Live blog: The Mark Twitchell Trial Wednesday March 16, 2011 1:10 Moderator: Proceedings are set

to start at 1:30. Ben will be posting shortly.

1:36

Moderator: Ben has gone into the courtroom for thet start of the proceedings. Our plan is that Ben will sitting in the courtroom and coming out to post.

1:39

Moderator: The Journal was hoping to be able to live blog the trial from inside the courtroom But that was denied by the judge. "Justice Terry Clackson denied a request by the Edmonton Journal and CBC to have Internet access in court during the trial, which is expected to last seven weeks with 72 people slated to take the stand. He said there would be a ban on all electronic devices by media and the general public in court. "

1:43

Moderator: Click here for full coverage of the Mark Twitchell trial.

2:09

bengelinas: Mark Twitchell has pleaded not guilty to the charge of first-degree murder in the October 2008 death of Johnny Altinger. When Twitchell's trial opened this afternoon in Edmonton, he instead attempted to enter an alternate plea of guilty for improperly interfering with a body. The Crown prosecutors rejected this alternate plea. The jury will soon hear the Crown's opening arguments.

2:46

bengelinas: Crown prosecutor Lawrence Van Dyke has just wrapped opening arguments on behalf of himself and fellow Crown prosecutor Avril Inglis.

2:46

bengelinas: Van Dyke outlined a timeline for the jury that stretched over five weeks in the fall of 2008.

2:49

bengelinas: First he brought up Twitchell's film House of Cards. Most of the filming took place in a rented garage over the weekend of Sept. 26-28, 2008. The focus of the film, Van Dyke said, was a killer who uses an internet dating website to lure his victim to his death.

2:54

bengelinas: Then Van Dyke brought up Oct 3, 2008, the night the Crown submits a 30-something user of the dating website plentyoffish.com was directed by someone (he believed to be an attractive young woman) to the same garage after exchanging messages. Once inside the garage, it is expected this witness will tell the jury he was attacked, first with a stun baton, which apparently had little effect. His masked attacker then produced what looked to be a gun, ordered him to the floor and put tape over his eyes. He then decided to fight back, pulling the tape off his eyes and grabbing the barrel of the gun, which felt fake. Van Dyke said a struggle ensued and the victim managed to escape.

2:55

bengelinas: There's much more to say, but I need to get back in to listen to the Crown's first witness.

2:55

bengelinas: It's important to note a couple things before I go...

2:56

bengelinas: 1. The Crown says police have since recovered the partial remains of Johnny Altinger, apparently dumped in a sewer. They were found two blocks from Twitchell's parents' house more than a year after the charge, following a visit by police to Twitchell in Remand.

3:00

bengelinas: 2. The Crown will focus at least some of its case on a document recovered from the memory of Twitchell's laptop, called "skconfessions." It details the author's progression into becoming a "serial killer." Names in the document have been changed (Twitchell's wife's name is Jess, the author's wife's name is Tess). But the Crown will argue that beyond this, the details contained in the more than 30 pages will be shown to be an accurate account of what happened to Johnny Altinger.

3:00

bengelinas: I'll be back

3:01

bengelinas: Check edmontonjournal.com in the meantime for my colleague Alex Zabjek's updated story.

Thursday March 17, 2011 11:20 bengelinas: On Wednesday afternoon, the jury heard from forensics officer Randy Topp, who was at the time a sergeant in the Edmonton Police Service's Forensic Identification Section. He presented a series of video tours of the primary "crime scenes" in the Twitchell case, including the garage where the Crown argues Altinger was killed and Twitchell's St. Albert home. We have created a Google map showing the approximate locations of each scene. Each icon on the map links to a portion of a video presented in court. You can find the map here: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/twitchell/4452865/story.html

11:21

bengelinas: This morning the jury is hearing from Const. Gary Short, who worked under Topp in the ident unit. It was his job to take pictures of the scenes. He said he took over 1,200. Many were presented this morning.

11:22

bengelinas: Among many orienting shots of Johnny Altinger's apartment, Mark Twitchell's home and the cars belonging to both men, were glimpses of evidence later seized.

11:23

bengelinas: In the trunk of Twitchell's car, Short noted a gas can with gas in it and blood stains in the interior fabric.

11:25

bengelinas: In Twitchell's home, police found swords kept in various corners, a box for an electronic stun gun, draft designs for a metal chair and table, and a goalie mask with gold stripes painted across its face, the mouth of the mask apparently cut out.

11:29

bengelinas: Short also noted a Dexter novel found in the back seat of Twitchell's car.

2:51

bengelinas: After the jury viewed Short's photos, copies were supplied to the media. We have posted one photo on our website that shows Luminol sprayed by police across the floor of the garage Twitchell rented. You can see it here: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Bloody+evidence+found+early+Twitchell+search/4458027/story.html

2:52

bengelinas: Luminol is used by police to expose traces of blood.

2:54

bengelinas: Short concluded his testimony this afternoon by showing us the sewer where police recovered Altinger's remains in early

June 2010. The grate was in an alley off 129 Avenue and 86 Street. A medical examiner descended into the 2.8 metre deep sewer shaft where he recovered the remains.

3:25

bengelinas: Const. Nancy Allen, also with the forensics, detailed items found in Twitchell's Grand AM, Alberta plates DRK JEDI.

3:26

bengelinas: They included a hunting knife with what appeared to be blood on it and a laptop, also with what appeared to be blood on it.

3:32

bengelinas: Sticky notes were also found in Twitchell's car. Some were rough maps that led him from St. Albert into the city and on to Wetaskiwin. Other stickies had hand-written notes that included, among other instructions: "Ship phone while its on," "return addy of vic," "destroy wallet contents" and "kill room clean sweep."

5:30

bengelinas: Another note found in Twitchell's car mapped a path from St. Albert, where Twitchell lived, to the crossroads near Johnny Altinger's condo.

5:30

bengelinas: Retiring for the day. Check back tomorrow, when more evidence is expected from Const. Allen.

Friday March 18, 2011 9:18 bengelinas: Good morning. The Twitchell trial is set to resume at 10 a.m. MT. I will be updating throughout the day as much as possible. It gets tricky because I'm not allowed to take my laptop into the courtroom. I have been writing in the hall -during breaks, mostly. They have set up a room that broadcasts audio from the courtroom, but the forensics team is presenting hundreds of pictures and cardboard boxes full of evidence, things best seen if I'm to report accurately. During witness testimony I may experiment with reporting live off the audio. If and when I do this, I will let you so you will know what you're reading is based solely off the audio. It's not ideal.

11:07

bengelinas: This morning, the hockey mask was entered as an exhibit. It's a large black, old-style goalie mask, an updated version of what Plante wore. Three gold stripes are painted along its face. The mouth area appears to have been removed. Allen said it was found in Twitchell's basement on a pile of clothes near his computer. You can see the mask in the video linked to Twitchell's home on this map: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/twitchell-case/map_evidence.html

11:09

bengelinas: They also seized from the basement: hand-drawn diagrams of a large table with six legs and a chair, sales receipts for a butcher knife and handcuffs, and an air pistol with baby blue pellets.

11:12

bengelinas: Still more items seized from Twitchell's house by police: - blue jeans and a sweatshirt with what appeared to be blood stains - burned Dexter DVDs, labeled what Allen read as "52," though Crown prosecutor Lawrence Van Dyke asked if it could be "S2." - a box for a Stunmaster stun baton - at last count, four swords

12:55

bengelinas: When court resumed this morning, Allen began leading the jury through some 150 photos of evidence seized from Twitchell's garage studio.

12:55

bengelinas: Police seized cleaning supplies like ammonia, the bottle marked in spots with what appeared to be blood.

12:57

bengelinas: They also found a bottle of corn syrup and two bottles of red food colouring.

1:00

bengelinas: Among the items entered as exhibits in the trial were an extending stun baton, advertised as delivering 800,000 volts, found in the garage, as well as a metal pipe, wrapped on one end in black cloth tape.

1:01

bengelinas: "I wanted to handle this exhibit as little as possible," Allen said of the pipe.

1:02

bengelinas: She noted that the tape end of the pipe was discoloured by what appeared to be blood. "I would actually classify it as almost blood-soaked," Allen said.

1:02

bengelinas: Blood and tissue appeared to be embedded in the opposite, threaded metal end of the pipe.

1:03

bengelinas: Two more pipes were seized from the garage. Both appeared to have been charred with unknown materials clinging to them.

1:07

bengelinas: Police also found the game processing kit in the garage. The green case, with a speck of what appeared to be blood on it, housed a set of sharp knives, a large fork and a handsaw, as well as a meat cleaver that didn't fit the set.

1:13

bengelinas: Between Twitchell's house and garage, there were numerous other exhibits seized and entered in court today, like Smith and Wesson handcuffs, a gas BB handgun, and receipts showing the purchase of two combination locks and several clean-up items, some of which were shown to be found in the garage.

1:15

bengelinas: The police witnesses so far have offered little context for the items, beyond what they are, where they were found and what evidence was found on them. Allen has avoided stating the presence of blood in any absolute terms. Most of the items with significant stains that appeared to be blood were sent to an RCMP lab to be tested. The jury has not heard the results of those tests.

3:35

bengelinas: Allen talked the jury through hundreds of photos detailing every conceivable angle of the edged tools in the game processing kit found in Twitchell's garage: - meat cleaver: not part of the set - caper knife: a small blade that thins slightly at the base - skinner knife: a slimmer knife with a hook at the end - boning/fillet knife: very thin, long blade - butcher knife: long, wide blade - shears/scissors: heavy duty with a clip to keep them closed - saw: small enough to be held in one hand, long teeth on the blade - carving fork: two long prongs - handle with sharpener edge All these tools had suspected blood stains or blood flakes on them.

3:36

bengelinas: There was also a rib spreader in the kit. There were no stains found on this tool.

Sunday March 20, 2011

9:59

Moderator: Ben will be back in court on Monday. In the meantime read The Journal's special coverage of the Twitchell trial.

Monday March 21, 2011 10:38 bengelinas: Mark Twitchell's ex-wife Jess Twitchell is now on the stand, being questioned by Crown prosecutor Avril Inglis.

10:44

bengelinas: Jess testified that she was married to Mark from January 2007 to December 2010, when their divorce was finalized. Today is the first time she has seen Mark Twitchell since police first came to their St. Albert home on October 21, 2008. Police told her then that they were obtaining a warrant to search the home.

10:48

bengelinas: Mark and Jess Twitchell met on the dating website plentyoffish.com. They have a daughter together. When Inglis asked Jess for their daughter's name, her voice cracked and she began to cry. "Chloe," she said. The little girl was nine months old at the time at the time of her husband's arrest.

10:50

bengelinas: Jess said that the marriage had been troubled in the months leading up to the arrest. Mark was sleeping in the basement. Jess was sleeping in the master bedroom upstairs. In October 2008, he revealed to her that he had not had a job since May 2008.

10:52

bengelinas: There was also Xpress Entertainment, his film production company. "He was selling scripts and had a couple of projects in development, but it wasn't making any money," Jess told the jury.

10:56

bengelinas: The Crown went through photos of things photographed in the Twitchell home, including three books: Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay, a book in the Troy series by David Gemmell, and a book on crime scene investigation. Jess said the first two books belonged to Mark. The third book she had never seen before. So far it is unclear why the Crown in concerned with these particular books.

11:00

bengelinas: Jess said her husband didn't say much about his short film House of Cards, filmed in a garage on the south side the last weekend in September. She said Mark told her: "that it was inspired by some marital troubles we were having, mixed with some horror materials." During the filming she was at home with the baby.

11:37

bengelinas: Inglis asked Jess Twitchell to go through the weekend beginning Friday, October 10, 2008, the last day anyone heard from Johnny Altinger.

11:40

bengelinas: "Every Friday he went to his therapy session, which was on the south side and started at seven," Jess said. She called him that Friday night, after 9 p.m. "I said: 'Where are you?' And he said he was at the gym." The gym they had just joined was closed. Mark told her he had gone to their old gym, which stayed open later. She couldn't remember when Mark returned home that night.

11:43

bengelinas:

The next day, Jess said she spent most of the day with Mark. She said she didn't notice anything particularly off about him. His mood was normal, she said, and normal for Mark was: "Easy-going, kind of relaxed."

11:49

bengelinas: This was Thanksgiving weekend. On Sunday the Twitchells had dinner at Mark's parents' house. Jess said Mark was using his parents' garage at the time to make a Halloween costume -- Iron Man -- out of plastic. Making elaborate costumes was a hobby of his. The year prior, he made a complicated Bumblebee costume, a Transformer, and ended up winning two Halloween costume contests, taking home thousands of dollars and a motorcycle.

11:50

bengelinas: On Monday, they had Thanksgiving dinner at her parents' place. All through the long weekend, she remembers nothing off about Mark's appearance or mood.

11:56

bengelinas: She remembers getting into Mark's car to move it some time after that. She said it smelled like gasoline in the car. "He said he was filling up a jerrycan to keep in the trunk and he had spilled it," the jury heard. "I said we already have a can of gas in the garage, which we had gotten for the new lawnmower. He said he wanted another one. I was late, so I just said: OK." Jess also noticed coveralls in the backseat.

12:00

bengelinas: The jury has left for lunch break. Court is expected to reconvene at 2 p.m. Check back for more this afternoon.

2:14

bengelinas: "I was outside working in the garden and I came in," Jess Twitchell said. "Mark was on the phone and the computer at the same time in the office. He didn't hear me coming down the stairs. I noticed that he was on a website called Ashley Madison, and I recognized it to be a website where people who are married or in a relationship are looking to have affairs."

2:16

bengelinas: She told him to get off the phone. "He said that he was doing some freelance work for a web magazine about internet dating and internet affairs."

2:16

bengelinas: When she didn't believe him, he said he could prove it, that she could listen in on a conference call with his editor, a man named Phil Porter.

2:20

bengelinas: "I was very confused," Jess Twitchell said. She suspected her husband was having an affair. But he kept stressing that the article deal was real, that she would see when the money came.

2:24

bengelinas: This was in September. When Jess and Mark last spoke on October 20, she asked him again: "Is Phil Porter real?" This time, Mark said no. Jess asked him who she had heard on the other end of the conference call. Mark said: "An actor I hired."

2:28

bengelinas: Jess said Mark had previously admitted he was communicating with an old girlfriend via Facebook, that he was thinking of leaving Jess to be with his ex, that he had met with her and they had kissed. But Jess and Mark stayed together, despite this.

2:30

bengelinas: From there, the questioning moved away from relationships to the evidence collected by police. Inglis showed Jess Twitchell a series of photos of items seized.

2:32

bengelinas:

She recognized the laptop with Spider-Man stickers seized by police in Mark Twitchell's vehicle as her ex-husband's.

2:32

bengelinas: Inglis: "How often did he use this laptop?"

2:32

bengelinas: Jess Twitchell: "All the time. He took it to work every day."

2:34

bengelinas: She identified the green hoodie seized by police as his. And the mask police found in the basement? She knew it to be a prop used in his horror film House of Cards. "When I first saw it it was just black," she said.

2:34

bengelinas: The mask was found with gold stripes painted down the face and the mouth cut out.

2:40

bengelinas: Under cross examination, Jess Twitchell said she didn't necessarily want Mark to stop making movies. "The agreement that we had made is that he would always continue to keep a day job until something bigger happened," she said.

2:43

bengelinas: She also said she was unhappy with Mark's original ending to House of Cards. The victim was supposed to be decapitated. She said Mark ultimately agreed with her suggestion that the victim not lose his head. "I felt very strongly that that was not appropriate or necessary," she said. "I didn't like it."

2:45

bengelinas: Jess Twitchell then finished her testimony.

2:46

bengelinas: The next witness was Carolyn Flexhaug, the woman who rented the garage to Mark Twitchell. She showed his lease and a tenant ledger showing payments he made.

2:46

bengelinas: She said the upstairs area of the house on the same property was rented to a group of temporary foreign workers, while someone else lived in the basement.

2:48

bengelinas: It cost Mark Twitchell $175 a month to rent the garage.

2:55

bengelinas: The man who lived in the basement was Daniel Bonke, who has now taken the stand.

2:55

bengelinas: He said the windows of the garage in the backyard were: "completely blacked out."

2:56

bengelinas: He didn't see or hear anything unusual.

