
508
00:28:52.529 --> 00:28:54.109
We know that he lured him to the garage in
509
00:28:54.150 --> 00:28:57.190
the same way he lured Jules Tetreault. And then in
510
00:28:57.250 --> 00:29:00.190
this case, because he learned from Jules that the taser
511
00:29:00.210 --> 00:29:02.690
didn't work, he hit him over the head with a
512
00:29:02.730 --> 00:29:03.210
lead pipe.
513
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:09.099
Following the narrative, police believe Altinger was then stabbed and
514
00:29:09.160 --> 00:29:13.289
dismembered on a makeshift autopsy table. What was the most
515
00:29:13.329 --> 00:29:15.210
damning piece of evidence that you discovered?
516
00:29:15.430 --> 00:29:19.079
We had a luminol test done on the floor. Large
517
00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:21.099
amounts of blood had been spilled on the floor of
518
00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:21.660
the garage.
519
00:29:21.859 --> 00:29:23.359
Probably one of the biggest pieces.
520
00:29:23.420 --> 00:29:26.640
A piece of tooth that was found inside there. That
521
00:29:26.700 --> 00:29:28.980
piece of tooth matched up to our victim.
522
00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:33.630
According to SK Confessions, the killer then broke into Altinger's
523
00:29:33.670 --> 00:29:38.329
apartment and sent out those emails about taking an exotic vacation.
524
00:29:38.630 --> 00:29:42.339
The killer then attempted to... burn the remains in a barrel,
525
00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:46.349
but failed. He next tried to dump them into the river,
526
00:29:46.490 --> 00:29:48.269
but was afraid of being seen.
527
00:29:49.109 --> 00:29:50.920
Ultimately, Mark Twitchell drove around with it.
528
00:29:51.230 --> 00:29:54.410
According to the SK Confessions documentary, He even talked about
529
00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:56.640
driving around with them and pulling up beside people at
530
00:29:56.680 --> 00:29:58.799
red lights and looking at them and thinking that they
531
00:29:58.819 --> 00:30:00.279
don't know I have a dead body in the trunk
532
00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:00.859
of my car.
533
00:30:01.339 --> 00:30:06.200
But where was Johnny Altinger's body? SK Confessions described the
534
00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:10.680
killer finally choosing a sewer to dump the remains. But
535
00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:14.390
that's where the pages stopped. It was a story without
536
00:30:14.670 --> 00:30:15.250
an ending.
537
00:30:15.730 --> 00:30:18.769
In any homicide investigation, you obviously want to bring closure
538
00:30:18.789 --> 00:30:21.119
to the family, so... Not only do you want to
539
00:30:21.140 --> 00:30:22.960
make that phone call saying, we got the guy that
540
00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:25.519
did this to your loved one, but in this case,
541
00:30:25.559 --> 00:30:27.539
we wanted to say to him, look, we found Johnny.
542
00:30:28.900 --> 00:30:32.829
Detective Clark hoped Twitchell would provide the final chapter.
543
00:30:33.140 --> 00:30:34.009
I'm going to get the car ready.
544
00:30:34.029 --> 00:30:35.210
We're going to take a drive.
545
00:30:36.170 --> 00:30:39.390
You guys were driving around and there was a camera
546
00:30:39.430 --> 00:30:41.569
trained on him in the back of the police car.
547
00:30:41.750 --> 00:30:42.490
Tell me about that.
548
00:30:42.670 --> 00:30:45.029
When you read all the experts' books about these type
549
00:30:45.049 --> 00:30:47.410
of individuals is they tend to like the media attention.
550
00:30:47.450 --> 00:30:49.430
So we thought, well, maybe if we drive him around
551
00:30:49.539 --> 00:30:52.180
and We'll put a camera on him. Maybe we'll just
552
00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:54.200
take him to places. Because we had no idea where
553
00:30:55.480 --> 00:30:57.730
Johnny's remains were at that time. So in order to
554
00:30:57.809 --> 00:31:01.390
finish the movie, we'd find the body, take it back
555
00:31:01.430 --> 00:31:01.910
to the people.
