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Mark Twitchell was always interested in the dark side. As a child, he loved horror movies and books about serial killers. He was fascinated by the idea of being able to get away with murder. So it's no surprise that, when given the opportunity, Twitchell decided to become a copycat killer. In 2008, Twitchell created a short film called House of Cards.
The film is about a man who lures men from dating sites to his garage, where he kills them. Eerily, the film foreshadows Twitchell's own crimes. In 2009, Twitchell tried to lure a man from a dating site to his garage, following the script of his own film. Fortunately, the man was able to escape, but Twitchell wasn't done yet. A few weeks later, he succeeded in killing one of his victims, Johnny Altinger.
Thankfully, Twitchell was caught before he could kill again, not for lack of trying. But his story is a chilling reminder that real life can sometimes be even more frightening than fiction. Part 1: A Budding Director Mark Twitchell was born on the 4th of July, 1979 in Edmonton, Alberta.
From a young age he dreamed of becoming a filmmaker, and after graduating from the Radio and Television Arts program at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2000, he set out to make his dream a reality. However, something happened along the way. Twitchell's grisly case made headlines around the world, and Twitchell was ultimately sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
What drove him to commit such a heinous act? Was it simply a desire to create a sensational story? Or was there something darker at work? We may never know for sure, but one thing is certain: Mark Twitchell is a killer. Twitchell was a man with many interests and talents. He was a film director, costume designer, and self-proclaimed Star Wars fan.
In 2007, he directed "Star Wars: Secrets of the Rebellion," a fan film prequel set days before episode four, "A New Hope." The film included a cameo by Jeremy Bullock, best known for his role as Boba Fett. Unfortunately, the film was never released. In 2007, Twitchell also won the best costume at both "The Bears: Halloween Howler" and "Sonic's Monster Mash."
It is clear that he put a lot of effort into his costumes, replicating suits from characters in George Lucas' Star Wars universe. Twitchell was known to attend movie premieres dressed as his favorite characters. In addition to a relatively successful buddy comedy called "Day Players," Twitchell also wrote, produced, and directed a short horror film called "House of Cards" in 2008. The film is about a man who lures cheating men from dating sites to his garage.
where he kills them. Inspired by the popular TV show Dexter, the film was shot in Twitchell's own garage. It is worth noting that House of Cards was never released, and it is unclear whether or not it was ever shown to anyone outside of Twitchell's inner circle. Part 2: A Failed Attempt When Gilles Tetreault logged onto Plenty of Fish, he was looking for love, but what he found was a date with death.
He expected a date with a young woman named Sheena, but instead found himself face to face with a man in a hockey mask wielding a stun baton. His date had given him convoluted directions to the house they were meeting, refusing to give an actual address, instead telling him only that the garage door will be open. Gilles Tetreault entered the garage cautiously, half expecting a date to be waiting for him. Instead,
He was met with darkness and a feeling of foreboding. Suddenly, he felt someone grab him from behind and he was shocked into submission with a stun baton. The masked man took out a gun and ordered Tetral to the ground, placing duct tape over his eyes. Tetral could feel the barrel of the gun pressed against his head and knew that his time was running out. Gilles remembered thinking, "If I'm going to die, I'd rather go my way than his way."
He decided then and there that if he was going to die, he would do so on his own terms. He ripped the tape from his eyes, spun to confront his attack, all while wrestling the gun away from the man. Once he had disarmed him, he quickly realized the gun was made of plastic. A violent struggle ensued until Gilles managed to make an escape, running to the street and driving home.
Mark Twitchell, the attacker, cursed in his garage and began plotting his next attempt. The ordeal left Tetral shaken, and he chose not to report the incident to the police out of embarrassment. But as the days passed, Tetral began to convince himself that the attack wasn't as serious as he first thought. He told himself that he was lucky to be alive and tried to put the incident behind him, but he was wrong to downplay what had happened.
The attack had been more than just a physical assault. It was a warning. A warning that he should have taken more seriously. Tetral claims that he didn't go to the authorities because he was embarrassed, but perhaps there was something more sinister at play. Either way, Giel Tetral became known as the one who got away, and the details of his ordeal continue to send chills down our spines. Part 3: Follow-Through
Not even a week later, Twitchell would find his next victim. Johnny Altinger was another man who met his end after connecting with a woman on Plenty of Fish. Altinger had been corresponding with the woman he met online for several weeks before she finally agreed to meet up with him. Just like Tetral, Altinger's date did not provide an accurate address, but instead a long-winded explanation of directions.
When he arrived after following the directions, there was no sign of her. Instead, stood a man with a replica gun who told Altinger that he was shooting a movie and that the woman he was looking for was not home yet. Confused, Johnny went home, contacting his close friend Dale about the strange encounter. Not long after, Johnny sent Dale a text that read, She's home now. I'm heading over again. Hee hee.
