Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Human Wreckage, the podcast that pulls
back the curtain on the mostdisturbing crimes and the minds
behind them.
I'm your host, thomas.
Today's episode is about MarkTwitchell, an aspiring filmmaker
from Canada who didn't justadmire Dexter Morgan, the
fictional vigilante killer fromthe TV series Dexter he tried to
become him.
What happens when fantasyovertakes reality, when
(00:23):
obsession becomes identity?
Join me as we dissect the storyof Mark Twichell, a man who
(00:46):
blurred the line betweenentertainment and evil.
So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so,so, so, so, so, so, so, so.
Born on July 4th 1979, markAndrew Twitchell grew up in
(01:09):
Edmonton, alberta.
By all accounts, he was abright kid with a strong
interest in filmmaking, sciencefiction and fantasy.
As a teenager he loved StarWars and comic books normal
interests for someone who laterpursued creative endeavors.
But even early on, mark had aknack for pretending He'd tell
elaborate lies to impress friendstories of Hollywood
(01:30):
connections, overseas adventures, even false claims of wealth.
His filmmaking journey began inearnest in his late 20s.
He directed a low-budget StarWars fan film called Secrets of
the Rebellion and startednetworking within the Edmonton
film community.
He wasn't a household name, buthe had ambition and he wanted
attention.
But behind the camera,something darker was brewing.
(01:53):
In 26, showtime aired the firstseason of Dexter, a wildly
popular series about a forensicanalyst who leads a double life
as a vigilante serial killer.
To many viewers, dexter Morganwas a complex anti-hero, but to
Mark Twitchell, dexter wassomething more A role model, a
hero, a blueprint.
He didn't just binge the show,he internalized it.
(02:15):
He wrote on his Facebookprofile Mark has way too much in
common with Dexter Morgan, andsoon he was writing his own
scripts, some for film, othersfor life.
In the fall of 2008, mark wasproducing a short film titled
House of Cards.
It was a horror story about aman who lures another man to a
garage via an online dating site, kills him and covers up the
(02:38):
murder.
The script had chillingparallels to Dexter's methodical
kill ritual.
But House of Cards wasn't justa film, it was a rehearsal.
Using the Craigslist datingsection, twitchell created a
fake female persona named Sheenaand lured a real man to the
garage where the movie wasfilmed.
That man was Jills Tetralt.
On October 3rd 2008, jillsTetralt arrived at the garage
(03:02):
expecting a date.
Instead, he was ambushed by aman in a hockey mask who
attempted to stun him with abaton and zip tie his hands.
Tetrult fought back hard andmiraculously escaped.
He didn't report the incidentimmediately.
He was embarrassed, confusedand believed it might have been
a robbery gone wrong.
What he didn't know was that hehad just narrowly escaped,
(03:23):
becoming Mark Twitchell's firstmurder victim, and Twitchell
wasn't going to give up.
One week later, on October 10,2008, twitchell used the same
fake profile to lure another man, 38-year-old Johnny Altinger.
Johnny was a nit professional,friendly and known for his sense
of humor.
He told his friends he wasgoing to meet a woman named
(03:43):
Sheena.
He never came back.
When his friends receivedstrange emails claiming he had
gone on a last-minute trip toCosta Rica with a new girlfriend
, they grew suspicious.
Johnny wasn't the type todisappear, especially not
without telling someone.
His apartment was untouched.
His passport was still there.
The emails were a cover-up andthey weren't written by Johnny.
(04:04):
By mid-October, police beganinvestigating Johnny's
disappearance.
One clue led them to the garageTwitchell had rented.
Inside they found blood,splatter, cleaning supplies,
plastic sheeting just like inDexter's kill room.
Later, a laptop found inTwitchell's car contained a
deleted document, a 42-pagemanifesto titled SK Confessions
(04:27):
SK for Serial Killer.
In it, twitchell described inchilling clinical detail how he
planned and executed a murder.
Though he changed the names,the events mirrored Johnny
Altinger's disappearance withterrifying precision.
And this wasn't a fictionalstory.
It was a confession disguisedas fiction.
On Halloween 2008, markTwitchell was arrested.
(04:49):
At first he denied everything.
He claimed the SK Confessionsdocument was a work of fiction.
Research for a novel perhaps,but forensic analysis proved
otherwise.
