His first wife was Megan Casterellla, a woman from Illinois, USA, whom he married on 4 January 2001. asked Crown prosecutor Avril Inglis. murdering human beings. In his letters, the convicted killer also claims that he killed Johnny Altinger not in an act of cold-blooded murder, but in self-defense. jury were the author's thoughts on organized religion and on Thereafter, he wrote down the gory details in a file he termed My Progression as a Serial Killer/SKConfessions. His trial which was written in the first person and titled "SKConfessions. evidence" or thought it "unrecoverable.". The seven-page essay, called A Profile of a Psychopath, had been deleted. 2022 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Tetreault ", In another letter to Lillebuen in which he expounds on Dexter's character and mass appeal, Twitchell writes, "Dexter, don't forget, is a monster. determine the veracity of SKconfessions. For the actors he mostly used local artists. His first film, Star Wars: Secrets of the Rebellion, was largely filmed on green screen sets at his alma mater, NAIT, in the summer of 2006. Police believe that Johnny Altinger was hit over the head with this pipe shortly upon entering the darkened garage. It has no bearing whatsoever on what actually happened. The first lines read "This story is based on true events. He says those key points include his "advanced Puff told the jury the film is about a man who plans an affair and lies to his wife about going to the gym when he is going to meet a woman he met online. Mark Andrew Twitchell was born on July 4, 1979, in Edmonton, the capital city of Alberta, Canada. Stephen King but said it also meant "serial killer. authoring the document. According to Twitchell, Altinger sold his Mazda 6 to Twitchell for 40 CAD, all the cash Twitchell had on hand. With files from the CBC's Janice Johnston, Audience Relations, CBC P.O. [2] His trial attracted particular media attention because Twitchell had allegedly been inspired by the fictional character Dexter Morgan.[3]. first degree murder trial was a document, entitled "SKConfessions" skewed character judgement, concluding I'm a lifetime liar," he Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem. And to be frank, he's he's wrong. She said in her victim-impact statement that she cant allow herself to think about the pain and horror her son must have endured. He informed his friends that he was meeting Who are Mark Twitchell's ex-wives? | The Sun Mark Twitchell was a filmmaker from Canada who dreamed of making it big in the movies. fight back and flee the garage, just as described in the document. Twitchell - who is serving a life sentence with This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. murder Tuesday for killing a stranger, Johnny Altinger, at a One piece of the puzzle that had the police stumped was the fact that "SK Confessions" spoke of a victim who got away. Twitchell also goes after Crown prosecutors for ", "He wrote me probably 30 or 35 different letters up to about 350 pages like an entire book worth," Lillebuen, the author of "The Devil's Cinema: The Untold Story Behind Mark Twitchell's Kill Room" tells "48 Hours." One among them was Drew Kenworthy. During their investigation, investigators learned that Mark Twitchell was a devoted fan of the Showtime series "Dexter" about an avenging serial killer. Gilles Tetreault almost three years ago. and then suddenly playing as thought their stomach is turning inside out when this happens under totally unique circumstances in a real-life, isolated incident. as disturbing as the facts they did hear. "The result of his appeal has Mark Twitchell Profiles | Facebook View the profiles of people named Mark Twitchell. But in other ways the author does not fit the profile of a serial killer, he said. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Around the time Mark Twitchell was making House of Cards, he was struck with another ambition: like his favorite character Dexter Morgan, he now wanted to be a serial killer. Too shocked initially to go to police, he told himself he would go the next day. But Mark Twitchell also had an urge to kill. The masked man took out a gun and ordered Gilles Tetreault to the ground and placed duct tape on his eyes. Police arrested Twitchell on October 31, 2008,[11] and, on the same day, charged him with the first-degree murder of Altinger.[1]. "What he thinks he's fooled everyone is the reason, the true reasons he killed Johnny." on state of mind and credibility.". THE WANNABE SERIAL KILLER: The Case of Mark Twitchell This came through when they found Johnnys blood in Marks trunk and other biological evidence in the garage. [5] Twitchell bludgeoned and stabbed Altinger, before cutting him apart, partially burning him, and then dumping his remains in garbage bags into a storm sewer.[2]. A copy of the directions that Gilles Tetreault was sent by "Sheena." when he learned of the prank and attacked him. Tetreault said Twitchell, wearing a black and gold hockey mask, ordered him to the ground at gunpoint inside the garage. "48 Hours" contributor Troy Roberts reports. programs Dateline NBC and CBS 48 Hours Mystery. Some of the description in convicted murderer He also lied unnecessarily. ", But he admits to cheating regularly on his wife, who he describes as "an excellent mother to our child, and the greatest partner that anyone could ever ask for.". After growing more and more suspicious, several of Altinger's According to Lillebuen, "he's still pushing that narrative He still blames Johnny for what happened." First published on April 21, 2022 / 2:08 PM. eventually agreed to both a sealing order and publication ban, Luminol tests later revealed excessive amounts of human blood that wasn't visible to the naked eye. Former wife weeps at Twitchell murder trial | CBC News The couple's divorce wasn't finalized until December 2010. The twist in the film is that the writer is a real life killer, he told the jury. A jury returned the. In June 2010, as Mark Twitchell prepared to take the stand at his trial and argue that he had "accidentally" killed Johnny Altinger in self-defense, he decided to finally disclose the location of Altinger's body. Subsequently, they retrieved a deleted document called 'SK Confessions' (serial killer confessions), which helped them capture him. MARK Twitchell, also known as the Dexter killer, was married twice before being convicted of first-degree murder. She gave birth to a daughter a year after they were married. new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help "I start hearing different things like a jingling noise and stuff like that. Currently, he is serving his sentence at Saskatchewan Federal Penitentiary, a medium security facility located one kilometer west of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. It