3:06

bengelinas: Antonio Guterrez Guterrez is the next witness. He lived upstairs with several other people, all from Mexico. One day, he remembers a group of guys coming to the house. They asked for Mark. Not exactly sure who Mark was, he directed them to the backyard. He said they started to cover the windows of the garage with plastic bags. "They had lights and a camera, like

they were doing a video."

3:24

bengelinas: Court resumes shortly.

3:29

bengelinas: Mike Young has taken the stand, a local filmmaker and friend of Mark Twitchell. They've been friends for six years, he says. They got to know each other when they both worked at an IT company called Corporate Express.

3:33

bengelinas: They came to work together on Twitchell's Star Wars fan film Secrets of the Rebellion. Young did set design, props and location scouting on the film from the beginning of 2005 until the middle of 2006. He called Mark Twitchell by a nickname: "Twitch."

3:36

bengelinas: He said the garage was a location for Twitchell's short film, working title: House of Cards. Young built props and sets for the film. Young had a key for the garage. There was an additional lock, a standard Mastercraft combination lock that Young bought at Mark Twitchell's request.

3:37

bengelinas: "We were prop building, welding a table and chair together and cleaning out the garage, as there was a lot of stuff left over from the previous tenant," Young told the court.

3:43

bengelinas: Mark Twitchell asked Young to make the table and chair. Young said he designed the table and chair after rough suggestions from Twitchell. Inglis presented Young with hand-drawn designs of the table and chair found in Twitchell's home, entered as evidence last week. Young said he wasn't sure if he had seen the drawings before. But in photos of the inside of the garage, he identified the metal/wood table and iron chair found in the garage as the furniture he helped build for the film.

3:43

bengelinas: Young said they covered the windows to control the light during filming.

3:44

bengelinas: When asked to list the prop weapons to be used in the film, Young recalled novelty handcuffs, a generic hunters kit and a sword.

3:46

bengelinas: "Novelty" and "generic" are his words.

3:54

bengelinas: Young was at the garage the morning after the shoot. "The props were still there. Some of the debris had been moved outside." He was there over the course of three days to build a "pet tank" using Twitchell's tools.

3:59

bengelinas: Young said Twitchell sold the Bumblebee costume for "a substantial amount" after winning big prizes at Halloween contests put on by both Sonic and the Bear radio stations.

4:01

bengelinas: Fake blood was used in House of Cards. "I believe the final plan was to use food dye and corn (syrup)," Young said.

4:01

bengelinas:

On unsealed concrete, the food dye can stain, Young said. To clean it up, Young said industrial strength solvent would work well, but any household cleaner would do. He said they had some plastic to lay down for the fake blood.

4:02

bengelinas: David Puff is now on the stand. He's a freelance videographer and editor.

4:04

bengelinas: Twitchell used Puff's green screen at NAIT for Secrets of the Rebellion. Puff signed on to be the director of photography for the project, responsible for lighting and shot composition.

4:04

bengelinas: Their relationship was professional and friendly, but they weren't close, Puff said.

4:06

bengelinas: They worked together on a movie trailer for a feature project called Day Players that Twitchell was trying to get off the ground.

4:07

bengelinas: Then Puff worked with Twitchell on House of Cards over three days in September of 2008.

4:09

bengelinas: "He was bored with doing post-production on Star Wars," Puff said of communication with Twitchell about the film. "He wanted to do something new to potentially show investors. He wanted to do something new and that was House of Cards."

4:16

bengelinas: According to Puff, the film is about a man who was planning to cheat on his wife. "He was speaking with whom he thought was a woman on an online dating site. He lies to his wife to go and meet this woman. He says he's going to the gym. When he arrives at the house to meet this woman, he is electrocuted with a Taser." When the man wakes up he is interrogated and mentally tortured by a man in a mask: "who ultimately kills him and dismembers his body." At the end of the movie, the whole thing is shown to be "a concoction by an author who is writing the story." The twist: the author's apparently a killer himself, with a mask and tools that could be used for killing. House of Cards ends with the author saying to his wife: "You were right, honey. It's better to you write what you know."

4:16

bengelinas: Correction: "It's better when you write what you know." This line is as Puff remembers it, and not necessarily as it appears in the House of Cards script.

4:17

bengelinas: The victim in the film is stabbed in the chest with a samurai sword.

4:19

bengelinas: The kill scene in the script ends with the samurai sword going through the victim, but Puff says there was an additional sequence they never filmed, in which the killer takes a cleaver, hacks the victim's body apart off-screen and fills plastic bags with the parts.

4:20

bengelinas: They intended to blend two shots in post-production: one of the actor getting stabbed, the other of the sword going through a small bag of fake blood.

4:21

bengelinas: The shot was "fairly successful," Puff said.

4:21

bengelinas: The victim in the film was seated in the chair, duct taped to it.

4:23

bengelinas: Crown prosecutor Lawrence Van Dyke asked Puff to describe how messy was the fake blood was when it was released. Puff answered: "Not very. It fell to the floor below the chair. I think we may have even had something to catch it."

4:23

bengelinas: Puff didn't recall any knives or pipes being used in the filming. Just the swords.

4:24

bengelinas: In cross-examination, Twitchell's lawyer Charles Davison asked if there was actually a scene where the killer brandished a knife. Puff answered: "Possibly."

4:29

bengelinas: Puff also said they blocked out the windows to control light during shots.

4:30

bengelinas: They did this using garbage bags and duct tape.

4:31

bengelinas: "I've never really seen the footage since it was shot, since it was handed over to Mark," Puff said.

4:32

bengelinas: That's it for the day. Check back here at 10 a.m. Tuesday for more. If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me: bgelinas@edmontonjournal.com

Tuesday March 22, 2011 10:18 bengelinas: Mark Twitchell's friend Jason Howatson has taken the stand. He worked on Twitchell's Star Wars film as well as House of Cards. Howatson says he and two other friends built the table and chair in the garage a week before the shoot, after discussions with Twitchell about what he needed.

10:21

bengelinas: He says there was nothing to his knowledge that would need to be burned for the film.

10:25

bengelinas: Mark said he would be bringing in oil drum, but he didn't know what it would be used for.

10:26

bengelinas: Clarification: Howatson didn't know what the drum would be used for.

10:26

bengelinas: Howatson said the table, made of metal and wood, was heavy and would take two people to move.

10:31

bengelinas: Howatson says he received a text from Mark Twitchell after the shoot. It said police might call because the set had been broken into.

10:36

bengelinas: On October 23, 2008, Howatson was also among a group of friends who also received an e-mail from Twitchell. In the e-

mail, Twitchell apologized for everything that had been going on. "For now I have to recommend that everyone stop talking to the police," the e-mail from Twitchell stated. "You have a right to silence and you should exercise that right."

10:36

bengelinas: Twitchell's e-mail told his friends to make the police "do their own jobs." It stated: "Please, if they ask you questions, just tell them you don't know anything and if they want you to come in for a statement, kindly refuse."

10:46

bengelinas: Scott Cooke, another friend of Twitchell's, is now testifying. He also worked on the Star Wars film, as well as House of Cards. He received an e-mail from Twitchell pitching the House of Cards film: "My co-producer and I are working on gathering the funds for Day Players as we speak," the e-mail said. "I have a month to kill so I decided we should produce a short thriller."

10:49

bengelinas: He needed Cooke and friends to figure out how to stage a convincing decapitation with limited resources. The dark space of the garage would be an advantage, the e-mail stated.

10:58

bengelinas: In a separate e-mail to Cooke and Howatson, Twitchell asked them to make the table and chair. The e-mail stated that the table needed to be strong, made of high-grade wood with six legs. "This had to be precision quality," Twitchell wrote. The armless metal chair had to be able to be bolted to a concrete floor -- "almost like an electric chair size but without the bells and whistles." Cooke made the suggestion to Twitchell to wrap the surface of the table in metal to make its surface appear entirely metal.

10:58

bengelinas: These e-mails were sent it late August.

11:01

bengelinas: The table's surface was 6'6" by 4'. It was not to be built for temporary use. Twitchell wrote that he wanted the table to be used as a work bench after House of Cards was completed.

11:34

bengelinas: The House of Cards draft script is being read to the jury. I am making a copy of the entire script that will go up once the jury has heard it.

11:56

bengelinas: The jury has finished hearing the script. We are in the process of uploading the document now.

11:57

bengelinas: Alas, for all the cool things about coveritlive.com, it does not support directly uploading pdfs.

12:02

bengelinas: Here are the aforementioned emails Twitchell sent to his friends, both before House of Cards and after police first searched Twitchell's St. Albert home. http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Twitchell+email+evidence/4484623/story.html

12:07

bengelinas: The actor who played the victim in House of Cards is now on the stand. He says he does not remember decapitation being part of the script he was working from.

12:08

bengelinas: The actor, Chris Heward, got the job after answering an ad on mandy.com

12:11

bengelinas: Heward sat in the chair. Tools were laid out on the big table. He recalls seeing two samurai swords, a handgun, a stun gun, a meat cleaver, and a laptop on the table.

12:15

bengelinas: Mark Twitchell told Heward to bring two identical shirts for the garage shoot. One would get bloody when the script called for the death of Heward's character by samurai sword. The shirt was put around couch foam and a fake blood packet. Heward helped make the fake blood (out of red dye and corn syrup, court has already heard). Heward said not much fake blood was spilled when a samurai sword went through the dummy Heward. "It was a fairly tidy process," Heward says.

12:31

bengelinas: There was an issue with the e-mail exhibit pdfs. They will be up again shortly.

12:32

bengelinas: House of Cards draft script, written by Mark Twitchell: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/House+of+Cards+script/4484735/story.html Please note that in a later version, the victim is not decapitated.

12:53

bengelinas: Court broke for lunch. It resumes at 2 p.m. I'll re-post the emails entered as evidence this morning here as soon as they're on Scribd.

1:02

bengelinas: Here are a pair of e-mails sent to Mark Twitchell's friends in advance of the filming of House of Cards: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/twitchell-case/Twitchell+email+evidence/4484623/story.html As the police zeroed in on Twitchell, court heard that he sent this e-mail to friends asking them not to cooperate with police: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/twitchell-case/Twitchel+email+talk+police/4484940/story.html

2:12

bengelinas: The jury is back. The next witness is William Stanic, a 46-year-old quality control inspector who used to work with the alleged victim John Altinger.

2:17

bengelinas: Stanic worked a lathe at Argus Machine when Altinger worked quality control there. The friends often visited at work. Pretty much every shift they had hours to chat, usually when Altinger came by to inspect Stanic's equipment. They both used lavalife.com and plentyoffish.com for online dating and often shared stories about the online dating experience.

2:21

bengelinas: The last time Stanic saw Altinger was during their night shift on October 9, 2008. But he communicated with Altinger the next day on MSN Messenger. Altinger mentioned that he met a girl on plentyoffish.com, and he was going to meet her at 7 p.m. at her place. "It was for sex. That's what he said."

2:22

bengelinas: Altinger sent Stanic a link to the woman's profile. He remembers seeing four photos connected to the profile of a woman, about 35, wearing a bikini. She was pretty, with light brown hair. Altinger told Stanic her instructions for the meet-up were very weird. She wouldn't give him a phone number or address. He was to meet her at a garage.

2:30

bengelinas: Altinger sent Stanic an e-mail that night, forwarding messages he received from the woman he was meeting.

2:36

bengelinas: The first message made it sound like the woman was nervous about meeting Altinger, and she would take some necessary precautions. "I want to play very much, but I have to be cautious, which I'm sure you understand," the e-mail from the woman read. "On

a lighter note, you said you have four days off. How long can I keep you for?"

2:36

bengelinas: The second message directed Altinger to a garage on the southside off the Whitemud. "I'll just leave the garage door partly open for you to sneak into," the e-mail said.

2:37

bengelinas: After Altinger left for the date, Stanic heard nothing more from him until Monday, October 13, 2008. He received an e-mail from Altinger's Hotmail with the subject line: "It's all good."

2:40

bengelinas: It began with the greeting: "Hey man."

2:40

bengelinas: The e-mail said: "No worries on my end. I'm good. Better than good."

2:40

bengelinas: It said he had hit it off with the girl he was meeting, that she was really wealthy, and had offered to take him: "on a tropical vacation for three months." It said he was thinking about taking her up on the offer, that it would be something spontaneous to do before he died.

2:41

bengelinas: Stanic found the words: "Hey man," odd. Altinger never said that.

2:42

bengelinas: When Stanic stepped off the witness stand, Mark Twitchell's lawyer Charles Davison said: "We are not disputing that the emails from the 13th of October were not written by Mr. Altinger."

2:46

bengelinas: Altinger's childhood friend Dale Smith is now on the stand. He says Altinger called him on Oct. 10 at 6 p.m., just prior to the date.

2:47

bengelinas: "The instructions were out of the ordinary," Smith says. "I wasn't really too happy about the instructions and stuff. I told John to give me a phone call when he got there and give me the address before he went in the place. He agreed he would."

2:48

bengelinas: Altinger seemed "light-hearted" during the call.

2:49

bengelinas: Smith received a second phone call from Altinger around 6:30 p.m. He said the woman wasn't there, but he met a guy in the garage. "He said the guy in the garage was making a movie and (the guy) showed (Altinger) a replica gun."

2:51

bengelinas: "Later that night I got an e-mail, I'm not sure what time," Smith said. "It said: 'Hee hee. She's home. I'm going back.'"

2:54

bengelinas: Smith phoned Altinger several times that night. Smith was concerned. Altinger didn't call back.

2:55

bengelinas: He called Altinger a few times on Saturday. Again, no answer, no response.

2:55

bengelinas: On Sunday, Smith and Altinger were supposed to go out and ride motorbikes. Altinger was going to teach Smith how to ride Smith's new bike.

2:58

bengelinas: When he didn't hear from Altinger, Smith says he grew nervous. Smith called a friend to tell him he thought Altinger was missing.

3:02

bengelinas: On Sunday night, Smith and a couple friends went to Altinger's condo. There was no answer at the door. They went into the parkade and saw that Altinger's car, a red Mazda 3, was gone.

3:05

bengelinas: The next day, October 13, Smith received an e-mail from Altinger's Shaw.ca account.

3:07

bengelinas: The e-mail said Altinger had met: "an extraordinary woman named Jen," who had invited him on a tropical vacation to Costa Rica. It said they'd be staying at her home there and he wouldn't be back until Dec. 10. The e-mail ended: "See you around the holidays, Johnny."

3:08

bengelinas: "I didn't think it was Johnny," Smith said.

3:09

bengelinas: There were no playful jokes. And Altinger usually didn't sign his e-mails, Smith says.

3:10

bengelinas: He sent a response, asking who would be picking up Altinger's brother at the airport when he came to visit. This was meant to test the sender. Altinger's brother wasn't actually coming, and Altinger would know this.

3:10

bengelinas: Smith received no response to this e-mail.

3:14

bengelinas: Smith and other friends went to the police. When the police didn't have enough information to warrant a search of Altinger's suite, Smith and friends went into the suite themselves through a main floor window.

3:14

bengelinas: Smith says they found Altinger's passport, his shaving kit -- "everything he needed to go on vacation was still there."

3:16

bengelinas: The Costa Rica thing never made sense to Smith. "I know John. He doesn't like warm places. He lived in Hawaii once. He doesn't like the heat."

3:16

bengelinas: Court is now on a twenty minute break.

3:40

bengelinas: To clarify a prior quote: The e-mail sent to Altinger from the woman he was to meet for a date on Oct 10 more correctly read: "On a lighter note though if we really gel you said you had 4 days off. How long can I keep you for if I choose? Maybe

you should pack for a few days lol."

3:43

bengelinas: Marcelo Souza is the next witness. He is on night shift, has been waiting all day and is sleep-deprived. Souza came to know Altinger through Dale Smith, the previous witness.

3:50

bengelinas: Smith called Souza about Altinger in mid-October. At the time, Souza had not seen Altinger for a couple years. Smith showed Souza the e-mail he had received from Altinger's account. The e-mail struck him as off. Altinger's writing style was different, Souza says, not so formal, always humorous.

3:52

bengelinas: Souza and his wife called the police, who said they would come see them on Oct 15 to take a statement. Souza, his wife and Smith waited all night for the police to come, but Souza says they didn't show up.

3:54

bengelinas: Two days later, Souza was among the friends who slipped into Altinger's condo, accessing it through a window. Souza noted: "the remains of a meal on the stove." Altinger's bed was unmade.