Blood evidence matched JohnnyAltinger.
His car contained more tracesof the crime.
Surveillance footage showedTwitchell buying the tools he
later described in the SKConfessions document.
(05:09):
The evidence was overwhelmingTwitchell had killed Altinger,
dismembered his body anddisposed of the remains in a
city sewer.
When asked why, he said simplyI wanted to know what it felt
like.
In March 2011, twitchell went totrial.
Prosecutors painted him as anarcissistic psychopath who
wanted to become a real-lifeDexter.
(05:30):
The SK Confessions document wasread in court.
Its contents graphic andhorrifying.
Despite claiming it was afictional script, the details
were too precise.
Johnny's family sat in court astheir loved one's final moments
were recounted word for word,blow by blow.
After a six-week trial, thejury took just five hours to
(05:50):
reach a verdict.
Mark Twitchell was found guiltyof first-degree murder and
sentenced to life in prison,with no chance of parole for 25
years, the maximum underCanadian law.
In prison, twitchell embracedhis infamy.
He responded to fan letters.
In one infamous exchange, heeven admitted to being a fan of
Dexter and said he still watchedthe show in his cell.
(06:11):
He also began working on morewritings, though authorities
limited his communication.
In 2020, the CBC revealed thatTwitchell was corresponding with
journalists, seemingly enjoyingthe notoriety Some say he never
stopped performing, neverstopped pretending to be the
dark, brilliant killer hefantasized about.
The case of Mark Twitchell isone of the most disturbing
(06:32):
intersections of fiction andreality in modern true crime.
This wasn't just a maninfluenced by the media.
This was someone who modeledhis identity after a character,
blurring the boundary betweenwho he was and who he wanted to
become.
Twitchell wasn't a serialkiller.
He was caught after his firstmurder, but his planning,
documentation and motivessuggest he fully intended to
(06:54):
kill again.
What if Jill's tetral hadn'tescaped?
What if the police hadn't foundJohnny's blood?
What if no one had askedquestions?
Mark Twitchell is serving alife sentence at Saskatchewan
Federal Penitentiary, but hisstory serves as a dark warning
that obsession, if leftunchecked, can become something
monstrous.
If you found today's episodeimpactful, consider subscribing
(07:16):
and leaving a review.
The story of Mark Twitchell isnot only disturbing, it's deeply
instructive.
It reveals just how thin theline can be between fascination
and fixation, between fictionand reality and between fantasy
and violence.
Twitchell wasn't born a killer.
He was a filmmaker, a husband,a friend.
By many standards he appearedordinary, perhaps even likable,
(07:38):
but under the surface there wasa growing detachment from
empathy, an obsession withcontrol and an alarming lack of
moral restraint.
He didn't just admire DexterMorgan, he believed he could
become him.
That belief, unchecked andfueled by ego, led to the brutal
and senseless murder of JohnnyAltinger.
What makes this case so chillingis the deliberate, calculated
(07:59):
nature of the crime.
This wasn't a crime of passionor desperation.
It was an audition for infamy.
Twitchell rehearsed it, hewrote about it, he documented it
.
He wanted the world to knowwhat he had done, but on his own
twisted, theatrical terms.
Johnny Altinger was not just avictim of murder.
He was a victim of someoneelse's delusion.
A man who trusted a strangeronline, showed up for a date and
(08:23):
instead walked into a trap hecouldn't escape.
He was a brother, a friend, aman with hopes and plans that
were stolen in the most callousway imaginable.
And then there's Jill's Tetral,the man who got away.
He survived by instinct,determination and perhaps luck,
(08:43):
but the trauma of that nightstayed with him.
He later said he felt like aghost, living with the knowledge
that he narrowly avoidedbecoming a headline.
The Twitchell case reminds uswhy we tell these stories not to
glorify killers but to rememberthe victims, to understand the
warning signs and to examine thecomplex layers of the human
psyche.
It asks us to reflect on theimpact of media, the dangers of
obsession and how quicklyillusion can become a deadly
(09:04):
reality.
As we close this episode, let'sremember it's not the
fascination with darkness that'sdangerous, it's what we allow
it to become.
Stay safe, stay aware andremember.
Not all monsters hide inshadows.
Some are hiding in plain sight.
Thank you.