It was the last anybody heard from the real Johnny Altinger. Little did he know that this woman was none other than the masked man himself, posing as a potential love interest in order to lure his victim into a deadly trap. It was the perfect setup. A man, desperate for love and attention, finds companionship online with a woman who seems to understand him perfectly. They chat for hours, swapping stories and getting to know each other.
Eventually, they decide to meet in person. But when the man arrives at the woman's home, he quickly realizes that something is very wrong. Johnny had once again stumbled into Mark Twitchell's garage-based kill room. This time, Twitchell was ready for him. He pounced quickly. Altinger's friends became concerned after they received emails supposedly from Altinger claiming that his date had taken him on an extended vacation to Costa Rica.
In reality, there was no vacation, only a gruesome murder. Twitchell bludgeoned and stabbed Altinger before cutting him apart, partially burning him, and then dumping his remains and garbage bags into a storm sewer. At first, it didn't seem like anything more than a weird coincidence. Altinger's friends had tried reaching out to him for days, but he hadn't responded to any of their messages.
As the days wore on, and there was still no word from Altinger, his friends knew something was wrong. His social media accounts had been inactive, and his apartment was locked up tight. But upon breaking in, they found his passport and dirty dishes still in his condo, and they knew something was wrong. They called the police, and a homicide investigation was launched. It wasn't long before they discovered that Twitchell had broken into Altinger's apartment after the murder.
erasing the dating profile messages, and sending out fake emails and Facebook messages to make it look like he'd gone on a trip. It was a chilling discovery, made even more horrifying by the fact that Twitchell had almost gotten away with it. The police were eventually able to track down Twitchell after following the directions to his home given to his victim in the online chat room.
Twitchell related an improbable account to police of having met Altinger before his trip to Costa Rica. According to Twitchell, Altinger sold his Mazda 6 to Twitchell for 40 Canadian dollars. This car, which would have been essential to Altinger's travel plans, was instead sold for an absurdly low price to a complete stranger.
Even more bizarrely, when asked why he would do such a thing, Twitchell could only offer that Altinger had said something about needing the money for something important. Given the suspicious circumstances surrounding Altinger's disappearance, it seemed unlikely that this story is true. Rather, it seemed that Twitchell was trying to create a false reason for his contact with the victim. As soon as the police entered Mark Twitchell's garage, they knew something was off.
It was eerily similar to a scene from the Showtime series Dexter. There were plastic sheets covering the windows, a table with what looked like blood spatter, and cleaning supplies laid out. When authorities interrogated Twitchell, he argued that the bloodstain evidence was simply from a scene of his show House of Cards. However, upon questioning an actor from the series about how much fake blood spatter there should have been on set, the performer stated, "Absolutely none."
Excessive quantities of human blood that were not apparent to the naked eye were discovered in luminol tests performed later. It was clear that something sinister had happened in that garage. The police confiscated Twitchell's laptop and car after he gave an unconvincing story, only to find Altinger's blood in the trunk of the vehicle. Twitchell was arrested on October 31st, 2008 and charged with first-degree murder. Part 4
Dexter Inspiration. It was all over the news. The gruesome murder of local businessman, Johnny Altinger. People were horrified by what Mark Twitchell had done. Stabbing and bludgeoning his victim before dismembering him and dumping his body? It was unthinkable. But as details emerged in court, it became clear that this wasn't a simple act of violence. Twitchell had planned the murder meticulously.
going so far as to create a fake online persona to lure Altinger into meeting him. The trial was a media circus, with everyone eager to find out what could drive someone to commit such a heinous act. The key piece of evidence against Mark Twitchell at his first-degree murder trial was a document entitled SK Confessions. The document had been recovered from Twitchell's laptop despite having been deleted. It began with the passage,
"This story is based on true events. "The names and events were altered slightly "to protect the guilty. "This is the story of my progression "into becoming a serial killer." The document went on to describe in chilling detail, the narrator's planning, failed first attempt, and successful second attempt to lure a man to his garage and murder him. It described the process of dismembering the body and attempts to dispose of the remains.
The cold precision with which Twitchell laid out the crimes was chilling, and the fact that they were based on real events made them all the more horrifying. SK Confessions was written as a work of fiction, but it contains disturbing details that align closely with the evidence found at the crime scene and later events. The police noticed that line by line, the details in SK Confessions were aligning directly with the evidence they found.
One passage spoke of the killer trying to burn remains in a barrel. Police found this burned barrel inside Mark Twitchell's garage. The level of detail in SK Confessions suggests that Twitchell used it as a blueprint for his crimes. The fact that he was able to so closely match the details in the book is chilling, and it underscores the dangers of giving violence glorified treatment in works of fiction.
The detectives working the case had been stumped by a single, tantalizing clue within the document. The author claimed that one of his victims had gotten away. If they could find that person, the police thought, they would have their proof that SK Confessions was real and not just a fictional screenplay as Mark Twitchell claimed. Police displayed the hockey mask used by Twitchell to the media, advertising for anyone with information to come forward.