4:09

bengelinas: Now on the stand, Souza's wife Carrie-Lynn says she tried to add Johnny Altinger to Facebook after he went missing. She had never met him. He was her husband's friend. Altinger didn't accept Carrie-Lynn Souza's friend request. But later she was among a group of friends who received a Facebook message from Altinger's account, stating he was lying on a beach and would be gone for a while.

4:10

bengelinas: "The whole thing was unusual because I didn't know Johnny on a personal level," Carrie-Lynn Souza says.

4:14

bengelinas: On October 15, Carrie-Lynn Souza exchanged e-mails with someone using Johnny Altinger's account.

4:16

bengelinas: Carrie-Lynn sent an e-mail to Altinger. She stressed that Dale Smith had repeatedly tried to reach Altinger via phone and email with no response, the exception being the mass e-mail about leaving for Costa Rica. "An e-mail at this point is not satisfactory," Souza wrote. She asked Altinger to call Smith or they would have to follow up with police.

4:17

bengelinas: She received a response, via e-mail, stating that there was no reason to be worried. "I'm on vacation and loving it," the response said.

4:19

bengelinas: There would be no phone call. Phone reception was bad and cost a lot down in Costa Rica, the response said. The e-mail further pledged Dale Smith would be contacted.

4:19

bengelinas: Carrie-Lynn Souza responded: "Hi John: Please respond as soon as you get this, or at least call Dale. Everyone is concerned."

4:20

bengelinas: She received no further e-mails from Altinger's account.

4:26

bengelinas:

Desmond Harte is the next witness. He was Johnny Altinger's boss at Argus Machine. He says on October 13, 2008, he received an e-mail from Altinger's account, a brief resignation letter. "I have another offer that is just too good to pass up so this is my notice I will no longer be continuing my employment with your fine organization," it read. "Rest assured I would not be leaving unless the new path I've chosen was truly life-altering."

4:28

bengelinas: Harte responded, asking where to forward Altinger's last cheque. He received no response.

4:28

bengelinas: The money due to Altinger from Argus was roughly $1,470.

4:29

bengelinas: Court has finished for the day. Check back tomorrow at 10 a.m. for more on the case.

Wednesday March 23, 2011 10:17 bengelinas: Good morning. A reader requested via e-mail that I clarify when I am writing off the audio feed and when I am present in the actual courtroom. We are not allowed to use phones or computers in the courtroom, so when witnesses give testimony I will most often be writing off the live audio feed that is playing in a nearby courtroom. This will allow for reporting in real time. When visual evidence is the focus of testimony, I will be up in the courtroom taking notes and my entries will generally be longer and more sporadic.

10:17

bengelinas: This morning I am writing off the audio feed.

10:22

bengelinas: Currently on the stand is a registered nurse named Deborah Teichroeb, who met Johnny Altinger over plentyoffish.com. They went out but decided they'd make better friends. They remained friends until Altinger tried to pursue a romantic relationship with Deborah in the summer of 2008. She began to ignore Altinger's calls in July, and didn't hear from him again until October 13, when she received the same e-mails about Altinger's sudden decision to go to Costa Rica with a girl he'd just met.

10:24

bengelinas: "The John I knew did not do things on a whim, and that's what I thought was strange," she says. Altinger was known to plan for months before taking a trip. Most often Altinger would refer to Deborah as "Sunshine." She wondered: "Why wouldn't he say: 'Hey Sunshine?'" She found it odd.

10:25

bengelinas: She went on MSN Messenger on October 13, and saw Altinger's status on the instant messaging program had changed to read: "I've got a one way ticket to heaven. I'm never coming back."

10:30

bengelinas: Const. Marlin Ehrenholz is the next witness. He was a patrol officer in the fall of 2008 who took the call from Altinger's friends about his disappearance. He responded first to the garage with his partner Const. Maxwell.

10:32

bengelinas: It was late when they responded, close to midnight. They knocked on the door of the house and there was no answer. They went to the garage in the back and noted the covered windows. Ehrenholz peeked through a small hole and could see that there was a light on in the garage. It appeared clean and there was no one inside, as far as the officer could see.

10:34

bengelinas: The officers left the garage, and after speaking with Altinger's friends, headed for the Edmonton International Airport. They drove around the airport parking lot, searching for Altinger's red Mazda 3. It wasn't there.

10:35

bengelinas: To clarify, this all happened in the late evening of Oct. 17 and early morning of Oct. 18.

10:37

bengelinas: Ehrenholz went back to the station and e-mailed Altinger's Shaw.ca address. The constable asked Altinger to contact police as soon as possible.

10:41

bengelinas: Ehrenholz and Maxwell passed the investigation onto day shift Const. Dennis Dalziel, who is now testifying.

10:47

bengelinas: Dalziel also had a partner: Const. Daniel Woodall. The officers went to Altinger's apartment that morning, entered and seized a computer. They also took a look around the parkade, where they found Altinger's two bikes, but no car.

10:50

bengelinas: Dalziel also wrote an e-mail to Altinger's address, stating that the police were concerned for his well-being. He asked that Altinger call them.

10:50

bengelinas: The police never heard from Altinger.

10:56

bengelinas: The officers passed the case back to Ehrenholz and his partner Const. Christopher Maxwell that evening. Maxwell is now on the stand. He says they started their Oct. 18 shift around 9 p.m. by calling the garage landlord, who provided them the name "Mark" and a phone number.

10:56

bengelinas: Shortly after 10 p.m., Maxwell spoke to a man who identified himself as Mark Twitchell.

10:58

bengelinas: Twitchell confirmed that he had been renting the garage for the past few months. He said he was using the garage to shoot a short film.

10:58

bengelinas: "He denied knowing John Altinger," Maxwell says. "He said he was last at the garage on Friday, Oct. 10."

11:00

bengelinas: Maxwell asked Twitchell if he remembered a guy showing up around 6 p.m. Twitchell said: "No."

11:00

bengelinas: Maxwell asked if Twitchell remembered seeing a red car at the garage. Twitchell said: "No."

11:01

bengelinas: Maxwell asked if a female was supposed to meet a guy at the garage. Twitchell said: "No."

11:02

bengelinas: Twitchell told Maxwell he was at the garage until about 5:30, cleaning props.

11:03

bengelinas: Maxwell asked Twitchell to come down to the garage. Maxwell said Twitchell seemed surprised by the request. But he was

cooperative.

11:06

bengelinas: Maxwell and an acting Southwest Division sergeant met Twitchell at the garage around 11:25 pm. Twitchell arrived in a maroon-coloured Grand AM sedan. Twitchell and the officers walked around the garage to the man door. "Mr. Twitchell said the padlock that was on the lock of the man door was not his," Maxwell says.

11:09

bengelinas: Maxwell unscrewed the latch that held the Dudley-brand combination lock on the door and Twitchell unlocked the deadbolt with a key.

11:12

bengelinas: Maxwell went in first. "When I first walked in I could smell the strong smell of something burnt," Maxwell says. He spotted an oil drum. It was discoloured in places, almost scorched. Maxwell opened up the lid and could see the charred remains of something inside.

11:13

bengelinas: "I asked him about the barrel. He said he had it delivered in order to be used as a garbage can. He said when he last saw it, it was not scorched."

11:13

bengelinas: "He said he had no knowledge of how it was burnt."

11:14

bengelinas: (court on 15 minute break)

11:39

bengelinas: Const. Maxwell noticed two tables in the garage: one that he describes as large and metal. The other, smaller table was wooden. The smaller table had cleaning supplies on it, including an empty bottle of ammonia, an empty wrapper for a disposable plastic drop cloth, an empty wrapper for rubber gloves, and a receipt from Home Depot dated October 15, 2008.

11:41

bengelinas: After having a look around the room, the officers decided it would be a good idea to get out of the garage and call their staff sergeant. Maxwell took Twitchell to his police car and they chatted in the front seat for about an hour and a half. During that time, Maxwell had Twitchell complete a written statement. The conversation was "pleasant." They talked about his short film and Twitchell's interest in Star Wars. Maxwell invariably came back to the same questions about seeing a red car or a man at the garage.

11:43

bengelinas: Maxwell asked if Twitchell knew anyone who was using Internet sites to date and he said: "No."

11:43

bengelinas: Maxwell asked if Twitchell was on any dating sites and he said: "No." Twitchell told Maxwell that he was happily married with a baby girl.

11:49

bengelinas: Twitchell's written statement to Const. Maxwell on Oct. 19 is as follows:

11:52

bengelinas: "I rented the garage at 5712 40 ave on Sept 2, 2008 for the purpose of making a short film. I shot that film the last weekend of September with some colleagues and two casted actors. One actor was local to Edmonton and the other was from Toronto. On the night of Oct 19, 2008 I got a call from Constable Maxwell saying there has been activity at the garage and asked me to come down to the garage to investigate. I came down to the location at 11:30 p.m. At that time we noticed a padlock on the door I was not familiar with and proceeded to remove it in order to enter the premises."

11:53

bengelinas: "Once inside we noticed several items were out of place. The lights were left on, and a steel drum I used for a garbage can had been used as a fire pit. The constable asked me about the previous Friday. I told him that I was at the garage that Friday from 3:00 p.m. to about 5:30 p.m. cleaning up. I do not recall seeing anyone around the location at that time. When I left I locked the door using a padlock and locked the deadbolt. My padlock is silver on the outside with a black plastic center. The combination was 30, 8, 30."

11:54

bengelinas: "People working on the movie include David Puff: director of photography, Scott Cooke: set builder, Mike Young: production designer, Jason Howatson: production assistant, Chris Heward: actor, and Robert Barnsley: actor. Mike Young and Jason Howatson had a key to the garage as well that I have still not recovered as of the date of this statement."

11:54

bengelinas: (end of statement)

12:06

bengelinas: The acting sergeant with Const. Maxwell was Colleen Maynes, who is now a sergeant. She is on the stand.

12:06

bengelinas: She describes the contents of the garage much like Maxwell did. "I noticed that it smelled like gasoline," she says -- as though something had been burned there. "The outside of the drum was partially blackened on the outside," she says.

12:08

bengelinas: Maynes recalls looking into the barrel and seeing a bit of liquid. The smell of gas was "really pungent" at the barrel. The light was dim. "If I recall correctly it was just one bulb in the garage," Maynes says.

12:11

bengelinas: Before he finished his testimony, Const. Maxwell said four numbers on the Home Depot receipt found in the garage matched a debit card in Twitchell's wallet.

12:18

bengelinas: Court has broken for lunch and is expected to resume at 2 p.m.

1:25

bengelinas: The Journal web mavens have helped me compile some e-mails sent from Johnny Altinger's account before and after his alleged disappearance. In chronological order, they form a narrative of sorts: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/4487086/story.html

2:01

bengelinas: We're expecting some evidence to be entered this afternoon that will require me to be in the courtroom, so my posts will likely be more sporadic than they were this morning. I will try to provide updates as often as possible.

2:33

bengelinas: The jury is viewing an interview Mark Twitchell did with Southwest Division detective Mike Tabler at the station, beginning just before 3 a.m. on October 19, 2008.

2:36

bengelinas: Twitchell, dressed in a T-shirt, is led into the interview room. He sits and after confirming his name and address, calmly begins to tell Tabler about the garage. His tone is casual. His words flow freely. He speaks quickly as he tells Tabler about their shoot, which took place in the last week of September 2008. He says the windows were covered to control light in the garage. He says the short film they shot in the garage could be used as "pitching material" to help convince investors they know what they're doing. Twitchell talks about his movies, both past and on-going, from Star Wars to Day Players.

2:37

bengelinas: "I love filmmaking," Twitchell says.

3:03

bengelinas: Twitchell tells Tabler that he "lives on lists," thanks to a poor memory and a tendency to procrastinate. Making lists helps him stay organized, Twitchell says. "As long as I can check things off, I'm OK."

3:04

bengelinas: He tells Tabler about the "nightmare" of a mess that gets made when using fake blood (corn syrup and red dye). "It's sticky as hell. It gets everywhere," Twitchell says. "Last time it got all over the chair. It got all over the floor."

3:09

bengelinas: When Tabler asks if Twitchell is absolutely sure Oct. 10 was the last time he was at the garage, Twitchell says he isn't be sure, that maybe he visited it a couple days later to drop off some cleaning supplies. Tabler points out that Twitchell told him there were no specific, upcoming plans to use the garage for another shoot.

3:09

bengelinas: Twitchell says it was one of the things he needed to cross off a list.

3:11

bengelinas: Tabler says to Twitchell that it's "odd" he's filming a thriller movie at a garage that police are then called to on a missing persons complaint.

3:12

bengelinas: "Yeah, that's freaky," Twitchell says, adding that when he got the call from police, he felt: "this weird chill." It didn't sit right, he says.

3:12

bengelinas: He says he started thinking about who knew that they were shooting there.

3:43

bengelinas: Twitchell tells Tabler that he essentially lives off a percentage of the investments he has brought in for future film projects. "Producer fees," he calls them.

3:45

bengelinas: I am in the process of uploading the entire transcript of the video interview to Scribd.com. We also have the video, which we will post as soon as possible. I'll let you know when it is viewable on our website.

3:58

bengelinas: Det. Mike Tabler interviews Mark Twitchell (transcript): http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/interview/4492361/story.html

4:11

bengelinas: The night after the interview, Mark Twitchell e-mailed Det. Mike Tabler with some additional information.

4:15

bengelinas: "Last night when we were talking I was running on fumes," the e-mail from Twitchell began. "I missed a couple things that may or may not be important to this case."

4:16

bengelinas: Twitchell wrote that he "blanked" on a few "odd occurrences" that at first didn't seem to have anything to do with the

missing persons case Tabler was questioning him about.

4:19

bengelinas: The e-mail stated that on past Wednesday, some guy knocked on Twitchell's car window at a gas station near the garage. "I assume he's either going to ask for change or directions. Instead, he asks me if I want to take his car off his hands."

4:20

bengelinas: Twitchell wrote that the guy: "had just shacked up with this rich sugar mama," that the guy no longer needed the car and was going to buy a new BMW.

4:21

bengelinas: The e-mail stated that the guy offered to sell his car to Twitchell of $40.

4:22

bengelinas: Twitchell wrote that he figured he'd find two tons of coke in the trunk, but: "In the worst case scenario I'm out 40 bucks, no big deal. Since I was going to the garage anyway, I asked him to bring it there. He actually did it and appeared to be legit."

4:27

bengelinas: The e-mail said the guy's "even keel" disposition disappeared when they got to the garage. The e-mail said the guy was not interested in conversation and was quick to leave.

4:29

bengelinas: The e-mail said the car was a Mazda 3 with manual transmission. In the e-mail, Twitchell stated that he couldn't drive a manual, so he called his friend Joss to drive to Joss' place.

4:29

bengelinas: The e-mail then stated that Twitchell's car, with its "distinctive plate," was broken into on October 8 when he was at a Kevin Smith concert at the Winspear. Twitchell said his sunglasses were taken, as well as a bunch of receipts. Twitchell wondered if the "clown" who sold him the Mazda could have been the same person who broke into his car.

4:32

bengelinas: He offered a description of a man a little taller than him, wearing a green windbreaker and blue jeans, with a Celtic knot tattooed on his neck on his right side.

5:20

bengelinas: Here is the entire e-mail, as it was presented in court: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/interview/4492805/story.html

5:57

bengelinas: One last thing I should mention before I tear down for the evening. The jury heard late today an additional line of questioning put to Mark Twitchell's wife Jess, about a conversation she had with him regarding empathy in late Sept. 2008. "The context of the conversation was Mark told me he was unsure if he could feel empathy like other people," Jess Twitchell said.

5:59

bengelinas: She said she told her then-husband about an episode of Oprah she saw about a woman who mistakenly left her baby in the car and it died. She said as a new mother she felt a great deal of empathy for this woman.

6:00

bengelinas: Her husband's answer, as she remembered it, was something like: yes, that's sad, but it doesn't have anything to do with me.

6:02

bengelinas: "I was very upset," Jess Twitchell said. "That obviously was not normal." The idea of counseling was broached. "If he was a person who couldn't feel empathy then we couldn't be together."

6:03

bengelinas: Court is expected to resume at 10 a.m. tomorrow. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me: bgelinas@edmontonjournal.com

Thursday March 24, 2011 10:11 bengelinas: Friends of Mark Twitchell are testifying this morning. I'll be writing from the audio feed.