556
00:31:03.589 --> 00:31:03.930
Family.
557
00:31:04.910 --> 00:31:05.109
Done.
558
00:31:05.750 --> 00:31:06.349
Movie's over.
559
00:31:06.730 --> 00:31:07.569
We're all done.
560
00:31:08.609 --> 00:31:12.599
Detective Clark was relentless, taking Twitchell on a tour of
561
00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:13.579
his old neighbourhood.
562
00:31:14.380 --> 00:31:16.420
And we first drove to his parents' house where he
563
00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:18.980
had been staying. We actually demanded that he tell us.
564
00:31:19.220 --> 00:31:21.170
He wouldn't. Look familiar, Mark?
565
00:31:22.190 --> 00:31:23.710
Are we parked right on top of the sewer where
566
00:31:23.730 --> 00:31:24.390
you dumped the body?
567
00:31:26.329 --> 00:31:28.579
Next stop, the scene of the crime.
568
00:31:29.259 --> 00:31:32.740
So here we are back at the killing garage, the
569
00:31:32.859 --> 00:31:33.839
Dexter garage.
570
00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:36.059
Bring back any memories?
571
00:31:36.980 --> 00:31:38.200
Want to tell us where the body is now?
572
00:31:39.059 --> 00:31:39.859
We'll get this over with.
573
00:31:40.619 --> 00:31:44.990
But Twitchell remained silent. So police kept searching on their own,
574
00:31:45.589 --> 00:31:47.529
looking in sewer after sewer.
575
00:31:48.259 --> 00:31:50.880
So all these manhole covers were pulled off in this alley.
576
00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:53.019
So anytime I'd see one, I always had my flashlight
577
00:31:53.059 --> 00:31:54.960
with me and would get out and actually take a look.
578
00:31:57.509 --> 00:32:01.549
Weeks, then months passed and still no luck. Then a
579
00:32:01.589 --> 00:32:06.170
year and a half after Johnny Altinger disappeared, Twitchell, while
580
00:32:06.349 --> 00:32:10.950
awaiting trial, broke his silence and gave the police a map.
581
00:32:12.630 --> 00:32:15.839
Just up here on the left, it's about a block
582
00:32:16.099 --> 00:32:16.700
south of his.
583
00:32:16.660 --> 00:32:21.250
Parents' house. Investigators followed it to an alleyway just a
584
00:32:21.410 --> 00:32:24.359
half block away from where they had stopped the search.
585
00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:26.940
And he had marked an X. X marks the spot.
586
00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:30.160
It took its way to this sewer cover here.
587
00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:34.839
We could see what looked like pieces of human torso
588
00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:35.359
down there.
589
00:32:35.380 --> 00:32:46.089
In March of 2011, Mark Twitchell went on trial for
590
00:32:46.119 --> 00:32:50.710
the murder of Johnny Alting. Prosecutors called Gilles Tetreault to
591
00:32:50.769 --> 00:32:54.670
testify and to prove that what Twitchell described in S.K.
592
00:32:54.710 --> 00:32:59.069
Confessions was not a work of fiction, but an account
593
00:32:59.190 --> 00:33:00.910
of what had actually happened.
594
00:33:01.390 --> 00:33:04.559
I wasn't really afraid of him at that time. I
595
00:33:04.579 --> 00:33:05.779
knew he couldn't hurt me anymore.
596
00:33:06.779 --> 00:33:10.779
The only witness the defense called was Mark Twitchell, and
597
00:33:10.819 --> 00:33:15.630
he had one unbelievable tale to tell. Steve Lillibuen, a
598
00:33:15.690 --> 00:33:20.390
college professor and an investigative journalist, was covering the trial
599
00:33:20.450 --> 00:33:23.490
for the Edmonton Journal and went on to write a book,
600
00:33:23.829 --> 00:33:26.089
The Devil's Cinema, about the case.