The search for the second victim led police to Gilles Tetreault. When Tetreault saw the hockey mask at the police press conference, he knew it was time to come forward. He had seen the mask before in his nightmares. For years, he had tried to forget about that night, but the dreams always came back to haunt him. He realized that he was the second victim that the police were looking for. He came forward and finally told his story.
On the stand, Twitchell admitted to writing the so-called SK confession, but claimed he acted in self-defense. He had purposely lured Altinger to his garage, he said, but only as a publicity stunt to create a buzz for his film. He claimed that Altinger had attacked him and that he had been killed in self-defense. The jury didn't buy it.
As Mark Twitchell took the stand and argued that he had accidentally killed Johnny Altinger in self-defense, he decided to finally disclose the location of Altinger's body. In doing so, he revealed one of the most gruesome details of the case: that he had dismembered Altinger's body and disposed of it in a sewer. The revelation sent a shudder through the courtroom, and for many, it was a confirmation of the chilling nature of the crime.
Twitchell had apparently been inspired by the film Dexter, in which a serial killer targets victims who deserve to die. In mimicking the plot of the film, Twitchell seemed to be seeking notoriety rather than justice. Unlike the cold, confident killer portrayed in that document, Twitchell said he was disgusted by the murder and wracked with guilt. Tears streaming down his face, he told the court how he felt in the aftermath of the crime.
"I felt a lot weaker, like a piece of scum, a piece of shit," he said. "I was disgusted with myself." Twitchell went on to describe how he had tried to cover up the murder, dispose of the body, and make it look like Altinger had simply gone missing. But as he spoke, it was clear that the weight of what he had done was bearing down on him. He seemed broken by remorse and regret, a far cry from the cold-blooded killer he had originally claimed to be.
As investigators poured over the evidence in the Twitchell case, one document in particular stood out. Found on Twitchell's laptop, entitled "A Profile of a Psychopath," it was a detailed self-analysis of personality and behavior. Though it was never entered into evidence during Twitchell's trial, it provided a chilling insight into the mind of the killer. In the document, Twitchell described himself as a cold-blooded, ruthless individual.
who was completely devoid of conscience or remorse. Mark Twitchell was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of John Altinger and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years. However, detectives were adamant that they had gathered enough evidence of Twitchell's attempted murder of his first victim. In preparing the case for trial,
The prosecution argued that the attempted murder and first-degree murder charges should be heard simultaneously, as they were part of the same transaction of Twitchell's attempt to become a serial killer. Under Canadian law, charges can only be heard together if they are linked in some way.
The prosecution argued that the attack of Gilles Tetreault and the murder of Johnny Altinger were part of the same transaction. But Court of Queen's bench Justice Terry Claxton was not convinced. Judge Claxton's ruling was a victory for the defense, but it also brought up some important questions about the Canadian legal system. For example, why should charges be heard together if they are not directly related? And what exactly constitutes a transaction?
In the case of Tetral and Altinger, the prosecution argued that both crimes were motivated by a desire for revenge. The attempted murder charge against Twitchell was eventually dropped because the conviction of first-degree murder already secured a maximum sentence. Part 5: Post-Conviction On May 1st, 2017
The American magazine Crime Watch Daily aired a program focused on Twitchell's case. The program included interviews with Gilles Tetrell, Twitchell's first intended victim, and Steve Lillebuen, author of The Devil's Cinema, a book about the case. The program also featured a return trip by Tetrell to the garage where the incident took place.
In the years following the incident, Tetrill made several media appearances discussing his experience, including appearances on Dateline NBC, 48 Hours Mystery, and many others. Twitchell had purchased a television for his prison cell. Twitchell stated that he had caught up on every Dexter episode that he missed. Even from behind bars, Twitchell has continued to pursue his dream of making movies.
in recent years. He has even managed to complete a few productions with the help of supporters on the outside. Now, he is hoping to have the footage from his unfinished films returned to him so that he can finally edit and release them to the public. It is a long shot, but as Twitchell himself has said, "All the footage is sheer gold. Way too many amazing people gave so much of themselves to make that film magic.
I will see it completed if it is literally the last thing I do. The basic principle is if it's not used as evidence in court, then eventually it's got to be returned," said Steven Penny, a criminal law expert at the University of Alberta. "And so, if the prosecution does not use that film as evidence and does not introduce it into evidence, then Mr. Twitchell is going to get his hands on that eventually."
Mr. Twitchell's lawyer, meanwhile, has argued that the film should be treated as a work of art and therefore protected by freedom of expression laws. The case is currently before the Alberta Court of Appeal and a decision is expected later this year. In the meantime, Mr. Twitchell remains in prison where he is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder. Every aspect of this case has been sensationalized by the media
from the initial murder investigation to the trial, and now even post-conviction. In a way, it seems that Mark Twitchell has become almost as much of a celebrity as the fictional character he once tried to imitate. And while there is no doubt that his crimes were heinous, it is important to remember that there is a victim at the center of this story, and his name is Johnny Altinger. Johnny Altinger was a real person with a family and friends who loved him.
His life was tragically cut short by Mark Twitchell, and for that, there can be no excuse.