10:14

bengelinas: Gregory Auch met Mark Twitchell in 2005 after replying to an online ad for a set designer on Twitchell's Star Wars fan film Secrets of the Rebellion. "We kept in touch. Email, all that. Never really went out for beers or anything like that, but we kept in touch, worked on a couple projects," Auch says. They were more "work associates" than friends.

10:18

bengelinas: Twitchell asked Auch to borrow a replica gun for House of Cards. The killer was to present the gun to the victim in a bag and state the victim's fingerprints were on this gun. The replica Auch gave Twitchell was plastic and silver -- a BB gun. Auch says he painted the orange tip silver to make it look more realistic for film. The gun was plastic. The magazine that held the BB's was metal.

10:23

Crown prosecutors say this BB gun was found in the garage. It was previously entered as an exhibit. 10:28

bengelinas: Auch says he was supposed to get the gun back after filming wrapped. House of Cards was supposed to take three days to shoot. Auch says he left a voicemail for Twitchell on October 3, a few days after filming finished. Auch asked in the voicemail when he might get the gun back. Auch says he received no response to the voicemail.

10:29

bengelinas: He left another message on October 27. Auch got a call back from Twitchell the next day.

10:29

bengelinas: He said: "Things were going down and he wanted to buy the gun off me."

10:30

bengelinas: Auch agreed. The gun was worth $250, after all. Auch says the conversation with Twitchell moved on to Twitchell's Halloween plans and costume that year. Auch never received money for the gun. He was contacted by police three days after Twitchell was arrested.

10:32

bengelinas: Joss Hnatiuk is now on the stand. He's known Twitchell for five or six years. They met on a Star Wars fan message board and was brought in to help on Secrets of the Rebellion.

10:33

bengelinas: They became friends, would go to movies and out for coffee.

10:34

bengelinas: Hnatiuk also worked on House of Cards.

10:36

bengelinas: Hnatiuk says he invested most of his savings in Twitchell's Day Players project, a feature film about the lives of extras that Twitchell was trying to get off the ground.

10:41

bengelinas: Hnatiuk says Twitchell ordered a drum to be on set, but it didn't arrive in time for the shoot. Twitchell complained that he missed the delivery person twice. "I think it was primarily to be a set piece, but also for garbage," Hnatiuk says.

10:43

bengelinas: Then there was the fake blood. Hnatiuk says the fake blood didn't make much of a mess.

10:43

bengelinas: "You don't have a lot to work with on a small budget film so you usually try to minimize the mess," he says. A little of the food dye and corn syrup mixture spilled during the kill scene and around the mixing bucket, but it was: "nothing that couldn't be cleaned up with some paper towels."

10:45

bengelinas: Hnatiuk went to see Kevin Smith at the Winspear on October 8. They met at Southgate Mall, where Twitchell parked. The friends went to the show together in Hnatiuk's car. When they returned from the show, Twitchell got into his car. Nothing was out of the ordinary, Hnatiuk says.

10:48

bengelinas: Twitchell told police his car was broken into while he was at Kevin Smith with Hnatiuk, the jury heard Wednesday.

10:50

bengelinas: Hnatiuk says he talked to Twitchell over the phone on Friday, October 17: "Mark phoned me up to tell me he was at a gas station and had met a guy who said he was moving to the Caribbean with his sugar mama and was selling his stuff off. He asked mark how much money he had in his wallet and he said forty dollars. He sold him a red Mazda 3 for forty dollars."

10:51

bengelinas: "I said it sounds like one of those deals that's too good to be true," Hnatiuk says. "He said he thought so too." But Twitchell told him he had all the paperwork and the bill of sale.

10:52

bengelinas: "He asked if I knew where the nearest AMA was so he could go register it and sell it right away," Hnatiuk says.

10:54

bengelinas: Hnatiuk asked why Twitchell wouldn't keep the car and Twitchell told him it was a standard. Twitchell said he didn't know how to drive standard.

10:58

bengelinas: Twitchell asked Hnatiuk to come and move the car for Twitchell. Twitchell said to meet him at the garage where they filmed House of Cards. Twitchell wanted Hnatiuk to move the car to Twitchell's home in St. Albert, but Hnatiuk had an appointment. They agreed to instead move it to Hnatiuk's parents' place where Hnatiuk lived, about six blocks from the garage.

10:59

bengelinas: When Hnatiuk arrived at the garage, he met Twitchell. The car was inside the garage. The chair and the table were still there, pushed off to the side. Hnatiuk says it was a red Mazda 3. "It was clean and in good condition, no dents, no damage. It looked to be very new," Hnatiuk says.

11:00

bengelinas: They had a look at the inside. Hnatiuk looked inside the glove compartment. The owner's manual said it was a 2005. Hnatiuk reversed the car out of the garage and drove it straight to his parents' place near 53 Street and 35 Avenue.

11:00

11:02

bengelinas: Twitchell asked Hnatiuk for the keys and license plate. Twitchell said he needed these things so he could register the car.

11:07

bengelinas: Hnatiuk found in the car a paintball mask, a book by Dan Millman called with Peaceful Warrior in the title, a pack of Kleenex, a screwdriver and a small license plate that Hnatiuk assumed was for a motorcycle.

11:08

bengelinas: He gave the small plate the Twitchell. On Oct 18, Hnatiuk offered to buy the car for $40. Twitchell said he'd think about it.

11:09

bengelinas: Twitchell called back around 10 p.m. that Saturday. He said the garage had been broken into and he was going to drive down there to talk to the police.

11:10

bengelinas: Twitchell called Hnatiuk back around 4:48 a.m. the next morning. Hnatiuk was asleep, but the ring woke him up.

11:11

bengelinas: "Mark was saying he was all stressed out and that he had been at the garage the whole time," Hnatiuk says. "I thought he was joking about the break-in. He said that he was really stressed out. He said that it was weird, that stuff had been moved around, that the key didn't work on the door and police had to unscrew a bolt to get in."

11:13

bengelinas: Twitchell said the police had questioned him about his time at the garage and a missing person.

11:14

bengelinas: "I said if the garage had been broken into, it's a good thing we moved the car," Hnatiuk remembers telling Twitchell.

11:14

bengelinas: Twitchell sounded surprised. He said that he had forgotten about the car.

11:17

bengelinas: Hnatiuk wondered how Twitchell could forget about the car. Twitchell admitted he "must have just blanked."

11:18

bengelinas: Twitchell wondered if the car and the missing person could be linked. He asked Hnatiuk if it could be a "set-up" and wondered if his wife and daughter were safe. Twitchell then said he had to go, that he was receiving an incoming call from his wife.

11:18

bengelinas: (court is now on a short break)

11:43

bengelinas: Around noon on October 19, Hnatiuk called Twitchell to see if there was any news on whether the car was related or stolen. "If it was stolen I didn't want it on the property," Hnatiuk says.

11:43

bengelinas: Twitchell said he had just woken up and hadn't called the police to tell them about the car.

11:44

bengelinas: Hnatiuk said if Twitchell didn't call the police about the car right away, Hnatiuk would call them.

11:45

bengelinas: A few hours later, Twitchell called back. Twitchell said police believed the car was indeed stolen and they would be by to pick it up.

11:47

bengelinas: Police showed up at Hnatiuk's in the early morning hours of October 20. He was interviewed by police.

11:50

bengelinas: Under cross-examination, Hnatiuk says they mixed the fake blood inside the garage near the big garage doors.

11:50

bengelinas: He says following the House of Cards shoot, there was discussion among the players for the concept to be developed into some kind of ongoing series or feature film.

11:51

bengelinas: They also tossed around the idea of turning House of Cards into a web series.

12:03

bengelinas: Twitchell's lawyer Charles Davison challenged Hnatiuk on the claim that if Twitchell didn't call the police about the car right away, Hnatiuk would. This detail didn't appear in Hnatiuk's 2008 notes, nor did Hnatiuk bring it up in his interview with police. Hnatiuk agreed that the first time he likely remembered this detail was in preparation for Twitchell's trial.

12:15

bengelinas: Det. Brian Murphy, now in arson, was at the time of Altinger's disappearance a detective in Southwest Division. He met with Twitchell on October 19. Murphy was supposed to pick up a key to the garage from Twitchell. They agreed to meet at a northside 7-11 in order to do this.

12:17

bengelinas: They ended up talking for nearly an hour at the 7-11. Twitchell says to Murphy that there are some things he should know. He tells Murphy about his car getting broken into at Southgate on Oct 8. He tells Murphy about coming home with his wife on Oct 12 to find their front door unlocked. This was strange, Twitchell told Murphy, because his wife is like Jack Nicholson with her OCD.

12:18

bengelinas: Then Twitchell tells Murphy about Oct 15. Twitchell said a man approached his car at a gas station near the garage and offered to sell him a car. Twitchell tells Murphy the man knocked on the window, then made a circle motion with his hand, as if to suggest he roll down the window.

12:23

bengelinas: The man told Twitchell he'd just met a girl who was very wealthy. She was going to take him on a vacation for three months and buy him a new car when they got back. Twitchell told Murphy he bought the car for the money he had in his wallet and arranged to have the man drive the car to Twitchell's garage. When the man left, Twitchell realized the car was "a stick." So, Twitchell told Murphy, he called his friend Joss Hnatiuk and had Hnatiuk drive it to Hnatiuk's place.

12:25

bengelinas: Twitchell provided Murphy with a detailed description of the car and the man who sold it to him. The man was about 6'2", medium build, black hair, with a green windbreaker, black runners, a white tee and jeans. The man had a tattoo of a Celtic knot and was also named Mark.

12:26

bengelinas: The description of the car Twitchell gave to Murphy: a red 2005 Mazda.

12:27

bengelinas: "I told Mark after hearing this story that the other investigators have to know about this," Murphy says. "They're probably going to want you to give a statement." (This would be Twitchell's second statement/interview with police)

12:28

bengelinas: The investigators back at the station decided they needed to speak with Twitchell right away. They asked Twitchell (through Murphy) to drive his own car to police headquarters.

12:28

bengelinas: (court is now on a lunch break)

2:09

bengelinas: Det. Murphy joined Twitchell at police headquarters. Twitchell was asked to write a second statement.

2:11

bengelinas: Twitchell was then interviewed by homicide detective Bill Clark. It went from shortly after 2 a.m. and went well into 6 a.m., says Murphy, who was monitoring.

2:13

bengelinas: (We expect to begin watching that interview this afternoon. I will write off the audio feed when the interview is played.)

2:26

bengelinas: Detective Bill Clark is now on the stand. He says he and others in the homicide unit became involved in the missing person investigation the afternoon of October 19.

2:27

bengelinas: At that time, homicide took over the investigation. They didn't know it was a homicide yet, but Clark and Det. Mark Anstey were called in because the initial investigators "had their suspicions."

2:28

bengelinas: Clark asked that some patrol officers begin knocking on doors of homes near the garage.

2:29

bengelinas: Clark then started working the phones, calling everyone police believed to know Johnny Altinger.

2:30

bengelinas: Homicide dispatched the forensics unit to Altinger's apartment and Twitchell's garage.

2:34

bengelinas: At 10:25 p.m. that evening, Det. Anstey gave Clark information that raised Clark's suspicions about Twitchell. Anstey and Clark decided Twitchell would drive his own vehicle down to police headquarters.

2:34

bengelinas: Clark and Twitchell met shortly before midnight on October 19 in an interview room at headquarters. Clark asked Twitchell to provide a written statement on the new information he was providing. Twitchell spent more than two hours writing the statement, Clark says.

2:39

bengelinas: What follows is Twitchell's second written statement to police, as read by Clark:

2:39

bengelinas: I began renting the garage at 5712 40 ave from Kirkside real estate on September 1, 2008 for the purpose of using it as a filming location for a short movie I was producing. Throughout September myself, Jason Howatson and Mike Young had access to the building with a key to the dead bolt and the combination to a padlock that we added. I installed the padlock latch because the dead bolt holder did not look study or reliable and it was for that reason I rarely locked it myself.

2:43

bengelinas: We filmed the final weekend in September and used the garage on Saturday Sept 27th. The crew included myself, David Puff, Joss Hnatiuk, Scott Cooke, Mike Young and two actors including Chris Heward and Robert Barnsley. As with any film crew working all day we generated a fair amount of mess but ran late into the night and left it for the time being.

2:43

bengelinas: I returned to the garage on October 10th to clean up the mess left from the previous shoot, arriving at about 3:00 p.m. and departing between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. The garage has one powered bay door, one manual bay door, and one pedestrian door. I do not recall if the manual door was locked since we had used it previously.

2:43

bengelinas: Two days prior, on October 8th, I parked my car in the parking lot at Southgate mall so that Joss and I could attend the Kevin Smith show and go in his car to cut down on having to park two vehicles downtown. When we returned to my car after the show, although it appeared OK at first glance, I soon discovered the doors were unlocked and the vehicle had obviously been broken into. Among the items taken from my car were my sunglasses, some receipts, a Western Union receipt with my home address on it and the rental receipts from Kirkside with the garage's address on them.

2:47

bengelinas: On October 12th upon returning home from a family Thanksgiving dinner, I noticed my front door was completely unlocked, both the doorknob and deadbolt. I found this very suspicious since we habitually lock our house when we go out. The house did not seem disturbed and nothing was missing so we assumed we left it unlocked by accident but cannot be certain.

2:47

bengelinas: On October 15th, 2008 I had purchased new cleaning supplies to replace my old ones and planned to drop them off at the garage when I went there in the afternoon. I got a call on my cell phone and pulled over to take the call near the Mary Browns at 50 St and 40 Ave. As I completed my call a man tapped on my window to speak to me. I rolled it down and the man asked me if I wanted to buy a car from him. I was skeptical at first and asked him what he meant. He said he had hooked up with a wealthy woman who was taking him on a trip and would buy him something brand new when they got back so he did not care what he got for his. He asked me what I had on me and I told him forty dollars, expecting him to reject the offer.

2:52

bengelinas: However he accepted and since I was going to the garage anyway, I asked him to bring the car there and to follow me. He did so and parked the car inside the garage once I parked mine and got inside to open the door for him. I paid him the money, he showed me insurance and registration that seemed legitimate but I didn't see it that closely. He then left the garage, headed back to the direction we came. When he first approached me he seemed excited, easy going and natural but once we got to the garage he seemed impatient, quiet, nervous and in a rush.

2:52

bengelinas: The man had first introduced himself simply as Mark. I did not get a last name. He was 6'2", medium build with black hair and a tattoo of a Celtic knot on his neck to the right side. He was wearing a green windbreaker, jeans and black shoes, and he was Caucasian in ethnicity. I did not recall seeing him before but would easily recognize him again. I noticed the vehicle was a manual transmission and I do not know how to drive stick so I called a friend who can. His name is Joss Hnatiuk. I asked Joss if he wouldn't mind parking the car there until I had time to check it out with AMA to make sure it had no liens or wasn't stolen. I was thinking the following Monday would be my first chance to do so. Joss had no idea with the idea and came to pick the vehicle up.

2:56

bengelinas: I left the garage around 3:30 p.m. to my recollection. On the night of October 18th at 10:00 p.m. I received a call from Constable Maxwell asking me about the garage. I was surprised to hear from the police but I answered his questions. To my further surprise I came to learn that it may have been involved in a missing persons case and I was asked to come down and let the police in.

2:56

bengelinas: Naturally I immediately came to meet them with a sense of urgency to find out what was going on. I received two calls to my cell phone on the way there that I pulled over to take. Both were from Kirkside real estate wanting to know what was going on.

2:57

bengelinas: Between what the police had said and what I got from the police, it sounded as though someone had been using the garage without my knowledge on certain nights, that the lights were left on and that it involved a missing person.

3:00

bengelinas: Thoroughly confused, I met Constable Maxwell at the garage 11:30 p.m. We approached the back gate and he mentioned it had been locked the day before which sounded odd to me but I thought nothing of it. We continued to the pedestrian door where I immediately noticed the padlock had been swapped. I did not recognize the one on the latch and we had to unscrew the latch to enter the garage. I put the key into the deadbolt and do not remember feeling the bolt move or not since the whole thing is generally loose fitting anyway but the door opened.

3:00

bengelinas: The lights inside were on which I am fairly sure I did not do. Upon looking around the room I noticed several items were out of place. What I assume was my duct tape was used, several of my garbage bags were used, as was some of my paper towels. The cleaner I'm not sure about. The steel drum I use for a garbage can had been used to burn something in and was a

different color than the last time I saw it.