601
00:33:26.750 --> 00:33:29.890
Mark Twitchell testified that this was all a big misunderstanding
602
00:33:30.130 --> 00:33:33.240
and he had killed Johnny in self-defense.
603
00:33:33.940 --> 00:33:37.839
Twitchell claimed that Altinger's death was nothing more than a
604
00:33:37.960 --> 00:33:42.480
publicity stunt gone horribly awry. He said he intended to
605
00:33:42.539 --> 00:33:45.470
let both men go, so they would create a buzz
606
00:33:45.549 --> 00:33:49.130
for his film by telling people that this had actually
607
00:33:49.190 --> 00:33:53.230
happened to them. But he claimed Altinger became enraged at
608
00:33:53.299 --> 00:33:56.839
being tricked, and he accidentally killed him in self-defense.
609
00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:00.680
He blames Johnny, saying it was Johnny's reaction to his
610
00:34:00.740 --> 00:34:02.619
attempt at this promotion is what happened.
611
00:34:03.259 --> 00:34:06.339
In the end, the jury took just five hours to
612
00:34:06.420 --> 00:34:11.440
find Mark Twitchell guilty. He was sentenced to 25 years
613
00:34:11.579 --> 00:34:16.250
to life. But for Lillebu, there were still so many questions.
614
00:34:16.989 --> 00:34:19.329
So the motive is the mystery, the why did he
615
00:34:19.369 --> 00:34:22.800
do this? What is Mark Twitchell's psyche? What led to
616
00:34:22.840 --> 00:34:23.480
this happening?
617
00:34:24.500 --> 00:34:28.280
Questions little Buenhot might be answered when he got a
618
00:34:28.340 --> 00:34:31.860
call out of the blue from Mark Twitchell himself.
619
00:34:32.739 --> 00:34:34.300
He just said straight out, if you're going to be
620
00:34:34.340 --> 00:34:36.159
writing a book about me, you might as well come
621
00:34:36.179 --> 00:34:36.880
straight to the source.
622
00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:43.429
What do you think Mark Twitchell's motive was?
623
00:34:44.059 --> 00:34:48.000
See the evidence presented at trial and more at 48hours.
624
00:34:47.019 --> 00:34:48.000
Com.
625
00:34:57.019 --> 00:34:59.760
The first time I met him, he actually had me laughing.
626
00:35:00.219 --> 00:35:01.420
He's very charismatic.
627
00:35:01.719 --> 00:35:06.800
Mark Twitchell was nothing like author Steve Lillibuen expected.
628
00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:10.699
He has very much that salesman, slick behavior. He knows
629
00:35:10.739 --> 00:35:12.659
how to put it on to get people to like him.
630
00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:18.679
Twitchell began writing to Lillebuen before he was even convicted
631
00:35:18.760 --> 00:35:23.440
in 2011. Over the course of almost three years, they
632
00:35:23.500 --> 00:35:25.449
exchanged dozens of letters.
633
00:35:26.090 --> 00:35:29.090
I learned really quickly that he preferred to talk through writing.
634
00:35:29.909 --> 00:35:33.530
These weren't ramblings of a crazy man. There was actually
635
00:35:33.590 --> 00:35:37.369
some substance in these letters. Yes, absolutely.
636
00:35:37.409 --> 00:35:40.469
So he's not, he's not crazy. He is, he is lucid.
637
00:35:41.110 --> 00:35:45.409
At first, Lillibuen didn't want to push Twitchell away with
638
00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:48.599
too many probing questions about his crimes.
639
00:35:49.139 --> 00:35:51.219
I asked him a lot of softball questions just about
640
00:35:51.260 --> 00:35:53.940
who he was, his family, his upbringing, all that kind
641
00:35:53.960 --> 00:35:57.719
of background detail. He was newly married and a new father,
642
00:35:57.820 --> 00:36:02.989
so he was just a typical local guy who had
643
00:36:03.050 --> 00:36:06.010
dreams of making it big in Hollywood and really no
644
00:36:06.130 --> 00:36:09.409
red flags, no warning signs that something like this was
645
00:36:09.630 --> 00:36:10.269
on the horizon.
