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The Dexter Killer - Inside the Mind of a Murderer · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Welcome. Everyone, ready to dive into a case that's really
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  got people talking the story of Mark Twitchell. Looking at
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  some excerpts from an article can unpack his whole deal,
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  you know, his life, the crimes, even how the media
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  just went nuts for this whole thing. So are you
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  ready to get into it? Let's do it, okay. So
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  the thing about Twitchell is you wouldn't look at him
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  and think, oh, there's a guy who could do something
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  really awful. He was like your classic wanna be filmmaker, right,
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  born and raised in Edmonton, dreaming those Hollywood dreams, just
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  like so many others. And he was putting in the work,
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  at least on the surface. You know. He gets his
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  degree and radio and television arts, starts working on projects,
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  even directs this fan film set in Get this the
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  Star Wars Universe.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, a Star Wars fan film?
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  Speaker 1: Huh yeah. And it's not just some amateur thing. He
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  actually gets Jeremy Bullock in it, you know, the actor
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  who played Boba Fett in the original movies.
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  Speaker 2: Oh wow, that's pretty impressive.
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  Speaker 1: Right, I mean, talk about a brush with fame. Right.
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  It's just strange, how you know, normal, It all seems
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  when you think about the darkness that was.
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  Speaker 2: Coming, it's like that calm before the storm.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly because in two thousand and eight things took a
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  really dark turn for Twitchell. And I mean this wasn't
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  some movie set. This was real life with real consequences,
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  you know. And that's where John Bran Altinger comes in
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  the picture. Altinger's living his life in British Columbia and
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  then he has this fateful encounter with Twitchell online. At
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  least that's what he thought was happening.
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  Speaker 2: Online dating can be a minefield.
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  Speaker 1: That's an understatement in this case. See, Altinger had no
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  idea he was actually talking to a fake to this
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  persona that Twitchell had created to lure victims into a trap.
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  Twitchell was using a fake profile on that dating site
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  Plenty of Fish. Have you heard of it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've heard of it.
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  Speaker 1: And get this. His goal wasn't romance or connection. It
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  was all about luring victims to this garage. He'd rend
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  it out. He turned it into like this makeshift film set.
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  Can you believe that?
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  Speaker 2: That's chilling?
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  Speaker 1: Seriously messed up, right, And the article details how he
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  even sent Altinger the address of the garage, directly posing
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  as a woman online to like really reel him in.
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  It was calculated, premeditated, like he was writing a script,
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  a horrifying one, and then actually making it a reality.
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  On October tenth, two thousand and eight, Alta Dre tells
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  his friends he's meeting this online date, even shares the
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  address with them, completely unaware that he's walking into a nightmare.
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  And that's when things get really bad. Twitchell, he's so
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  obsessed with movies, but this time it's not in a
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  good way. You know. The article, it lays out how
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  he bludgeoned and stabbed Altinger to death in that garage,
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  attempted to burn the body, then when that didn't work,
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  he dismembered the remains.
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  Speaker 2: That's brutal, just horrific.
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  Speaker 1: It's beyond chilling, right, this level of planning, the brutality,
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  it's like something out of a horror movie. But it
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  actually happened. And this, unfortunately, is just the beginning of
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  a story that just keeps getting more twisted.
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  Speaker 2: It's more.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there are twists and turns we haven't even
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  touched on yet, including a discovery that really blew the
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  lid off this whole investigation. So Twitchell's trying to cover
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  his tracks, right, And it's also like he's pulling ideas
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  from those movies he loves. The reality has a way
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  of catching up no matter how clever you think you are,
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  you know, oh, absolutely, He breaks into Altinger's apartment, starts
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  going through his things, trying to make it seem like
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  everything's normal. And get this, he even starts emailing Altinger's friends,
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  pretending to be Altinger himself. Wow, bold move right. The
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  article goes into how he made up all these emails,
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  saying that Altinger just decided to take off to Costa Rica,
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  even sent one to his work saying he quit. He
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  was so desperate to create this whole story, this illusion
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  that Altinger just wanted to disappear, like it was his
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  own choice.