3:04

bengelinas: I did not think to check to see if the manual bay door was unlocked or not. I went back to sit in a police car with Constable Maxwell as we waited for Detective Mike Stabler (sic) to arrive on the scene. I think he got there around 2:30 a.m. Quite frequently my wife called, concerned about what was happening. Maxwell offered to speak to her but she just asked that I keep her updated.

3:04

bengelinas: Eventually we all came back to the South station where I gave a video taped statement via interview with detective Tabler. I think we began at 3:30 a.m. but I'm not sure. I was very tired and nearly fell asleep in the interview room.

3:05

bengelinas: The detective asked me about how and why I came to use the garage and about the dates and times was there. I answered his questions to the best of my ability at the time and tried to elaborate when he asked me about my career and family. I answered as truthfully and thoroughly as I could having been up for 22 hours with my wife obligation in the back of my mind. By the time I arrived back home after being dropped off back at my car, it was after five a.m. My wife and I slept in shifts, me first and then I took over watching our 8 month old daughter while she slept.

3:08

bengelinas: When she finally got up we discussed the night's events and it was during that conversation that some of the things which had happened to me/us separately may or may not have something to do with this case.

3:08

bengelinas: I got another phone call from detective Tabler during this time inquiring about others who had access to the garage or knew about the project being filmed there. It had not occurred to me until then that the situation with the car could have had anything to do with the missing person but things started to make sense, and so I wrote my observations about all of these events in an email I sent to detective Tabler just before I agreed to meet detective Murphy on the night of the 19th of October.

3:08

bengelinas: At this point it seems that whoever broke into my car on the 8th used all of the information they stole to use my location and personal property for who knows what. Or it could have been someone they knew, again I have no idea. At this point I'm alarmed that unknown persons know where I live and may be entering premises I'm supposed to be in control of. I don't know if the person who sold me the other car is involved but looking back it certainly feels that way and I have to wonder if I'm being targeted or if it's a nasty coincidence.

3:09

bengelinas: If this mystery car is the one the police are looking for in connection with the missing person, it makes sense being in the same neighborhood and I hope they can find something to make sense of this.

3:09

bengelinas: (end of Twitchell's second written statement to police)

3:10

bengelinas: Twitchell's statement was handed to Clark shortly before 2 a.m. on October 20. He read it, then stepped into the interview room where Twitchell was waiting.

3:20

bengelinas: The first part of Twitchell's interview with Clark has Twitchell going over everything he wrote out in the statement.

3:20

bengelinas: (court is on a short break)

3:45

bengelinas: Twitchell was interviewed in what appeared to be a pretty comfortable room. As Twitchell and Clark talked, Twitchell sat in one corner on a loveseat under a framed landscape painting.

3:46

bengelinas: In the video, Twitchell tells Clark he went to the garage on the afternoon of October 10 to clean up.

3:46

bengelinas: Clark: "OK, you're cleaning up, what are you cleaning up?"

3:48

bengelinas: Twitchell: "What we left there from the shoot. All the trash, the coffee cups, the extraneous stuff, any kind of, like, if there was anything left that was, like, an object, like a cushion or something that had my corn syrup mix on it, or something like that. I tried to get that out of there so it wasn't attracting bugs or anything."

3:48

bengelinas: Twitchell says he did the clean up by himself.

3:49

bengelinas: Then, on October 15, Twitchell says he came back to the garage with more cleaning supplies because he realized he would need more the next time they shoot there.

3:57

bengelinas: Clark takes him through October 15 in great detail. What did Twitchell do when he woke up? (checked his e-mail) What did he have for lunch? (Twitchell says he doesn't remember)

3:57

bengelinas: What gas station did he stop at? (Shell, Twitchell says)

3:59

bengelinas: Clark: "I find that when i do this, even though it's basically irrelevant to what we're getting at, it will help you remember things when we get to the meat of the story."

4:00

bengelinas: "Then I go on Fiftieth Street south and I'm going to take a right on Fortieth Ave. That's when the phone call takes place," Twitchell says.

4:01

bengelinas: "Okay," Clark says. "A phone call from who?"

4:01

bengelinas: "From my co-producer," Twitchell says.

4:01

bengelinas: "What's his name?" Clark asks.

4:02

bengelinas: Twitchell sighs. "His name is R. P. Daniels. Well, it's Robert P. Daniels. He likes to go by Pete. he leave his voicemail as R.P. but..."

4:02

bengelinas:

Clark interrupts. "Mm hm. And where's he calling from?"

4:02

bengelinas: "Los Angeles," Twitchell says.

4:03

bengelinas: "And what company does he work for?" Clark asks.

4:03

bengelinas: "Uh, Sunflower Media Corp," Twitchell says.

4:03

bengelinas: "Do you know Mr. Daniels' phone number?" Clark asks.

4:03

bengelinas: "Yeah," Twitchell says. "I don't have it on me though."

4:04

bengelinas: "Where do you keep that?" Clark asks.

4:04

bengelinas: "In my regular phone," Twitchell says. "It's in my car at the moment."

4:07

bengelinas: When Twitchell hangs up he says there's a tap on the window. It's the man Twitchell talked about in the statement. The man, it turned out, had a car to sell for cheap.

4:08

bengelinas: Clark's questions focus on a level of detail that requires Twitchell to describe the exact route he drove to the garage from the spot where the man knocked on his window.

4:11

bengelinas: Clark has Twitchell once again describe the man. He goes into more detail, saying the green windbreaker had white stripes down the side.

4:12

bengelinas: "The only distinguishing thing that he had, 'cause he didn't have any facial hair, was the tattoo on his neck on his right side," Twitchell says.

4:12

bengelinas: "What was the tattoo of?" Clark asks.

4:12

bengelinas: "The best way I could describe it is to call it a Celtic knot," Twitchell says.

4:12

bengelinas: "What's that?" asks Clark.

4:14

bengelinas: "It's like a circle of interwoven thatch work, I guess you could say. I don't know how to describe that. It's kind of just a lot of

overlapping pieces that make it look like it's an intricate knot working designed into a circle," Twitchell says, "that has a distinctively Celtic look to it. It's something you might see on the front of an Irish church or something. I don't know."

4:15

bengelinas: Twitchell says the man was in his late 20s or early 30s, with shoulder-length hair.

4:16

bengelinas: Clark then asks Twitchell to draw a map of the point in the road off 40th Avenue at 50th Street where he stopped to talk on the phone and subsequently met the man with the Mazda.

4:21

bengelinas: Again, at Clark's request, Twitchell describes the Mazda sale, the back and forth between Twitchell and the man. Twitchell says again that he took $40 for the Mazda.

4:21

bengelinas: "Do you not think that's kind of strange?" Clark asks Twitchell. "You're paying $40 dollars for a car. How much did you think the car was worth?"

4:22

bengelinas: "I thought it was worth somewhere between three and four thousand," Twitchell says.

4:22

bengelinas: "But you're paying $40 for it," says Clark.

4:24

bengelinas: "Yeah, I mean, yeah, I wasn't sure what to make of it," Twitchell says. "I didn't know if the guy was crazy or what his deal was. He seemed pretty genuine about his story in terms of what he was saying. So I take him at his word. I didn't put a whole lot of stock in it. I didn't get my hopes up about it or anything. I just figured I'll check into it. Of course I planned to check with AMA, see if there was any liens on it or if it had been reported stolen or if any of that stuff was the case. Then I would just report it right away and get rid of it."

4:25

bengelinas: "Did you think it might be stolen?" Clark asks.

4:25

bengelinas: "I wasn't sure," says Twitchell. "It didn't seem that way. It didn't look like the car had been damaged in any way. The guy seemed to be put together pretty well in terms of the way he was presenting so..."

4:26

bengelinas: "But you guys didn't do a bill of sale up?" Clark asks.

4:26

bengelinas: "No," says Twitchell.

4:26

bengelinas: "Didn't you think that kinda strange?" asks Clark.

4:26

bengelinas: "Actually I didn't find out until after the fact that that was a normal thing," Twitchell says. "I never actually purchased or sold a used car before."

4:27

bengelinas: "What, you bought all your cars new or what?" says Clark.

4:27

bengelinas: "Yeah, or through a dealership," says Twitchell.

4:27

bengelinas: "You still get a bill of sale at a dealership," Clark says.

4:27

bengelinas: "Well, yeah..." says Twitchell. He laughs.

4:28

bengelinas: "That's true."

4:28

bengelinas: "When you buy a house, you get a bill of sale," says Clark. "Come on, you're not a young, 16-year-old kid here."

4:30

bengelinas: "That seems a little strange to me," Clark says. "You don't get a bill of sale when you're buying a car for $40 that's worth several thousand? You don't ask a lot of questions? It's kind of willful blindness."

4:31

bengelinas: "It's just, you know, optimism," Twitchell says. "Trying to hope for the best, I guess."

4:31

bengelinas: "If you don't get a bill of sale, how were you planning to register the thing?" Clark asks.

4:32

bengelinas: "Well, I was under the impression that you could go to the AMA and get it registered if you had the VIN number and it all checked it out," Twitchell says.

4:32

bengelinas: (court has broken for the day and is expected to resume with more from the interview at 10 a.m. Friday)

Friday March 25, 2011 10:13 bengelinas: This morning the jury is listening to more of Bill Clark's marathon interview with Mark Twitchell, which took place in the early morning hours of October 20, 2008.

10:15

bengelinas: As court watches a video recording of the interview, I will be writing live off a feed with help from an interview transcript.

10:18

bengelinas: Twitchell told police in his statement that his car was broken into when he parked it at Southgate Mall en route to a Kevin Smith Q&A downtown on October 8. "How did your car get broken into?" Clark asks Twitchell.

10:20

bengelinas: Twitchell yawns. "I went to park at the Southgate Mall to meet Joss and then he came and picked me up and we went in his car, 'cause we figured one car's a lot easier to park downtown," he says. "The show went from about eight 'til eleven-thirty.

They kick him off at eleven-thirty and then it took us another half hour to get back. We were back in the parking lot at uh at midnight and..."

10:20

bengelinas: "I mean how did how did they get into the car?" Clark says. "How did they get into your car?"

10:20

bengelinas: "Oh," says Twitchell.

10:20

bengelinas: "How did they actually break into it?" Clark asks again.

10:22

bengelinas: "Uh, I'm not sure," Twitchell says. "When I, when I got to the vehicle it was, uh, already unlocked. So, I mean, if I had to guess I would say going in through the window. Like that thing where you try to, you know..."

10:22

bengelinas: "The metal shim?" Clark says.

10:23

bengelinas: "Yeah," says Twitchell. "The thing."

10:23

bengelinas: "But there was no broken window or you didnt leave any windows down?" Clark asks.

10:23

bengelinas: "No," says Twitchell.

10:26

bengelinas: Clark moves on. He asks Twitchell where he got the barrel. Twitchell says he got it off a website and it was delivered by a courier. Clark asks Twitchell for his e-mail, which includes the name "Kit Fisto." Twitchell explains that Kit Fisto is a character from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

10:27

bengelinas: "It's a green dude who smiles a lot," Twitchell says, laughing a little.

10:27

bengelinas: "Can't say I saw that one," Clark says, also laughing a little.

10:28

bengelinas: Clark leaves Twitchell on his own for a little over half an hour. When he comes back, he informs Twitchell they will be sending forensic identification officers to the garage.

10:30

bengelinas: Clark has Twitchell list all the cleaning supplies he brought to the garage: a pair of plastic gloves in a package, a six pack of paper towels, a roll of plastic sheeting (used to catch the corn syrup, Twitchell says).

10:31

bengelinas: "You mentioned garbage bags," Clark says.

10:31

bengelinas: "Yeah I had garbage bags in there previously," Twitchell says. "We used some of em to block out the windows so that the light wouldnt get inside when we didnt want it to. I used a couple of em for the garbage purposes, but it seemed like there was a lot more gone when we checked. When we went in there with the police it seemed like all but like half of one of the two rolls that were in the box was missing."

10:33

bengelinas: Clark asks Twitchell what he did on Oct. 14. Election day. Twitchell says he didn't vote. Beyond that, he doesn't remember what he did that day. "It's the night before you bought the vehicle," Clark says. "It's only five days ago."

10:33

bengelinas: "So, Mark, what do you think happened to this John Altinger?" Clark asks.

10:33

bengelinas: "I have no idea," Twitchell says.

10:33

bengelinas: "Do you think he's really missing?" Clark asks.

10:34

bengelinas: "It sounds like it," Twitchell says. "It sounds like people are taking it seriously."

10:34

bengelinas: "How do you think the results of this investigation are gonna come out on you?" Clark asks.

10:35

bengelinas: "Well positively, I would think," Twitchell says. "Ive been trying to tell you guys everything that I know."

10:35

bengelinas: "Okay," says Clark. "What do you think should happen to the person if theres been harm done to John Altinger?"

10:36

bengelinas: "I dont know," says Twitchell. "I mean I guess it depends on what were talking about."

10:36

bengelinas: "Well, what if we find out theres been foul play and hes been murdered?" Clark asks. "What do you think should happen to the person?"

10:36

bengelinas: "They should go to jail," Twitchell says.

10:36

bengelinas: "Do you think if theres been foul play to John that the person who did this to him deserves a second chance under any circumstances?" Clark asks.

10:37

bengelinas: "I would say no," Clark says.

10:37

bengelinas: Clark leaves. When he comes back, Clark reminds Twitchell he can call a lawyer at any time. Then he says...

10:38

bengelinas: "Theres absolutely no doubt in my mind that youre involved in the disappearance of John Altinger. No doubt in my mind at all, Mark."

10:38

bengelinas: "I just wanna get to the bottom of this," Clark says. "Because this is not gonna go away. Its not gonna leave you Mark."

10:39

bengelinas: "I dont understand," Twitchell says.

10:40

bengelinas: "Youre involved in this and unfortunately something got carried away," Clark says. "Something got carried away with this guy. I mean, talking to you here tonight, you seem like a decent guy. And I think that something happened that night that maybe you just didnt have total control of. And Im here to get to the bottom of it, because its not gonna go away. This is gonna stay with you and we need to clear this up here and now we need to clear this up tonight. You need to tell me the truth about whats going on. What happened with this fella. I mean, if this happened because of of the movie thing something that went too far..."

10:40

bengelinas: "No," Twitchell says. "I have no idea what the hells going on."

10:40

bengelinas: "You do have an idea," Clark says. "You have a very good idea Mark about whats going on. You know exactly what happened there that night."

10:41

bengelinas: Twitchell sighs.

10:41

bengelinas: "I mean you havent told us the truth. You havent told us anything close to the truth," Clark says. "You do understand weve talked to Joss. Weve got his side of the story. All Im looking for is your side of the story. But the truth. Not what youve been telling me, 'cause what youve been telling me hasnt been the truth. Has it Mark?"

10:42

bengelinas: "This can't be... I don't," says Twitchell.

10:42

bengelinas: "What do you mean it cant be?" Clark asks.

10:42

bengelinas: "I just dont understand," Twitchell says.

10:43

bengelinas: "Well what dont you understand?" Clark asks. "We have a fella whos missing. We know hes been to your garage. Weve talked to all the neighbors now. The neighbors saw you changing the lock. About a week, week and a half ago. Neighbors watch. They see all these things. Little things that you dont realize."

10:45

bengelinas: "Youve changed your whole story," Clark says. "All kinds of different lies. Now I know this isnt an easy thing to live with. Something went wrong there. Like I said, I dont think youre a bad guy. You seem like a decent guy. You got a wife. You got a small child."

10:45

bengelinas: "I think its a tough life what youre in," Clark says. "Youre trying to do your best, but something went wrong. Maybe you were just trying to make a better movie, I dont know. But something went wrong and youre involved. And this is not gonna go away, Mark. And you know that youre not a dumb guy. You know its not gonna go away. This is gonna keep on eating at you and eating at you."

10:46

bengelinas: "I just feel like Im in the f--king Twilight Zone right now," Twitchell says.

10:48

bengelinas: "Why do you feel youre in the Twilight Zone?" Clark asks. "You are definitely not a dumb man. You know very well that you dont buy a car thats worth over ten thousand dollars from someone for forty dollars. You know that. You know that you get a bill of sale. You deal with items on eBay. You sell items all the time. Just like going to the store and buying anything. That part of your story is just lie after lie after lie. And its time to end those lies Mark."

10:48

bengelinas: Clark wonders why Twitchell never brought up the car the night before, during his interview with Det. Tabler.