646
00:36:11.929 --> 00:36:15.760
In letters, Twitchell clung to his defense that he had
647
00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:20.719
no choice but to kill Johnny Altinger and then dismember him.
648
00:36:21.940 --> 00:36:25.780
He writes, I killed Johnny Altinger in a horrific accident
649
00:36:26.119 --> 00:36:32.280
of self-defense. After cursorily shoving aside my human sensibilities, I
650
00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:35.570
dealt with his remains in a disrespectful manner that traumatized
651
00:36:35.610 --> 00:36:36.230
me forever.
652
00:36:36.789 --> 00:36:38.010
He still is.
653
00:36:38.130 --> 00:36:40.670
Adamant that this was not a planned and deliberate murder.
654
00:36:41.190 --> 00:36:42.750
And to be frank, he's wrong.
655
00:36:43.409 --> 00:36:48.199
Lillibuen points to SK Confessions, where Twitchell describes how he
656
00:36:48.280 --> 00:36:52.500
turned that garage into a kill room, set up a
657
00:36:52.579 --> 00:36:57.579
makeshift autopsy table, had plastic sheeting, and a processing kit
658
00:36:58.219 --> 00:37:00.579
similar to the one Dexter Morgan used.
659
00:37:01.340 --> 00:37:05.090
Mark Twitchell wrote to me quite extensively about his interest
660
00:37:05.150 --> 00:37:05.690
in Dexter.
661
00:37:06.090 --> 00:37:11.340
Dexter on his mind. Twitchell drew this portrait of Michael C. Hall,
662
00:37:12.010 --> 00:37:16.210
the actor who plays him. And to Lil' Buon's surprise,
663
00:37:16.489 --> 00:37:21.269
even behind bars, Twitchell was able to feed his obsessions.
664
00:37:21.750 --> 00:37:22.869
Previously on Dexter.
665
00:37:23.110 --> 00:37:26.820
Mark Twitchell had actually been granted access to finish watching
666
00:37:26.840 --> 00:37:29.079
the series while he was incarcerated.
667
00:37:30.139 --> 00:37:35.059
In 2012, Dexter star Michael C. Hall was asked about
668
00:37:35.139 --> 00:37:37.500
Mark Twitchell on a Canadian radio.
669
00:37:39.110 --> 00:37:44.019
It's horrifying to entertain the notion that something you did
670
00:37:44.260 --> 00:37:45.320
inspired that.
671
00:37:47.019 --> 00:37:51.739
Twitchell's response to Hall's comments was to downplay his fascination
672
00:37:52.420 --> 00:37:53.679
with the Dexter character.
673
00:37:54.699 --> 00:37:57.699
So he wrote to me, as you're aware, Dexter has
674
00:37:57.780 --> 00:37:59.340
almost nothing to do with my case.
675
00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:07.280
Throughout their correspondence, Lillebuen continued to grapple with what drove Twitchell.
676
00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:11.000
And then Twitchell told him.
677
00:38:12.059 --> 00:38:15.800
There is no key, no root cause. There's no school
678
00:38:15.860 --> 00:38:19.820
bully or impressionable gory movies or Showtime television series to
679
00:38:19.860 --> 00:38:22.840
point the finger at. It is what it is, and
680
00:38:22.900 --> 00:38:23.579
I am what I am.
681
00:38:24.260 --> 00:38:26.699
He's a depraved individual, and he knows that.
682
00:38:27.429 --> 00:38:32.230
Retired FBI criminal profiler Julia Calley didn't work on this case,
683
00:38:32.309 --> 00:38:36.250
but she spoke with Detective Clark and reviewed Mark Twitchell's
684
00:38:36.309 --> 00:38:40.349
writings and letters for 48 hours. She thinks she knows
685
00:38:40.570 --> 00:38:42.150
what made Twitchell tick.