Welcome to Human Wreckage, the podcast that pulls
back the curtain on the mostdisturbing crimes and the minds
behind them.
I'm your host, thomas.
Today's episode is about MarkTwitchell, an aspiring filmmaker
from Canada who didn't justadmire Dexter Morgan, the
fictional vigilante killer fromthe TV series Dexter he tried to
become him.
What happens when fantasyovertakes reality, when
(00:23):
obsession becomes identity?
Join me as we dissect the storyof Mark Twichell, a man who
(00:46):
blurred the line betweenentertainment and evil.
So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so,so, so, so, so, so, so, so.
Born on July 4th 1979, markAndrew Twitchell grew up in
(01:09):
Edmonton, alberta.
By all accounts, he was abright kid with a strong
interest in filmmaking, sciencefiction and fantasy.
As a teenager he loved StarWars and comic books normal
interests for someone who laterpursued creative endeavors.
But even early on, mark had aknack for pretending He'd tell
elaborate lies to impress friendstories of Hollywood
(01:30):
connections, overseas adventures, even false claims of wealth.
His filmmaking journey began inearnest in his late 20s.
He directed a low-budget StarWars fan film called Secrets of
the Rebellion and startednetworking within the Edmonton
film community.
He wasn't a household name, buthe had ambition and he wanted
attention.
But behind the camera,something darker was brewing.
(01:53):
In 26, showtime aired the firstseason of Dexter, a wildly
popular series about a forensicanalyst who leads a double life
as a vigilante serial killer.
To many viewers, dexter Morganwas a complex anti-hero, but to
Mark Twitchell, dexter wassomething more A role model, a
hero, a blueprint.
He didn't just binge the show,he internalized it.
(02:15):
He wrote on his Facebookprofile Mark has way too much in
common with Dexter Morgan, andsoon he was writing his own
scripts, some for film, othersfor life.
In the fall of 2008, mark wasproducing a short film titled
House of Cards.
It was a horror story about aman who lures another man to a
garage via an online dating site, kills him and covers up the
(02:38):
murder.
The script had chillingparallels to Dexter's methodical
kill ritual.
But House of Cards wasn't justa film, it was a rehearsal.
Using the Craigslist datingsection, twitchell created a
fake female persona named Sheenaand lured a real man to the
garage where the movie wasfilmed.
That man was Jills Tetralt.
On October 3rd 2008, jillsTetralt arrived at the garage
(03:02):
expecting a date.
Instead, he was ambushed by aman in a hockey mask who
attempted to stun him with abaton and zip tie his hands.
Tetrult fought back hard andmiraculously escaped.
He didn't report the incidentimmediately.
He was embarrassed, confusedand believed it might have been
a robbery gone wrong.
What he didn't know was that hehad just narrowly escaped,
(03:23):
becoming Mark Twitchell's firstmurder victim, and Twitchell
wasn't going to give up.
One week later, on October 10,2008, twitchell used the same
fake profile to lure another man, 38-year-old Johnny Altinger.
Johnny was a nit professional,friendly and known for his sense
of humor.
He told his friends he wasgoing to meet a woman named
(03:43):
Sheena.
He never came back.
When his friends receivedstrange emails claiming he had
gone on a last-minute trip toCosta Rica with a new girlfriend
, they grew suspicious.
Johnny wasn't the type todisappear, especially not
without telling someone.
His apartment was untouched.
His passport was still there.
The emails were a cover-up andthey weren't written by Johnny.
(04:04):
By mid-October, police beganinvestigating Johnny's
disappearance.
One clue led them to the garageTwitchell had rented.
Inside they found blood,splatter, cleaning supplies,
plastic sheeting just like inDexter's kill room.
Later, a laptop found inTwitchell's car contained a
deleted document, a 42-pagemanifesto titled SK Confessions
(04:27):
SK for Serial Killer.
In it, twitchell described inchilling clinical detail how he
planned and executed a murder.
Though he changed the names,the events mirrored Johnny
Altinger's disappearance withterrifying precision.
And this wasn't a fictionalstory.
It was a confession disguisedas fiction.
On Halloween 2008, markTwitchell was arrested.
(04:49):
At first he denied everything.
He claimed the SK Confessionsdocument was a work of fiction.
Research for a novel perhaps,but forensic analysis proved
otherwise.