10:49

bengelinas: "Not once do you mention a red car. Or buying a car off an individual you didnt know for forty dollars. While hes asking you about the disappearance of a guy whos seen at your garage. And its obvious why you didnt mention it, because you had something to do with his disappearance," Clark says. "What happened to John, Mark? Whatd you do with him?"

10:50

bengelinas: "Wrong tree," Twitchell says.

10:50

bengelinas: "Wrong tree?" Clark asks.

10:50

bengelinas: "Mm hm," Twitchell says.

10:50

bengelinas: "And what do you mean by that?" Clark asks.

10:51

bengelinas: Twitchell sighs. "Im done," he says.

10:51

bengelinas: "What do you mean youre done?" Clark asks.

10:51

bengelinas: "Im mean Im just not talking anymore," Twitchell says. "This is ridiculous."

10:52

bengelinas: "Well, what is your explanation?" Clark says. "You havent answered any of the questions. If you didnt do anything wrong, why wouldnt you answer those questions? Do you know why? Mark, both you and I know the answer: youre involved."

10:52

bengelinas: Twitchell just sighs.

10:54

bengelinas: "You have the license plates, to his vehicle, in your car. You have the keys to his vehicle in your car. And this guy's missing and you have his car. You need to accept the fact here, Mark, that your life has now changed," Clark says. "Whats gonna happen with your wife and child now? What are they gonna do?"

10:54

bengelinas: "Was this your plan or was this somebody elses?" Clark asks. "Somebody else put you up to this? Do you not have any answers Mark? Why not? Im telling you that youre involved in this disappearance and you sit there and say nothing. Shocks me."

10:55

bengelinas: "I just cant figure out the why," Clark says. "What drove you to this?"

10:55

bengelinas: "Is anything that youre saying genuine or is this some sort of tactic?" Twitchell says.

10:56

bengelinas: "You gotta get away from the acting part,Mark. And listen to what Im saying. You have told me nothing but lies," Clark says. "An innocent man does not come in here and tell lies. Thats genuine, Mark. Everything Im telling you in here is genuine. So get outta your film producer mode and the faade of thinking that everyones an actor."

10:56

bengelinas: Twitchell sighs.

10:57

bengelinas: "You cant remember about the fourteenth," Clark says. "Why did you lie about the fifteenth? What is your explanation for providing me basically different versions of what happened on the fifteenth?"

10:57

bengelinas: "Am I being charged?" Twitchell asks.

10:58

bengelinas: "Not yet," Clark says.

10:58

bengelinas: "Am I free to go?"

10:58

bengelinas: "Yup," says Clark.

10:58

bengelinas: "Then I will," Twitchell says.

10:59

bengelinas: "Okay," Clark says. "Were seizing your car. So you wont be getting it back. Well be getting a search warrant to go through the car. Forensic examination. As soon as were done interviewing everybody else, well be coming back to charge you. Its just a matter of time."

10:59

bengelinas: "Do you have any questions about any of that?" asks Clark. "Do you wanna clear anything up now so I dont have to keep coming after you?"

10:59

bengelinas: Twitchell sighs and says nothing.

11:00

bengelinas: "Are you that cold a person Mark that you can live with this the rest of your life?" Clark says. "It doesnt bother you at all?"

11:00

bengelinas: "What does that mean?" Twitchell asks.

11:00

bengelinas: "Well youre involved in this disappearance of this guy," Clark says.

11:01

bengelinas: "But: 'live with it.' What do you mean?" Twitchell asks.

11:02

bengelinas: "What you did to him," Clark says. "You can live with that? Thats what I mean. You can live with that whats happened to him? I mean, only you know whats happened to him. Ill find that out eventually. Its gonna take me a little time, though. I just got involved in this case today. But its so obvious youre involved Mark its like youre not a very good actor. And youre in the business!"

11:02

bengelinas: "I never said I was an actor," Twitchell says.

11:06

bengelinas: "Producer," Clark says. "Youve seen actors. Youre not good at it at all. Youre a very, very poor liar. But I mean, how do you go home at night, living with yourself for what youve done to this guy. How do you explain that to your wife? Your childs eight months, so you dont have to explain it to her. She wont even know whats going on. Its gonna eat at you. If youre a normal person, its gonna eat at you. If youre that cold and callous, which I dont think you are, you dont strike me as that type of person. Now if something went wrong in that garage that day then you need to tell me that. If something went wrong that was out of your control this is your chance to tell it."

11:07

bengelinas: "You know this is your chance to say, 'Hey, detective. Something went wrong. Things got outta control. Somethin happened there that I didnt wanna happen.'"

11:08

bengelinas: "This is your chance," Clark says. "I dont know much about this John guy. Im slowly finding out things. But something went wrong when he came over to that garage when you were there. This is your chance to tell me. I mean if you guys got into an argument over something I dont know what. And things got carried away. So be it. We can deal with that. But you have to let me know that."

11:09

bengelinas: "I dont know exactly what happened. What I do know is that youre involved," Clark says. "And you know that. Its obvious. Its obvious by your whole demeanor. And like I said its not going away. Its just starting to build."

11:10

bengelinas: (court is on break)

11:31

bengelinas: "Is this something that you tried to avoid and you just couldnt?" Clark asks.

11:31

bengelinas: "What do you mean?" Twitchell asks.

11:32

bengelinas: "Well, I dont know. Did he try something in there? Did he try something and youre just defending yourself? I dont know," Clark says. "You were the one that was there."

11:33

bengelinas: "I cant help but feel like thats a tactic I just feel like everything is a tactic for you now," Twitchell says.

11:34

bengelinas: "Why do you think that when you know what Ive told you in this room is the truth," Clark says. "How do you say that's a tactic?"

11:34

bengelinas: "I just I know were not sitting in a movie, but its the cop thing," Twitchell says.

11:35

bengelinas: "This is real-life stuff," Clark says. "You gotta get away from the movies."

11:35

bengelinas: "Yeah, I know," Twitchell says.

11:37

bengelinas: "If something happened there between the two of you then you need to let me know now," Clark says. "Was it just the two of you in the garage or did he come with someone else?"

11:37

bengelinas: "I think the guy..." Twitchell stops, then sighs. "I need some time. I need to be able to sleep."

11:38

bengelinas: "This isnt gonna go away while you sleep, Mark," Clark says.

11:38

bengelinas: "I know," Twitchell says.

11:39

bengelinas: "Thats the problem," Clark says. "Something happened there. Both you and I know it. And time isnt gonna make it go away. Its time for you to step up to the plate. Tell me what happened to John. Tell me where he is, so we can do the decent thing. Not only for him but for his family. And for your own well-being. Youre not gonna be able to live with yourself with this for the rest of your life."

11:39

bengelinas: "Youd be surprised what I can live with," Twitchell says.

11:40

bengelinas: This whole conversation is happening in soft voices. Both Clark and Twitchell are at times almost whispering.

11:42

bengelinas: "Its gonna eat at you and eat at you. Its gonna affect your family 'cause its affecting you," Clark says. "Whats gonna happen with your daughter? I know thats weighing on your mind. I know its weighing on your mind about your wife.

How would you describe your marriage? Is it good?"

11:42

bengelinas: "Everything is going fantastic," Twitchell says.

11:46

Screengrab of Twitchell (top) and Clark (bottom) during interview 11:46

bengelinas: Twitchell wonders how his wife is doing. He tells Clark his wife has been having trouble sleeping, had to take drugs. Twitchell apparently goes to check his phone for messages. "When I didnt come home she started calling again," he says.

11:47

bengelinas: "Well, shes worried about you," Clark says.

11:47

bengelinas: Twitchell sighs.

11:48

bengelinas: Clark tells Twitchell that sometimes things happen by accident.

11:49

bengelinas: "Was this an accident? How did it happen Mark? I kinda think this has happened spur of the moment, 'cause you didnt really do a lot of thinking afterward," Clark says.

11:50

bengelinas: "If that's the case, this is the time to tell me," Clark says.

11:50

bengelinas: "As opposed to what other time?" Twitchell asks.

11:51

bengelinas: "Theres not gonna be another time," Clark says. "Im just telling you, and I keep telling you, and you know it, youve agreed with me, that its not gonna go away."

11:51

bengelinas: "What time did you wake up today?" Twitchell asks Clark.

11:51

bengelinas: "Early," Clark says.

11:51

bengelinas: "Is the adrenaline keeping you going?" Twitchell asks him.

11:52

bengelinas: "No. Im tired too," Clark says.

11:52

bengelinas: "I feel like thats all that Im on right now," Twitchell says.

11:52

bengelinas: "So lets get to the truth," Clark says. "And then we can end this. The problem is you dont wanna tell me the truth. Why dont you wanna tell me the truth? Can you answer that question Mark? Why cant you give me your version of events that night?"

11:53

bengelinas: "Because Im scared," Twitchell says, stammering. "I always have this instinct to wanna be able to try to hold on to I dont even know what."

11:53

bengelinas: "I can imagine youre scared," Clark says. "Thats a perfectly natural feeling at this time. But things happen there Mark between you and John. And I dont think he can speak for himself anymore. Youre the only one that can tell us what happened that night. Whats going through your mind right now Mark?"

11:54

bengelinas: "Almost nothing," Twitchell says. "Anything I try to push out is like Whats it like Its like skating uphill (being so tired and trying to formulate thoughts)."

11:55

bengelinas: "I dont think you need to formulate thought," Clark says. "What I think you need to formulate is the truth. Theres two sides to every story."

11:55

bengelinas: "Yeah," Twitchell says. "But stories come with questions and more answers and more stories."

11:56

bengelinas: "Well, stories come with facts and truth," Clark says. "There wont be many questions. People make mistakes. It happens every day. Some mistakes are bigger than others. But life goes on and we deal with those mistakes."

11:56

bengelinas: "Well, I guess my marriage is over so I dont really have to worry about protecting her anymore," Twitchell says.

11:56

bengelinas: "Your daughter will be taken care of," Clark says.

11:57

bengelinas: "Your wifes here, your mother and father," Clark says. "Your parents are in Edmonton are they not?"

11:57

bengelinas: Twitchell says: "Mm hm."

11:58

bengelinas: "Shell be looked after," Clark says. "I can see this is eating you up. Something went wrong there Mark. Tell me what went wrong. You know deep down, Mark, that everything Ive told you in this room has been a fact. Has been the truth. I havent tried to baffle you with bullshit on anything."

11:58

bengelinas: "You say that, but part of me is always gonna wonder," Twitchell says.

11:59

bengelinas: "Thats 'cause you watch too much TV," Clark says. "We all do, I guess."

11:59

bengelinas: "I think I understand the difference," Twitchell says.

12:00

bengelinas: "The bottom line though is Im just here to get the truth," Clark says. "And the truth isnt always pleasant. I know that. I mean, this wasnt somebody you knew. You were not close to this fella. You didnt know what he was like. Not a family member. I just dont know what set it off. Your demeanor appears to be so calm. So rational. Like what set it off that night to set these things in motion? What happened between you and John, Mark?"

12:01

bengelinas: "I cant even get there right now," Twitchell says. "Right now Im thinking about immediate needs like"

12:01

bengelinas: "What are those immediate needs?" Clark asks.

12:02

bengelinas: "My contact lenses are gonna burn a hole in my head in a couple of hours," Twitchell says. "I wanna get to the finish line, but at the same time I think..."

12:02

bengelinas: Clark interrupts. "Well, I think we should get to the finish line."

12:02

bengelinas: "Consulting with a lawyer is gonna be really important," Twitchell says.

12:03

bengelinas: "You can do that at any time you want," Clark says. "I told you that right from the start."

12:03

bengelinas: "How long have you been married Mark?"

12:04

bengelinas: "Almost two years. This time."

12:04

bengelinas: "How long were you married the first time," Clark asks.

12:04

bengelinas: "Four," Twitchell says. "Looks like Ill become the statistic. Didnt expect that."

12:05

bengelinas: "Why?" Clark asks him. "I think youre already were a statistic when you were divorced the first time. Right?

12:07

bengelinas: Clark talks about some of the guys he knows at the maximum-security prison here in Edmonton.

12:07

bengelinas: "Those guys show no emotion over anything. Theyre cold. Thats not you," Clark says. "Everythings running through your head right now. And rightly so. Its not an easy thing. I know youd love to go back and take back that day, but you cant. You know you cant do that. Whats done is done. But you can move on from here, and yeah its not easy. Of course not. Its not gonna be easy. But its also not the end. Its not the end of your life. Its not the end of your familys life. Im sure youre still gonna wanna see your daughter one day. You made a mistake."

12:09

bengelinas: "Your car break-in had nothing to do with this," Clark says. "I dont believe your car was even broken in to. You realized you made a mistake. Things got carried away. Something happened to John. And you panicked. You didnt know what to do and you made up a story."

12:09

bengelinas: "I mean, the irony of this is you could probably make a movie out of this one day," Clark says. "Something like this happens, you write a script and make a movie. Probably never been done. But things are gonna change for you now and you know that. And I think this has been eating at you since it happened. Its probably been wreaking havoc on your home life too."

12:10

bengelinas: "Do you have any idea what its like living with constant apprehension?" Twitchell asks Clark.

12:10

bengelinas: "I cant say that I do," Clark says.

12:10

bengelinas: "Id like to not feel that anymore," Twitchell says.

12:11

bengelinas: "Well this is your chance to get rid of that feeling," Clark says.

12:12

bengelinas: Twitchell asks Clark how he might go about getting a lawyer. Clark says there's a phone outside the interview room where he can call a lawyer -- legal aid if need be.

12:13

bengelinas: "That apprehension youre feeling," Clark says. "How long have you been feeling that?"

12:13

bengelinas: "Any longer than two minutes is too long," Twitchell says.

12:14

bengelinas: "Has it been going on since this happened?" Clark asks.

12:14

bengelinas: Twitchell says: "I need," then he trails off.

12:14

bengelinas: "Was it going on before?" Clark asks. "Would you feel more comfortable writing down what happened?"

12:15

bengelinas: "I mean you can write out what happened that night if you want," Clark says. "Dont you think it's right? The moral thing to do to get this guy back to his family? Give them some closure. His friends have called us."

12:15

bengelinas: "If there are other stressors going on in you life at the time this is what you need to tell me now," Clark says.

12:16

bengelinas: "Wouldnt that really be irrelevant though?" Twitchell asks.

12:17

bengelinas: "I would think it would be very relevant, dont you think? Whether they be financial, at home, marriage, health. I dont know. Lots of things go on behind closed doors," Clark says. "Every one of us has three lives. We have our work life, where we behave one way at work. We have our home life, where we behave a certain way at home. And we have our secret life."

12:18

bengelinas: "I guarantee every single person on this planet has a secret life, things they do that maybe they dont want people to know," Clark says. "It could be good or bad. Dont always have to be good and they dont always have to be bad. Something went on there. In one of your lives. I think something was going on in all three of your lives that led to this."

12:18

bengelinas: "You mentioned earlier your marriage is over," Clark says. "Why do you say that?."

12:19

bengelinas: "Its complicated," Twitchell says. "Its just so friggin complicated it would take you hours just to go through that."

12:19

bengelinas: "I wouldnt mind listening," Clark says.

12:19

bengelinas: Twitchell sighs.

12:20

bengelinas: Twitchell tries to call his wife but there's no answer. "Shes not there," he says. "She might be sleeping."

12:20

bengelinas: "What do you think's gonna happen to you?" Clark asks Twitchell.

12:21

bengelinas: "At this point, I don't know," Twitchell says.

12:30

bengelinas: "Do you know the difference between the three types of murder?" Clark asks. "First degree, second degree, manslaughter?"

12:30

bengelinas: "Is it intent?" asks Twitchell.

12:31

bengelinas: "Yeah basically," Clark says. "First degree's like planning it. Second degree is basically not planning it. Manslaughter is spur of the moment, well like a bar fight or something."

12:31

bengelinas: "Whats the category for suicidal?" Twitchell asks.

12:32

bengelinas: "Why, are you suicidal?" Clark asks.

12:32

bengelinas: "Whats the point, I mean," Twitchell says. "If everything that Ive been working for is just suddenly gonna end" He laughs a little.

12:32

bengelinas: "But you know thats gonna happen," Clark says. "Theres no way to to sugarcoat that or to sweeten that up."

12:33

bengelinas: "But is that any reason to take your own life?" Clark asks.

12:33

bengelinas: "I don't know," Twitchell says, sighing.