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  Speaker 3: It's all about control for some people, isn't it. Even
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  after going to such extremes, he still wants to be
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  the one calling the shots, writing the story exactly.
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  Speaker 1: That's a really good point, but you know how it goes.
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  It's often the little things, those kiny details that trip
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  people up, even when they think they've thought of everything.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, Yeah, for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Remember how Altinger had told his friends about the date,
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  even given them the address. Well, they got those emails
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  he'd sent, and something just felt off the way it
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  was written, the things he was saying. It just wasn't
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  like him, you know.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I get that.
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  Speaker 1: So they decided to go to his apartment, and that's
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  when Twitchell's carefully constructed story starts to unravel.
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  Speaker 2: What did they find.
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  Speaker 1: Well, instead of a bunch of half packed bags like
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  you'd expect from someone taking a spontaneous trip to Costa Rica,
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  they found his place completely empty, empty, empty, like untouched.
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  There were even dirty dishes in the sink. And here's
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  the kicker, his passport was just sitting there.
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  Speaker 3: Ah.
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  Speaker 2: That's a pretty big oversight, right.
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  Speaker 1: It just completely blew his whole story out of the water.
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  I mean, Altener couldn't have left the country without it.
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  That's when the police got involved, and of course Qwitchell
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  quickly became their prime suspect. When they questioned him, he
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  comes up with this whole story about buying Altinger's car,
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  a Mazda, for like next to nothing. Yeah, but the
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  evidence told a very different story.
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  Speaker 3: What did they find, Well, even though.
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  Speaker 1: Twitchell had tried to clean up that garage, tried to
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  erase any trace of what he'd done. The police found
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  traces of Altinger's blood in the trunk of his car.
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  Oh wow, yeah, pretty damning right. They arrested him on
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  October thirty first, two thousand and eight, charged him with
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  first degree murder. But even with all that, the investigation
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  was far from over. The really crazy part is what
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  they found in his computer, especially this one deleted document.
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  It was titled ESCAE Confessions.
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  Speaker 2: SK what's that stand for?
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  Speaker 1: Serial Killer Confessions?
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  Speaker 2: Oh my god.
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  Speaker 1: It's the kind of thing that just sends chills down
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  your spine. You know, this wasn't just some random file.
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  It was like looking into this guy's mind, and what
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  they found was deeply disturbing. The document it described everything
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  in such detail, and all written from the killer's point
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  of view, you know, like a first person account.
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  Speaker 2: What kind of details.
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  Speaker 1: It laid out, how he planned the murder, how he
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  carried it out, and it was all eerily similar to
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  what happened to Altinger.
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  Speaker 2: So what was Twitchell's defense? Did he deny writing it?
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  Speaker 1: That's where things get really strange. He actually admitted to
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  writing it, but claimed it was just a work of fiction.
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  Speaker 2: Fiction.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, he said he never planned to kill Altinger, that
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  it was all self defense, and that this escape confessions
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  thing was just him, you know, exploring dark themes, trying
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  to be creative. But the similarities between what he wrote
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  and what actually happened were just too obvious to ignore.
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  Speaker 2: I can see how that would be hard to explain away.
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  Speaker 1: And this is where his obsession with that TV show
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  Dexter comes in. The article talks about it quite a bit.
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  Speaker 2: Dexter. I've heard of it, but never watched it. What's
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  it about?
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  Speaker 1: So it follows this guy, Dexter Morgan who's a forensic
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  analyst by day but also a serial killer by night.
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  But here's the twist. He tries to justify what he's
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  doing by only going after other criminals, people he thinks
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  deserve to die.
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  Speaker 2: Interesting, So it's like a vigilante thing exactly.
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  Speaker 1: And of course the media they loved this whole angle,
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  and they start calling Twitchell the Dexter Killer.
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  Speaker 2: Catchy but also kind of messed up.
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  Speaker 1: Right, all these questions like did the show actually inspire him?