Blood evidence matched JohnnyAltinger.
His car contained more tracesof the crime.
Surveillance footage showedTwitchell buying the tools he
later described in the SKConfessions document.
(05:09):
The evidence was overwhelmingTwitchell had killed Altinger,
dismembered his body anddisposed of the remains in a
city sewer.
When asked why, he said simplyI wanted to know what it felt
like.
In March 2011, twitchell went totrial.
Prosecutors painted him as anarcissistic psychopath who
wanted to become a real-lifeDexter.
(05:30):
The SK Confessions document wasread in court.
Its contents graphic andhorrifying.
Despite claiming it was afictional script, the details
were too precise.
Johnny's family sat in court astheir loved one's final moments
were recounted word for word,blow by blow.
After a six-week trial, thejury took just five hours to
(05:50):
reach a verdict.
Mark Twitchell was found guiltyof first-degree murder and
sentenced to life in prison,with no chance of parole for 25
years, the maximum underCanadian law.
In prison, twitchell embracedhis infamy.
He responded to fan letters.
In one infamous exchange, heeven admitted to being a fan of
Dexter and said he still watchedthe show in his cell.
(06:11):
He also began working on morewritings, though authorities
limited his communication.
In 2020, the CBC revealed thatTwitchell was corresponding with
journalists, seemingly enjoyingthe notoriety Some say he never
stopped performing, neverstopped pretending to be the
dark, brilliant killer hefantasized about.
The case of Mark Twitchell isone of the most disturbing
(06:32):
intersections of fiction andreality in modern true crime.
This wasn't just a maninfluenced by the media.
This was someone who modeledhis identity after a character,
blurring the boundary betweenwho he was and who he wanted to
become.
Twitchell wasn't a serialkiller.
He was caught after his firstmurder, but his planning,
documentation and motivessuggest he fully intended to
(06:54):
kill again.
What if Jill's tetral hadn'tescaped?
What if the police hadn't foundJohnny's blood?
What if no one had askedquestions?
Mark Twitchell is serving alife sentence at Saskatchewan
Federal Penitentiary, but hisstory serves as a dark warning
that obsession, if leftunchecked, can become something
monstrous.
If you found today's episodeimpactful, consider subscribing
(07:16):
and leaving a review.
The story of Mark Twitchell isnot only disturbing, it's deeply
instructive.
It reveals just how thin theline can be between fascination
and fixation, between fictionand reality and between fantasy
and violence.
Twitchell wasn't born a killer.
He was a filmmaker, a husband,a friend.
By many standards he appearedordinary, perhaps even likable,
(07:38):
but under the surface there wasa growing detachment from
empathy, an obsession withcontrol and an alarming lack of
moral restraint.
He didn't just admire DexterMorgan, he believed he could
become him.
That belief, unchecked andfueled by ego, led to the brutal
and senseless murder of JohnnyAltinger.
What makes this case so chillingis the deliberate, calculated
(07:59):
nature of the crime.
This wasn't a crime of passionor desperation.
It was an audition for infamy.
Twitchell rehearsed it, hewrote about it, he documented it
.
He wanted the world to knowwhat he had done, but on his own
twisted, theatrical terms.
Johnny Altinger was not just avictim of murder.
He was a victim of someoneelse's delusion.
A man who trusted a strangeronline, showed up for a date and
(08:23):
instead walked into a trap hecouldn't escape.
He was a brother, a friend, aman with hopes and plans that
were stolen in the most callousway imaginable.
And then there's Jill's Tetral,the man who got away.
He survived by instinct,determination and perhaps luck,
(08:43):
but the trauma of that nightstayed with him.
He later said he felt like aghost, living with the knowledge
that he narrowly avoidedbecoming a headline.
The Twitchell case reminds uswhy we tell these stories not to
glorify killers but to rememberthe victims, to understand the
warning signs and to examine thecomplex layers of the human
psyche.
It asks us to reflect on theimpact of media, the dangers of
obsession and how quicklyillusion can become a deadly
(09:04):
reality.
As we close this episode, let'sremember it's not the
fascination with darkness that'sdangerous, it's what we allow
it to become.
Stay safe, stay aware andremember.
Not all monsters hide inshadows.
Some are hiding in plain sight.
Thank you.
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