12:34

bengelinas: "Is that any reason to leave your daughter without a father? Regardless of whether youre with right beside her or living in the same house, youre still her father," Clark says. "And of course it isnt the best of circumstances, but youre not gonna be away from her forever. There will come a time when youll be back to see her."

12:35

bengelinas: "But you wouldnt be back to see her if you took your own life. Then youd never be in her life," Clark says. "Shed never know the real you. And the real you is not this person that did this to John. We know that. This is something that happened because you werent thinking straight."

12:36

bengelinas: The interview tape ends at about that point. The jury previously heard from Det. Brian Murphy, who was monitoring the interview, that the tape ended because it was full.

12:38

bengelinas: Before court breaks for lunch, Justice Terry Clackson tells the jury not to treat Clark's comments as evidence.

12:38

bengelinas: He says they must accept that a person accused of a crime can remain silent, and his refusal to remain silent cannot be used against him. This includes ignoring questions.

12:39

bengelinas:

Clackson also says Twitchell has a right to a lawyer, and the jury cannot infer that he did anything wrong just because he wants one.

12:39

bengelinas: Court resumes at 2 p.m. MDT

2:12

bengelinas: Mark Twitchell left headquarters at 6:40 a.m. Clark says he walked Twitchell out of the station and reminded Twitchell that his car would be seized.

2:12

bengelinas: "He asked me to get something out of the vehicle," Clark says.

2:13

bengelinas: "I told him he wasn't getting out of the vehicle, that I was seizing it and we would be getting a search warrant to seize that vehicle."

2:14

bengelinas: Twitchell's Grand AM, plate: DRK JEDI, was parked in the front lot of the station. Clark drove it to a nearby police garage to keep it secure.

2:15

bengelinas: Crown prosecutor Avril Inglis wants to know more about Clark's interview tactics. At one point during the interview, Clark asked Twitchell to recall the events of the car sale backwards. Clark says the technique is used sometimes to draw out new details or "detect deception."

2:17

bengelinas: After the car was seized, Clark partnered up with Dale Johnson, another homicide detective to visit Twitchell's home in St. Albert.

2:18

bengelinas: They went there to secure the home, in case Twitchell came home and attempted to change anything. They met Twitchell's wife Jess at the door and told her they were securing the house for an eventual search.

2:20

bengelinas: Clark later interviewed many of the crew involved in House of Cards and acted as a liaison between the police and victim Johnny Altinger's family.

2:22

bengelinas: They placed 24-7 surveillance on Twitchell. Twitchell spent much of the rest of October at his parents' place in north Edmonton. He was arrested outside their home on Halloween.

2:23

bengelinas: Defense lawyer Charles Davison had no questions for Clark beyond one small clarification.

2:28

bengelinas: An statement of facts agreed upon by both the Crown and the accused is now being read to the jury.

2:32

bengelinas: In the statement, Twitchell admits that he had a key to his parents' home during October 2008, and could come and go as he pleased, including weekday daytime hours when both his parents were at work.

2:41

bengelinas: The jury has left for the weekend. Court is expected to resume Monday at 10 a.m. MDT. We've posted the video recording of Det. Clark's interview with Twitchell on October 20, 2008. The shorter version begins when Clark returns to the room and suggests Twitchell had something to do with Johnny Altinger's disappearance. It can be viewed here: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/twitchell-case/Video+Twitchell+police+interview/4505066/story.html

2:42

bengelinas: You can view all major documents so far submitted as evidence in this case here: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/twitchell-case/documents.html

Sunday March 27, 2011 11:58 Moderator: Please click back here on Monday at 10 a.m. MDT when Ben Gelinas will resume the live blog from the Twitchell trial. In the meantime you can catch up on stories, court documents, video evidence amd more on our Twitchell Trial page. Monday March 28, 2011 10:22 bengelinas: Good morning. Today the jury hears from Const. Michael Rozsko, a computer forensic analyst with the Edmonton Police Service's Technological Crime Unit.

10:27

bengelinas: He received computer evidence seized by the EPS forensic team, including Mark Twitchell's Toshiba laptop, decorated with Spider-Man stickers. He removed the hard drive from the laptop and copied the contents.

10:32

bengelinas: Rozsko says he used two different programs to search Twitchell's laptop, to make sure he found everything there was to find on the computer.

10:33

bengelinas: It can take anywhere from an hour to a day or a couple days to analyze a hard drive, he says.

10:35

Partial contents of Twitchell's car 10:39

bengelinas: Roszko did keyword searches: The first words he searched were: "pooky," "Jen" + "handyman" and "Altinger." At that stage, "pooky" was suspected to be a partial username of interest. He found nothing relevant.

10:59

bengelinas: So Roszko began searching through Twitchell's deleted files. "Fairly quickly," the officer noted a deleted temporary file that apparently sat at one time on the computer's desktop.

11:00

bengelinas: He read the opening line: "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."

11:01

bengelinas: Roszko called the homicide detectives.

11:10

bengelinas: Roszko soon found a second temporary file with a different file name. Much of the text in this file was the same, but it had additional readable text at the end. The additional section began: "This one was more rural, further out of town between two farming communities and would have been ideal except that by the time I got there my timing was no longer optimal."

11:44

bengelinas: Roszko further analyzed the second temporary file and found a reference to the Microsoft Word document: "SKconfessions.doc" that he deduced to be the name of the actual document that had created these temporary files.

11:50

bengelinas: He couldn't find the actual document on the computer. But he did find a similar document on the computer in a Temporary Internet Files folder called "SKconfessions[1].docx," which was essentially a shorter version.

11:53

bengelinas: This version of the file appeared to be downloaded, while the first two appeared to have been created on the computer.

11:54

bengelinas: The docx file was downloaded on October 17 shortly after 5 p.m.

11:55

bengelinas: The temp files came later. The first was created shortly after the docx was downloaded. The second file, the one with additional text, was created a day later shortly after 9 p.m.

12:01

bengelinas: Roszko later found a fourth file on the computer that appeared to be a continuation of the writings, which appeared to be part of a file that had deleted. To find it, he used key words found in the other writings.

12:02

bengelinas: The new text began: "The sewer. Of course, how obvious. No one ever goes down there."

12:06

bengelinas: Roszko pieced together these four documents. He is about to read the writings as one piece to the jury.

12:10

bengelinas: Justice Terry Clackson is warning the jury that some of what they are about to hear could cause them to conclude that Twitchell is a bad or immoral. He says they may find the writings offensive or repulsive. But that should have no bearing on their decision in this murder trial. "All people, nice or nasty, are presumed innocent and cannot be convicted simply because they are imperfect," Clarkson says.

12:10

bengelinas: (I will not write out the whole document, but include key portions)

12:11

bengelinas: It opens: "This story is based on true events. The names and events were altered slightly to protect the guilty."

12:11

bengelinas: "This is the story of my progression into becoming a serial killer. Like anyone just starting out in a new skill, I had a bit of trial and error in the beginning of my misadventures. Allow me to start from the beginning and I think you'll see what I mean."

12:11

bengelinas: "I don't remember the exact place and time it was that I decided to become a serial killer but I remember the sensation that hit me when I committed to the decision. It was a rush of pure euphoria. I felt lighter, less stressed if you will at the freedom of the prospect. There was something about urgently exploring my dark side that greatly appealed to me and I'm such a methodical planner and thinker, the very challenge itself was enticing to behold."

12:13

bengelinas: "When a man approaches thirty years of age, he tends to question what his ultimate purpose is in this world and where he fits into the picture. And then I remembers something else. A passage I read from a novel by the renowned fantasy writer, David Gemmell in reference to a bronze age assassin. I can't recall the exact wording but it was the philosophy that hit home. The assassin reflected on what he does with his life with guilt (another emotion I am incapable of) and someone imparted a bigger picture wisdom."

12:13

bengelinas: "He said that the assassin is the hand of fate. Fate has already decided everyone's time to die from the moment they are born. When it's their time, it's their time and if they do not die of old age or sickness, when their time comes other factors are employed by fate to get the job done. I think about that whenever I plan a kill. it's not me who chooses the victims but fate. Oh sure I choose the victim to match my own criteria in the interest of remaining free and at large, but for the most part I am merely following my own nature which was devised by the grand design of the universe."

12:13

bengelinas: "Now this does not mean I shirk responsibility for my actions. I am very obviously, as you will come to learn, deliberate, level headed and very much in control of my own actions. Although I won't deny that the aforementioned scenario would play well in an insanity plea."

12:14

bengelinas: "I would use online dating to rope in my victims."

12:14

bengelinas: "Who do I want to target? At first I considered married men looking to cheat on their wives. In one way I'd be taking out the trash, dolling out justice to those who on some level, deserved what they got. But the logic of the situation denies this possibility. After all people who are expected home at a certain hour tend to get reported as missing and there's others factors that would lead to an investigation I didn't want. No, I had to choose people whose entire lives I could infiltrate and eliminate evidence of my existence from on all levels."

12:16

bengelinas: The writings state that the author settled on "middle-aged single men who lived alone," who could be "led by their dicks... easy to manipulate, easy to seduce under my fake female disguises."

12:16

bengelinas: He would likely rob them after killing them, the writings state.

12:17

bengelinas: "When I finally found my location it could not have been any more perfect: a double detached garage for rent in the south

of the city, tucked away in a quiet neighborhood on a lot with a house occupied by tenants who couldn't even read English, much less speak it," the writings state. "Total privacy. I immediately went to work removing the address plank from the back, blocking out all the windows with boards and duct tape, replacing locks."

12:18

bengelinas: "I bought a hunters game processing kit, which if you think about it is ideal for this scenario. Why not use a whole set of tools designed to take apart large mammals in the forest on the fly? It reduces the spatter caused by power tools, takes the noise level way down too and there's also just something more gratifying about sawing through tendons and bone with your bare hands than using something else that takes the fun out of the work."

12:19

bengelinas: The outfit: a street hockey mask with gold stripes painted across the face and the mouth cut out, a green hoodie. Plastic bags go over the shoes.

12:20

bengelinas: "My kill knife was different though," the writings state. "I wanted a weapon used for the deed itself to be simple, elegant and beautiful in its own way so I dropped by a military surplus store and picked up a well crafted hunting knife with an eight-inch blade."

12:20

bengelinas: The furniture involved would be custom, in particular a sturdy four-foot-by-six-foot table with angle iron edging.

12:21

bengelinas: "As soon as the profiles go up, within twenty four hours the responses come in like a flood. I review the messages sent and choose my victims based on age, body type, profession, status and living situation. Obviously I'm not going to pursue a 6'4" athletic martial arts instructor who's married with four kids. That's just got trouble written all over it. I mean I'm ruthless but I'm not an idiot. I have my own fight training background but I don't have delusions of grandeur."

12:22

bengelinas: The ideal target, according to the writings: A self-employed man in his late 30s or early 40s who lives alone and is no taller than 5'11", weighing between 150-180 lbs.

12:23

bengelinas: The first victim was "Frank."

12:24

bengelinas: The author arranged to have "Frank" come to the garage.

12:24

bengelinas: "My kill room was perfectly prepped. Plastic sheeting taped together and around my table; a large green cloth screwed into the drywall ceiling to shield view of it from my guests line of sight, and to shield me too of course. I now stood but a few feet away from the front door which I had locked of course. The plan was to wait in the shadow of my curtain until he approached the door and shock him with the stun baton followed by a sleeper hold that would sap away his consciousness so that I could tape him up and set him on my table."

12:25

bengelinas: "The typical Taser guns used by police carry a charge of 50,000 volts and we've seen what they do to the people hit with them. The stun baton boasts 800,000 volts which sounds practically lethal but you have to understand that it isn't the voltage but the amps delivered by the weapon that matter. Either way I was confident in the weapons strength," the writings state. "My confidence was misplaced."

12:25

bengelinas: The stun baton did nothing but alert the victim.

12:26

bengelinas: He struck the man repeatedly, punching him on the side of the head, but the victim would not fall. So the author pulled out a fake gun, told him to get down, warning him not to move his head even the slightest bit.

12:26

bengelinas: "It was then that I told him that if he did what I told him to, that I would let him live. I brought one arm down around his back and was reaching for the other arm when he began defying me again."

12:38

bengelinas: Court is on lunch. The jury is expected to hear the rest of the writing this afternoon, starting at 2 p.m. MDT

12:46

bengelinas: We expect to receive the document in its entirety shortly after the jury has heard it. We will then post the document on Scribd. I'll include a link here.

12:47

bengelinas: In the meantime, now that court is on a break, I have some time to share some additional passages the jury has already heard.

12:53

bengelinas: "I am in this for profit. It has always been my attitude that no hobby or venture should ever be done without expected return on investment. For many years I crafted elaborate Halloween costumes, faithful screen accurate recreations of very big blockbuster movie icons. The result of my efforts in these costumes were various 1st prizes in costume contests that resulted in cash payouts worth at least forty times what I spent to make each outfit. This would be no different."

12:53

bengelinas: "I had expenses with this new hobby and I would make sure that I generated a profit from it to recoup and eclipse my costs."

12:54

bengelinas: Everything would take place in the garage, the writings state. "The approach, the apprehension and the kill as well as preparation for disposal of the body could all be done in relative seclusion from this one building."

12:57

bengelinas: "The back driveway wasn't even paved, it was just a bed of gravel with grass growing out of it. The entire surrounding area was blocked out of sight from neighbours with high thick fences and the entire block was dead starting at eight o'clock at night."

1:00

bengelinas: On the kill knife: "I would use this weapon to cleanly and simply slice open a gash in the victims neck allowing them to bleed out quickly and with no pain. I'm not a torture guy. Again, the noise level from the screams is not my thing at all and I only resort to that if they are still alive after apprehension but won't give me the simple information I ask for."

1:01

bengelinas: On a barrel: "I ordered a forty five gallon steel drum which would be the final resting place for the body parts before I incinerated them."

1:01

bengelinas: "I was all set, prepared as I could be. I diligently set up my kill room, creating the plastic bubble I needed to create my nasty mayhem. The trap was set, and now it was time to bait the hook."

1:02

bengelinas: "I created all new email addresses and dating site profiles for my dark plan. It was so easy it was almost insulting. But really, who thinks to look outside their pond when they go out fishing? No one. I did a quick search of females that matched what I

wanted to represent in other cities around the world and when i found someone I liked, I copied their photos and used them in my new online identity as whoever it was I wanted to be."

1:03

bengelinas: "I always change things up. I never use the same profile for more than one victim at a time, and I generate new email addresses as well, just in case. After a victim is removed from the world neatly and cleanly, I erase my accounts and every trace they left behind."

1:07

bengelinas: On "Frank," the victim described early on as being lured to the garage: "I had a distinct advantage. I was taller and outclassed him in tenacity and strength. This was also my environment and he wasn't expecting to run into a psycho with a mask, only a beautiful woman he hoped he would get lucky with. The confusion played to my benefit and I struck him repeatedly. He yelled 'what the f--k' at the top of his lungs. The noise was something I had hoped to avoid but I paid it no mind and continued attempting to subdue this defiant little s--t."

1:09

bengelinas: "He broke free and I could tell he would make for the door, for the way he came in so I reached into my pocked and withdrew the gun. I pointed it straight at him and all of a sudden he took me seriously, his eyes wide. I commanded him to get down on the floor, to which he obeyed quickly. If he lifted his head even the slightest bit I warned him against it. I removed my gloves and went for the duct tape. I tore a piece off and slipped it over his eyes."

1:15

bengelinas: When court resumes, we expect the writings will get more graphic. Some people may be upset by the content. I will endeavor to relay what the jury hears in the most respectful manner possible, but the inclusion of some upsetting details and quotes may be unavoidable.

1:25

bengelinas: From the text the jury heard this morning, one last portion, this one on the author's feelings: "I just knew I was different somehow from the rest of humanity. I feel no such emotions as empathy or sympathy toward others for example. Of course when it came to actual one on one conversations with therapists, I had to lie. I mean talk about leaving a trail of bread crumbs. The last thing I needed to do was air out all of my darkest fantasies and half formed plans to someone who is legally obligated to contact the authorities if they think a patient will do harm to themselves or others. I'm not stupid."

2:04

bengelinas: "'No, I can't, I can't do this.' He began. Retrospect is of course 20/20 and had I been able to go back to that moment there would have been a hundred things I would have done differently. Obviously overestimating the stun baton is a mistake I would not repeat. The other one was putting up with his bullshit. I should have just pounded him in the back of the head while he was down until he lay unconscious on the floor. I should have shut the big door when I had the chance but everything moved too quickly and I didn't want to take my eyes off him for one second."