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  Did he see himself as some kind of vigilante, blurring
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  the lines between fiction and reality. Those are questions that
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  people are still debating today. It's a scary thought, you know,
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  someone being so into a character, especially one like that,
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  that they might actually try to become them. But you're right,
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  this case is complicated. It goes way beyond just a
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  TV show, you know what I mean?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, this is about someone who is cold and calculated,
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  who actually planned this out, someone capable of.
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  Speaker 1: Real violence exactly. And the article goes into detail about
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  how he created this whole fake persona, how he set
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  up that garage it's just chillin.
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  Speaker 2: And don't forget how he broke into Altinger's apartment afterwards,
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  sending those emails, trying to maintain that control even after
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  everything that had happened.
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  Speaker 1: It's like he couldn't let go of the narrative even
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  when it was crumbling around him. And you know, there's
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  another layer to this whole thing. We touched on it earlier,
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  the attempted murder charge.
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  Speaker 2: Oh right, that's right. The other person who is lured
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  to the garage, Jill.
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  Speaker 1: Touch exactly, and his story it really adds a whole
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  other dimension to this case. Twitchell. He used the same
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  tactics on Tetrio, you know, the fake profile, the promise
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  of a date, that same creepy garage. But the thing
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  is Tetro he managed to get away, he fought back,
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  broke free, and just ran for his life.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, that's intense.
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  Speaker 1: It really makes you think what if he hadn't escaped.
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  It's a terrifying thought.
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  Speaker 3: Right, absolutely, it really underscores the potential danger Twitchell posed,
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  that this could have been even worse than it already was.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, they actually did charge Twitchell with attempted
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  murder for that attack on Tetrol, although they ended up staying.
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  Speaker 2: The charge later on staying the charge, what does that mean?
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  Speaker 1: Basically, it means they could technically bring it back up later,
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  but since Twitchell was already convicted of the murder and
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  got life in prison, there wasn't really any point in
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  pursuing it further.
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  Speaker 2: Ah, that makes sense.
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  Speaker 1: But even though that charge was stayed, Tetrol's story is
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  still a huge part of this whole thing, you know.
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  Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, it shows that this wasn't just a time thing,
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  that Twitchell was capable of this kind of premeditation and violence.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly It adds a whole other layer of complexity to
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  an already disturbing case. Yeah, and then there's the whole
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  media circus surrounding it all. This case had everything, a
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  seemingly normal guy, a brutal murder, this bizarre connection to
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  a popular TV show. He's like something out of a movie.
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  And of course the media they ate it up.
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  Speaker 2: It's like a recipe for a media frenzy, isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: Totally? And even the actor who played Dexter, Michael C. Hall,
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  he actually commented on the case, can you believe that?
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  Speaker 3: Wow?
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  Speaker 2: What did he say?
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  Speaker 1: The article mentions that he was pretty disturbed by it all.
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  He talked about hoping that people got more out of
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  the show than just the violence, but he also acknowledged
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  that it might have played a role in what Twitchell did.
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  And you know, that's a lot to grapple with.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it really makes you think about the impact art
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  can have, the responsibility that comes with telling stories, especially
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  stories that deal with dark themes.
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  Speaker 1: For sure, and you know, this whole case, with all
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  his twists and turns, it really shows how the lines
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  between fiction and reality can get blurred and the consequences
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  when that happens. Twitchell's obsession with Dexter, the planning, the brutality,
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  the way he tried to control the story. It all
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  points to someone who is lost in his own dark world.
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  This deep dive into Mark Twitchell the Dexter Killer, it
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  leaves us with a lot to think about.
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  Speaker 3: Wouldn't you say absolutely? It's a stark reminder of the
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  darkness that can exist within people and how easily those
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  lines between what we watch, what we read, and what
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  we do can become blurred.
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  Speaker 1: It's definitely a case that stays with you, makes you
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  question things, and reminds you that sometimes real life can
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  be even stranger and scarier than fiction. Thanks for joining
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  us for this deep dive, and a huge thanks to
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  our expert for shedding light on this truly unsettling case.
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  We'll be back soon with another deep dive into a
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  real life mystery that'll keep you on the edge of
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  your seat.