Mark Twitchell, The Dexter Killer.

Mark Twitchell isn't a serial killer, but his story is one that will surely raise your eyebrow. After luring a man to his garage via an online dating site, he proceeded to kidnap and murder Johnny Altinger in a true movie-like fashion.

Johnny Altinger

John Brian "Johnny" Altinger was a 38-year-old man who lived in Edmonton, Canada. On October 10th, 2008 Altinger went to meet a woman named "Jen" he had met on the popular dating site, PlentyofFish. on October 13th, his friend received an email from Altinger stating he and "Jen" were running off to Costa Rica for an extended vacation. He claimed they were madly in love. According to his friends, this was very unlike Altinger, and they began to question it. One of his good friends, Dale Smith, broke into his apartment and found that his computer was missing and his apartment was not that of someone who was planning to leave town.

Police began their search with the address Altinger had emailed to one of his friends, the location he was to meet "Jen." Strangely enough, the address they were to meet was registered to a garage that was being rented out. The man who rents the garage was Mark Twitchell. He let police search the garage, and even agreed to come in for an interview. In the interview, he told police the garage was used as a movie set to produce low budget horror films. Twitchell was very calm and relaxed in his interview, so police were not concerned and felt he was not involved.

Mark Twitchell

Police went to the address on the same property as the rented garage and when asked, the residents of the house said they did not know any "Jen" and they did not recognize the photograph of Altinger. The home was being rented separately from the garage, but the resident of the home noted he heard multiple voices and knew they were filming in the garage often. Police were unable to get a search warrant for the garage, as they had no proof a crime had actually been committed there. Since they were unable to search the garage, the homicide detective on the case along with others from the police dept. performed a search of Altinger's apartment. Upon searching, they discovered his passport and luggage were still in the apartment. This was the confirmation they needed that Altinger had not left the country, and that something more had happened.

Police decided to call Twitchell again, and ask if he would let them into the garage a second time to do a more thorough search of the property. Twitchell agreed, and met with an officer to sign some paperwork allowing them access. While with the officer, Twitchell had mentioned that a few days earlier, a man came up to him at his garage and tells him that a rich woman wanted to take him on vacation and he needed to sell his car. He asked Twitchell how much he had his wallet, to which he responded "40 dollars," and the man agreed to sell the car to him for the $40. When asked what kind of car, Twitchell tells police it is a red Mazda, the same car as Altinger drove. Who sells a car for $40 to random stranger?! This obviously sounds like a very bad cover story, of a man who doesn't want to get caught with a missing man's vehicle.

Police realize there is an obvious connection to the two, and they head to the garage to do a second search of the property. Upon arrival, police find the garage set up as a "Kill Room," similar to that of the show "Dexter." It was later discovered that Twitchell was obsessed with the show Dexter, and wanted to play out similar events of the show. Inside the garage, they find multiple weapons, knives, a metal table with straps, and even some blood covered weapons like a metal pipe. This gave them enough to search the rest of his things, including his car. When they search his car, they find a hunting knife with blood on it, which would later be a match to Altinger. Police also found a deleted file on Twitchell's computer, called the SKConfessions.

Luminol detected human blood inside of the garage, which had been cleaned up with ammonia.

The document started with "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." Inside, it described in detail the murder of a man who was lured to the garage by a woman on a dating site... sound familiar? This was a written confession based on the murder of John Altinger. The police had enough to arrest Twitchell, and they started to piece together what had happened. During the trial, Twitchell told police he had originally planned on faking the attack, and wanted to use the footage for his film, however Altinger fought back and Twitchell was forced to kill him. In his document SKConfession, the talks about bashing him in the head with a metal pipe, and then stabbing and dismembering his body. He says he tried multiple ways to get rid of the body, including burning it, but ultimately put his remains inside of the sewer. Twitchell wrote in detail about the murder of Altinger, as well as the plan to murder a new victim each Friday. He described how he played with Altinger’s severed head: “I grabbed his jaw with my gloved hand and moved it while making a funny voice to make it look like it was talking, and chuckled to myself at the total silliness of it all.”

The SKConfessions also talked about a first attempt which had failed, and police wondered if this were true or not. After releasing images of a mask Twitchell claimed to wear, another man named Gilles Tetreault came forward and stated he was in fact, the first victim. He explained to police he was lured to the garage after conversing with a woman on the same dating site. Upon his arrival, he was attacked from behind and forced to the ground. His attacker held a gun to him and covered his eyes with duct tape. Tetreault decided if he was going to die, he wanted to try and escape. He lunged at his attacker, and realized the gun was plastic. He ran out of the garage and eventually made it away safely. After getting home, he did not want to report it as he was embarrassed for being tricked, and didn't realize the attacker would plan on doing it again.

Unfortunately the attacker, Mark Twitchell, would do it again just one week later, and this time he would be successful. Twitchell was found guilty of first-degree murder, and was sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 25 years. Since this was the maximum sentence, the did not pursue charges for the attempted murder of Gilles Tetreault.

After hearing of the murder, Michael C. Hall, the actor who plays Dexter, spoke out in an interview saying " "I would hope that people's appreciation was more than some sort of fetishization with the kill scenes," he said. Hall also said, "I wouldn't stop making Dexter because someone was fascinated by it only in that way. I try to tell myself that their fixated nature would have done it one way or the other, but it seems that Dexter had something to do with it. It's horrifying."

What are your thoughts on this story? I loved the show Dexter, and have watched plenty of other True Crime shows and documentaries. Do you think watching these shows or reading articles regarding murders and kidnappings can inspire someone to act on their fascination? I believe that if someone has these tendencies, they will act on them whether they watch a show about it or not. For arguments sake, I can understand how these types of shows could give someone inspiration on HOW to kill, but I don't believe it would determine whether or not they WILL kill. Let me know what you think.