686
00:38:43.170 --> 00:38:47.150
I think he identified with Dexter to some degree. I
687
00:38:47.170 --> 00:38:50.420
think he's different than Dexter. He's not killing bad guys.
688
00:38:50.460 --> 00:38:54.599
He's killing very innocent, good people, living productive lives. And
689
00:38:54.619 --> 00:38:58.019
while he's technically not a serial killer, he was headed
690
00:38:58.079 --> 00:38:59.920
in that direction if they hadn't have caught him.
691
00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:06.750
Callie believes Twitchell took pleasure in planning and executing his
692
00:39:06.869 --> 00:39:10.400
crimes as if They were romantic trysts.
693
00:39:11.579 --> 00:39:13.780
I think the primary motivation was sexual.
694
00:39:14.440 --> 00:39:15.460
Sexual? Yes.
695
00:39:16.219 --> 00:39:20.389
He's targeting men that perhaps he would be interested in
696
00:39:20.429 --> 00:39:25.449
having a date with. It's a combination of sexual motive
697
00:39:25.510 --> 00:39:28.809
and a thrill killing. He's pretending to be a woman.
698
00:39:29.570 --> 00:39:33.909
He writes extensively about what he's going to wear, the
699
00:39:33.969 --> 00:39:37.670
weapon that he chooses. He sort of describes it in
700
00:39:38.010 --> 00:39:41.860
seductive language. He said, I wanted the weapon used for
701
00:39:41.889 --> 00:39:44.900
the deed itself to be simple, elegant, and beautiful.
702
00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:50.059
And in a strange twist, Twitchell's been able to feed
703
00:39:50.380 --> 00:39:55.400
that obsession too. In 2017, he was allowed to join
704
00:39:55.440 --> 00:39:58.280
an online dating website for inmates.
705
00:39:58.960 --> 00:40:03.059
Which, you know, I find quite surprising considering the way
706
00:40:03.099 --> 00:40:03.969
he ended up in prison.
707
00:40:04.320 --> 00:40:05.929
I believe it's been taken down since then.
708
00:40:06.929 --> 00:40:09.610
The man who was tricked into that very bad date
709
00:40:09.869 --> 00:40:14.489
in Twitchell's garage, Gilles Tetreault, continues to be haunted by
710
00:40:14.550 --> 00:40:18.110
the experienced We caught up with him recently.
711
00:40:19.289 --> 00:40:23.710
I still think about the pad up hockey mask. I
712
00:40:23.730 --> 00:40:29.320
still think about the stun gun, you know, fight for
713
00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:29.760
my life.
714
00:40:33.699 --> 00:40:40.199
Mark Twitchell cannot be rehabilitated. This is who he is. Action.
715
00:40:40.630 --> 00:40:44.409
And for Mark Twitchell, the aspiring filmmaker, there may be
716
00:40:44.650 --> 00:40:49.369
one final plot twist. Author Steve Lillebuen sold the rights
717
00:40:49.510 --> 00:40:52.829
to his book, The Devil Cinema, to a film company.
718
00:40:53.730 --> 00:41:03.170
Twitchell's story may be coming to the big screen. A
719
00:41:03.250 --> 00:41:04.269
son with secrets.
720
00:41:04.590 --> 00:41:05.929
He just lied to everybody.
721
00:41:06.090 --> 00:41:07.800
His parents vanish.
722
00:41:08.030 --> 00:41:09.260
Cars go off the road.
723
00:41:09.340 --> 00:41:09.940
Things happen.
724
00:41:10.119 --> 00:41:11.500
What happened to the Haldersons?
725
00:41:11.659 --> 00:41:12.760
Not making any sense.
726
00:41:13.099 --> 00:41:16.360
It's taking weird and weird turns. Nobody saw this coming.
727
00:41:17.840 --> 00:41:21.460
The 48 Hours Crime Time double feature continues next on CBS.