has no bearing whatsoever on what actually happened. Twitchell claimed he "accidentally" killed Johnny in self defense. [13], During the trial, Twitchell's interest in the television series Dexter was noted repeatedly, and his personal identification with its lead character, Dexter Morgan, a vigilante serial killer, prompted several media outlets to refer to him as the "Dexter Killer. With files from CBC's Janice Johnston and Briar Stewart, Audience Relations, CBC P.O. In the end, the authorities opted not to charge him with the attempted murder of Gilles. It was a premise as fictional as Johnny Altinger's murder was real, and one the jury didn't buy. The journalist also detailed the striking similarities between Twitchell's crimes and the TV show he admired. In the standathon, he auctioned some illustrations, claiming that they were original conceptual drawings made by the production crew of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. At one. Twitchell played with victim's skull, says court document. I have to come forward. The first is 'The Devil's Cinema: The Untold Story Behind Mark Twitchell's Kill Room', written by Steve Lillebuen and the other, 'The One Who Got Away: Escape from the Kill Room', is written by Gilles Tetreault, his intended victim, whom he failed to kill. In April 2011, Mark was found guilty of first-degree murder. "The media attention surrounding my case was so But the jury was not shown one document discovered on Twitchell's laptop. he claimed was a work of fiction. Mark Twitchell's former wife fought tears on the stand Monday in the aspiring filmmaker's first-degree murder trial. international attention - the jury heard Twitchell, a married When he wakes up, he's tortured by a man in a hockey mask who kills and decapitates him, Puff testified. A look at the evidence in "The Dexter Killer" case; plus, newly revealed letters from the man police say wanted to be like fictional serial-killer Dexter Morgan. Those directions led police directly to that garage, which turned out to be rented to an aspiring filmmaker named Mark Twitchell. See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro The couple divorced sometime after his arrest in 2008. future trial. He argued in his notice of appeal that "the media attention surrounding my case was so extensive, so blatant and so overtly sensationalized that it is unreasonable to expect any unsequestered jury to have remained uninfluenced by it, regardless of judges' instructions in the charge. Who is Mark Twitchell and why is he called the Dexter killer? The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. "If I had a sense Twitchell also scripted Day Players, a buddy comedy. To keep creating He put on the guise of filmmaking to plan out a perfect murder, inspired by his reel-life hero Dexter Morgan. analyst for the fictional Miami Metro Police Department who But I do. "He had a kill room set up with plastic sheeting. He ordered the charges to be severed and heard separately. Little is publically known about Megan and even her surname is unsure with some reports stating it is Castereall. Where is Mark Twitchell now? CBS' 48 Hours explores - Sportskeeda At a glance, Mark Twitchell seemed perfectly normal. Tetreault thought he was meeting a woman named Sheena from the dating site Plenty of Fish. it like a hand puppet. They divorced in 2004. The marriage is said to have broken down by the fall of 2008 with them sleeping in separate bedrooms and going for marriage counselling. "much more advanced" than the average user which undermines the In October 2008, Twitchell posed as a woman on an online dating site and lured an unsuspecting 38-year-old man named Johnny Altinger to a garage. After his first degree murder conviction, Twitchell used the "He had this kind of processing kit that was very similar to what Dexter uses.". He 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, Mark Twitchell with Jess on their wedding day, Inside Dexter killer Mark Twitchell's chilling notes to Steve Lillibuen after Plenty of Fish plot to lure victims, World's oldest person Kane Tanaka dies aged 119 after beating cancer & spending life eating sweets and drinking cola. About this period, Chris Durham, his former instructor, later said, He transformed our news studioThere were sewing machines. After several years of not being in contact, Traci was seeing Twitchell frequently in the fall of 2008. Twitchell's profile says he's looking for 'meaningful and mutually fulfilling friendship' with a woman.. "I had a conversation with my wife one night where we fully explored my lack of empathy," he said. 'Dexter killer' Mark Twitchell among members of dating site for - CBC dating service to lure Altinger, 38, to a rented garage on the It was during this time that he decided to make a fan film on Star Wars. According to Kenworthy, Twitchell was a good guy, but not trustworthy. exits.". Driven by this desire and his passion for the TV show Dexter, Twitchell started plotting out a Dexter-like murder. And yet, in a letter to Lillebuen, Twitchell writes, "As you're aware, Dexter has 'almost nothing' to do with my case. Twitchell graduated from the Radio and Television Arts program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2000. Lillibuen said: "He wrote me probably 30 or 35 different letters - up to about 350 pages like an entire book worth.". Twitchell admitted authoring the document, Johnny Altinger's blood was found in the trunk of Mark Twitchell's family car -- a discovery which led to the filmmaker's arrest on Halloween day in 2008. Mark Andrew Twitchell (born July 4, 1979) is a Canadian filmmaker convicted of first-degree murder in April 2011 for the murder of John Brian Altinger. events in Twitchell's life surrounding the death of Altinger. For those unaware, the series is about a serial killer who hunts other serial killers in Miami while working as a blood splatter analyst. In 2008, Twitchell was a 29-year-old aspiring filmmaker living in Edmonton, Canada, with his wife and young daughter. The man, he wrote, was "a twisted old fart who Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. the suggestion he deleted SKconfessions to "hide or erase extensive, so blatant and so overtly sensationalized that it is Twitchell found guilty of 1st-degree murder | CBC News Loaded. . his body and disposing of his remains down a city sewer. Mark had also been lying to Jess about being employed. CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices. I'm dead.'". [32], Twitchell's case was featured in the American magazine Crime Watch Daily on May 1, 2017. disposition or the stomach to go all the way with their dark He also claimed the "significant differences in reservations about disposing of the negative people in this world