Also known as "DEXTER" COPYCAT KILLER; murderer
Characteristics: Compared himself to the fictitious serial murderer "Dexter Morgan" for dismembering victims.
There was one victim.
Murder occurred on October 10, 2008; arrest took place on October 31, 2008.
Birthdate: July 4, 1979
John Brian "Johnny" Aligner, 38, was the victim.
Using a knife to stab the victim to death
Location: Canada's Edmonton, Alberta
Status: On April 12, 2011, a life sentence without the possibility of release was handed down.
Canadian Mark Andrew Twitchell, who was found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of John Brian "Johnny" Aligner, was born on July 4, 1979, in Edmonton, Alberta.
Due to the fact that he was influenced by the Dexter television character Dexter Morgan, a forensic bloodstain pattern analyzer for the fictional Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial murderer, his trial garnered a lot of media interest.
Background
In the autumn of 2008, Twitchell was an aspiring filmmaker. In a garage he rented in Edmonton's south end, he filmed a brief horror movie in September 2008
Murder
At the time of his disappearance, 38-year-old John Brian "Johnny" Altinger was employed at a producer of oilfield equipment. He let his buddies know that he was going to meet a woman he had met on the internet dating service. When Altinger sent them bizarre emails stating that he had met a woman who was taking him on a lengthy vacation to Costa Rica, his buddies were worried. Even though Altinger's boss requested a forwarding address for his final paycheck, he never received a response to his email resignation from Altinger.
Altinger's buddies broke into his condo after becoming increasingly suspicious and discovered his passport, unclean dishes, and no sign that anything had been packed. The Edmonton Police Service promptly opened a homicide investigation.
Trial
A document with the name "SK Confessions"—the "SK" standing for serial killer—that was discovered from Twitchell's laptop despite having been erased was the main piece of evidence the Crown produced at Twitchell's first degree murder trial. The opening line of the document is this:
This tale is based on actual occurrences. To protect the guilty, some names and details of the events were changed. This is the account of my development into a serial killer.
The author's elaborate planning, first unsuccessful attempt, and second successful attempt to lure a man to his garage using fictitious online dating profiles are all described in detail after that. It also tells how the victim's body was dismembered and all of his failed attempts to get rid of the pieces. Twitchell acknowledged writing the document and killing Altinger during his trial. He argued that he acted in self-defense, though, and that a lot of the information in the document was made up.
He asserted that the author's perspective, which painted the murder as planned and deliberate, was sensationalized in an effort to write a more engaging novel.
An attempt to kill
Twitchell still faced an attempted murder prosecution for his claimed attack on Gilles Tetreault, despite having been found guilty of first-degree murder in the online luring killing of Johnny Altinger. Tetreault testified that he was duped off the dating into going to a garage that Twitchell had hired, where he was attacked by a man in a mask brandishing a stun baton. After obtaining a conviction for first-degree murder, the crown prosecutors had not yet determined whether they would pursue the allegation of attempted murder.
However, Twitchell's existing life sentence would not be increased if he were found guilty of attempted murder.
The Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta stayed an attempted murder prosecution against convicted murderer Mark Twitchell on June 17, 2011. The charge, which was filed for an alleged assault by Twitchell on Edmonton Gilles Tetreault over three years ago, has one year to be revived by crown prosecutors.
Disputes in the media
The case's extensive media coverage sparked discussion both within and outside the courtroom, with participants arguing for and against the media's reporting on the crime's "sensational" specifics.
Crown prosecutors and the defense also sought extensive publication bans and sealing orders over the police evidence before the criminal trial began, prohibiting the media from publishing on the specifics of the case until the jury would hear it during the subsequent trial. Although the media resisted the application, the court ultimately approved both a sealing order and a prohibition on publication, writing in his decision that "there is a real risk that pre-trial publicity will undermine the accused's constitutionally protected right to a fair trial."
A "challenge for cause" method was then used to poll the jury pool to see if any possible jurors had been swayed by heavy media coverage prior to the publishing prohibitions going into force.
When the restrictions were eased, a sizable media contingent, including American television programs Dateline NBC and CBS 48 Hours Mystery, attended and covered the trial. Author and journalist Steve Lillebuen is now working on a true crime novel.
Twitchell appealed his first-degree murder conviction, based in part on the significant media attention of his case. In his notice of appeal, he claimed that the media attention surrounding my case was so extensive, so overtly sensationalized, and so overtly blatant that it is unreasonable to expect any sequestered jury to have remained uninfluenced by it, regardless of the judge's instructions in the charge. His appeal's outcome has not yet been determined.
This was written by Sirusre
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