2:05

bengelinas: Frank got to his feet, pulled the duct tape off his eyes and grabbed the barrel of the gun. "He gripped down hard, twice and I think I might have seen a gleam in him that indicated he felt the guns construction and realized it was not real but I can't be sure. I still held on for dear life, not willing to give him a blunt object to hit me back with."

2:06

bengelinas: "I clutched onto his jacket but he shook himself loose of it and took off for the opening in the door," the writings state. "He made it into the driveway and that's when I knew I was pooched. I followed him out, not caring anymore who might see me. He was fumbling on the ground. I grabbed him by the leg as if to drag him back into the garage caveman style but my energy was depleting and the human survival instinct is one of the most powerful forces on Earth."

2:08

bengelinas: A couple spotted the resulting chase, forcing the author to let Frank go. He wrote that he went back to the garage. He wrote that he messaged Frank to warn him against talking to the police.

2:08

bengelinas:

"In my day life I'm an independent filmmaker and everything in that garage could be easily explained away as props for filming a psychological thriller," the writings state.

2:09

bengelinas: Paranoia still set in. He worried about lights and sirens in his rear-view mirror. He worried he'd find police when he got home.

2:10

bengelinas: "My fear subsided and I drove home. I practiced my entire behavior pattern should I come home to police cruisers parked along my front yard. I would rush the door in a panic and upon entering or being stopped by patrolmen I would appear utterly surprised and beg them to know if anything had happened to my precious wife and/or daughter. My genuine shock of their presence would start me on the innocent path in their eyes, and then my cover story of being at a therapy appointment would become my short term alibi until I could confess to the cops later that therapy was a cover story I gave my wife so I could have just one night a week to myself."

2:12

bengelinas: "A day passed. I spent that day with my 8 month old daughter as my wife ran errands and kept appointments. Then the day turned to night and once again I was suspicious but nothing happened. That was the night I was totally convinced I had gotten off on this one pretty much scot-free."

2:13

bengelinas: "Previously I wanted my victims alive and conscious after I had subdued them. I wanted to get information from them like their email and dating site passwords as well as the pin codes for their debit cards and credit cards. But this priority is now a distant second to making sure I don't get caught. I got lucky that first time and I wasn't going to assume that would ever happen again if anyone else got loose."

2:13

bengelinas: "I had to revise my apprehension system in order for it to go more smoothly. I decided to ramp up the savagery of my attack, leaving no margin for error in rendering a target unconscious within the first ten seconds. I dropped the stun gun for the favor of two 24-inch lengths of galvanized steel piping. I was confident that swinging for the fences to the back of the head would do the trick. I would go on a shopping trip the next day to make it happen."

2:16

bengelinas: The writings break and a new chapter apparently begins. The author writes of his ex-girlfriend. They met in his first year of college. She had a boyfriend. They started hanging out regularly anyway. He lied to her about his age, his background. He told her he had a girlfriend so she wouldn't think he was single and "pathetic."

2:18

bengelinas: They began to date. Eventually, though, his lies caught up with him. She learned his true age and origins. "Dishonesty had taken its toll and (she) decided to end the relationship. I was absolutely devastated."

2:19

bengelinas: The ex-girlfriend's name in the writing is Lacey or Laci.

2:21

bengelinas: Enter "Tess," the author's second wife. "Tess was everything I needed to balance my life out. She kept me on my toes and organized She was a very high stress person with a lot of tension and I mellowed her out too. We had hit it off from the beginning, found what I thought was love and gone on to be married and have our daughter together, beautiful Zoe."

2:22

bengelinas: Trust issues with Tess surfaced when the author reconnected with his ex. But they got past it, he writes.

2:24

bengelinas: At least at first. In the first week of October, he started seeing his ex again. "First it was innocent little coffee dates and movies. We went to see a horror film, something low budge and shot entirely hand held as was the Hollywood fad at the

time and we maybe caught 20 minutes of a 90-minute movie between all the intense kissing we were doing."

2:25

bengelinas: He writes about how all this drama had to take a back seat to his task: killing someone. He went to Home Depot to buy pipes.

2:25

bengelinas: "I strolled out into the parking lot and got back into the comfy me shaped indent in the front seat of my maroon sedan. I wrapped the pipe ends in hockey tape for optimal gripping. Satisfied with this, I went home to relax and to set up my next victim."

2:26

bengelinas: "I'm a huge fan of the Showtime series Dexter, as you may have guessed if you're at all familiar with the show," the author writes.

2:27

bengelinas: Tess had trouble sleeping. She would wear earplugs. They slept in separate beds. The author writes: "I sleep in the basement because I often stay up later."

2:29

bengelinas: When using the dating sites to find a victim, the author writes that he would sometimes use a free service and sometimes a pay service. This night, a Thursday, he would use a free site.

2:30

bengelinas: He chose a redhead's profile from Ireland and swiped her photos to use on the fake profile, the author writes.

2:32

bengelinas: "I wanted a man who was financially stable, lived alone, didn't answer to to many people and had some time off coming up. I got exactly what I was looking for," the author writes. "A six footish, seemingly nice man who appeared clean-cut, not overly good looking, but not an ogre either and most importantly, fit for the profile."

2:32

bengelinas: This man wasn't available Thursday, so they made plans for Friday.

2:33

bengelinas: He writes that he was able to plan and maybe even carry out all this because of a lack of "career obligations."

2:33

bengelinas: Correction: The man wasn't available Friday, only Saturday.

2:34

bengelinas: So the author made up a new dummy account with an emphasis on more immediate gratification. The same man, it turned out, contacted this dummy profile and said he was free Friday, the author writes.

2:35

bengelinas: He prepped his "kill room" with plastic sheeting. He put the "useless stun baton away."

2:36

bengelinas: "Suddenly I heard the rumble of a car engine and sharply turned to see the wheel base of a Mazda slow and then continue. My adrenaline soared. That was him. The bastard was early and I know he had to have seen my feet at the very least. I decided to stick to the pattern anyway. I shut the lights all down and waited behind the curtain I had rigged up to shield me from sight, my two pipes in hand."

2:36

bengelinas: "I could hear the crinkle of his clothing as he crouched to get under the door."

2:36

bengelinas: He called out into the dark: "Hello."

2:37

bengelinas: He was told, the author writes, that a guy was supposed to be using the garage as a workshop.

2:37

bengelinas: The author writes that he took the mask off and said hello back. "I'm Harry. I'm a local filmmaker, preparing a set that's supposed to look like a serial killer's little area here. You might have heard of my stuff. I'm the guy who put together the comedy feature at our local film festival."

2:38

bengelinas: "'I haven't heard of that.' replied the man, who I will refer to from now on as Jim."

2:39

bengelinas: The author writes that he told Jim his date was running late and he should come back in a few minutes. The author took out his phone and pretended to be talking to the guy's date. He told the guy she was stuck in traffic and didn't know when she'd be able to get there. He left again.

2:40

bengelinas: "I took stock of my situation. I was standing in the middle of a perfectly-prepped kill room and was actually going to let this go down as strike two. I already had the room set up and the whole night was mine to do with as I pleased, so I jumped back online to find someone who was willing to drop everything and head over right away."

2:40

bengelinas: The guy who thought he got stood up had messaged the author. As the girl, he apologized and asked him to come back to the garage.

2:41

bengelinas: "He reappeared through the garage door and I soon followed."

2:42

bengelinas: "'I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment,' he shrugged."

2:42

bengelinas: "'You have no idea.'"

2:42

bengelinas: "The room filled with the echo of the pipe crashing into the back of his skull as I could feel my predator-self take over. That one single motion was the end all be all. I had committed now and there was no going back. The jig was up and it was kill or get arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, maybe even attempted murder. I won't go to jail for an almost."

2:42

bengelinas: They wrestled as the author writes that he repeatedly hit his victim with the pipe.

2:43

bengelinas: His victim screamed: "Police! Police!"

2:44

bengelinas: The door to the garage was open, but no one came. The author writes that he passed out flyers in the neighbourhood beforehand to warn them of a film shoot there.

2:44

bengelinas: "I pulled my hunting knife from its sheath and watched the shock on his face as he saw the blade. I thrust it into his gut. His reaction was pure Hollywood. The lurch forward with the grunt was dead-on TV movie of the week."

2:44

bengelinas: He stabbed him again in the neck.

2:45

bengelinas: The victim bled out on the garage floor, away from the plastic the author laid down.

2:46

bengelinas: "I remember thinking as I hoisted this giant up onto my table that I should really stick to smaller guys from now on. This guy was at least two-inches taller than I was and maybe a couple of pounds heavier. And I'm no shrimp."

2:48

bengelinas: "I got my game processing kit out, which contained a butcher knife..., a fillet knife..., a skinner..., and a serrated saw..." The author writes that he also had a pair of scissors, a cutting board and cleaver.

2:49

bengelinas: Then the author writes about what it was like to cut up the body, in detail, piece by piece: the challenges, the curiosities, all in vivid detail.

2:50

bengelinas: He took care to wipe away any blood in the garage using ammonia.

2:51

bengelinas: "When I got finished I looked down in horror at the sheer level of blood staining my clothes from head to toe. I couldn't walk back into the house like this. I mean I had extra clothes in my car I could change into, that wasn't the point. But surely there would be a smell and I couldn't get all the blood off my face, not all of it."

2:51

bengelinas: Tess called.

2:51

bengelinas: He told her he was just leaving the gym.

2:51

bengelinas: She said the gym closes at nine. It was well-after.

2:52

bengelinas: He said he was at their old gym, which closes at ten.

2:53

bengelinas: Trust with Tess was apparently still an issue. Earlier, when she caught him surfing Internet dating sites, he told her he was doing research for a freelance article on Internet dating sites.

2:53

bengelinas: "The next part was much harder. She wanted proof upon proof. I had to manufacture an entire person which is a lot more hassle than it sounds. I created a fake employer, ran out to get a prepaid cell phone and then hired an actor to do a role play on the phone with me, on speaker so Tess could hear it."

2:54

bengelinas: Still: "every conversation was an interrogation."

2:55

bengelinas: The author writes that she believed him about the gym. She asked him to pick up some baby formula from Shopper's.

2:55

bengelinas: "I packed up on my laptop bag and then opened the garage door, half expecting a team of police cruisers to be waiting outside. But the alley was empty and silent, save for the Mazda parked in the driveway. I took the keys and got in. A f--king manual transmission. I had never learned how to drive them but necessity is the mother of invention after all. I probably stalled the damn thing a good ten times before enough trial and error got me to the point where I could manage to get the stupid thing inside the garage."

2:57

bengelinas: The drug store was closed when he got there. He thought he'd wake up early to get the formula, but slept in. He instead explained to Tess, whom he called "the warden," that he forgot.

2:58

bengelinas: "Zoe was born mellow. When other kids are throwing tantrums in public, she stares at them as if questioning what the hell could be wrong with them?"

2:58

bengelinas: "She's a wonderful baby," the author writes. "I really hope she doesn't end up like me."

3:00

bengelinas: "Quite the odd couple Tess and I. On a couple of occasions we even discussed my apparent total lack of empathy and it troubled her greatly. She asked me a long series of probing and somewhat leading questions to see if I would give her the answer she desired but I never did."

3:00

bengelinas: "'When you see news stories of people going through tremendous grief or strike, do you feel bad for them?'"

3:00

bengelinas: "'No.'"

3:00

bengelinas: "'Do you ever think about what it would be like if that were your family in that situation?'"

3:01

bengelinas: "'It's never crossed my mind,' was my answer. And it continued like this until Tess was satisfied her husband couldn't feel much of anything at all, I imagine. I did calm her fears though by at least reassuring her that I did care very much about her and Zoe and that neither of them would ever feel unloved."

3:02

bengelinas: "I drove across town to the south-side, not for the kill room this time, but for the home of my victim. I found his place without pause, parked in front of the building, careful to examine surroundings and make sure that there was no video surveillance. It was still early morning and comings and goings were common in the area."

3:02

bengelinas: It was clean, except for a few dishes left out. He found motorcycle gear, a nice big-screen television, and cash on the dresser -- "which quickly found its way into my wallet."

3:03

bengelinas: He sat down at the computer and found all his social networking and e-mail accounts automatically logged him in, the author writes.

3:05

bengelinas: "I changed the auto response on his email to say he had decided to run away with the woman he hooked up with on Friday to go on a two month vacation to the Caribbean. I changed the status on his Facebook account to reflect the change and then I proceeded to delete his online dating profile. Judging by his email content, it seemed he was on several sites at once so that trail would go cold real quickly."

3:05

bengelinas: (court is on a short break)

3:27

bengelinas: For those who are just joining us, Constable Michael Roszko continues to read the manuscript found on Twitchell's laptop.

3:29

bengelinas: "I packed Jim's laptop up and took it with me. I also took his multifunction printer and threw it into a dumpster because the email I sent him with directions to my kill room had been printed on it and it wouldn't do to have that be recoverable by the police. But I did find something in the print that would help. A letter to his insurance company with a clear unmarked signature on a white background. It was one last gift from the dead."

3:29

bengelinas: "I could easily use that to forge a bill of sale for the car. If the authorities ever questioned me about it I could corroborate my own story: "Yeah, officer. It was the strangest thing. This guy approaches me on the street and tells me he met this phenomenal woman, a real sugar mama who is going to take care of him and that he doesn't need his car anymore. So he asks me how much I have on me and when I tell him I've only got twenty three bucks, he says: 'OK, deal' and I end up with a free car."

3:30

bengelinas: But how to get rid of the body, the author writes.

3:30

bengelinas: "Incineration. I had looked into buying an actual batch incinerator. Something with the pressure and heat needed to get the job done. The problem with those are they cost upwards of $5,000 to acquire and I wouldn't be in a position to make that purchase for another month or two. I had a jerrycan of gasoline in my trunk and a steel drum though. Close enough."

3:31

bengelinas: He took it all to his parents house: the body, the drum.

3:31

bengelinas: "I doused the first bag which contained the torso pieces in gasoline after dropping it into the barrel. I lit a match and tossed it in. The instant whoosh of flames consuming flammable liquid exploded from the top and the burn began. I had placed the barrel squarely in the center of the yard. it was broad daylight but everything was sealed in bags so no one could see anything, especially not the burning process."

3:33

bengelinas: As the body cooked in the fire, the author decided he could never be a cannibal.

3:34

bengelinas:

"I could see the curiosity that Dahmer had and I understand the mentality behind why he did it," the author states. "I just don't think that way."

3:35

bengelinas: The burning didn't work. The body remained largely intact. He re-bagged it all, loaded it back in the car and took it back to the garage. He decided he would instead cut the body into smaller pieces and dump it into the river. But there's wasn't time to do that. He had to get home to his wife and child.

3:37

bengelinas: "After the day's activities were complete, I headed home a little earlier. I played with Zoe, watching her while Tess took a shower and relaxed. I fed the child dinner, gave her a bath and then it would be time for her to go to sleep. Zoe slept straight through the night only a week after she was born. The kid loves sleeping and by seven months on the planet she was out for 12 straight hours every night starting at 7:30 pm. Like I said, lucky."

3:38

bengelinas: He went down to the computer while Tess watched television. Laci was online.

3:39

bengelinas: They made plans to get together that night.

3:40

bengelinas: "I jumped into the car and headed out to Laci's as fast as I could -- too fast in fact. I was pulled over for speeding on the freeway. I did another round of top-notch acting pretending to give a shit about breaking the posting limit and begged for him to go easy on me. He gave me a ticket anyway but at least it was less than half the price it could have been and I also appreciated how quick he was about it. I was back in the road in five minutes flat."

3:40

bengelinas: "I remember thinking how hilarious and dramatically ironic it was that the cop had pulled over a cold-blooded murderer who had a dismembered body in his rented garage not too far away, and had no clue what was going on. He just did his duty and took off. Now every time I pass a police car on the road I chuckle to myself."

3:43

bengelinas: After he had sex with Laci, he studied one of her tattoos: "It was a Celtic knot-style cross with vines intertwined within: a beautiful piece, inked by a real master."

3:46

bengelinas: "It was time to assess the situation again. I had a hatchback with body parts in the trunk locked inside a garage I still had to sweep clean. I had waste to dispose of and tracks to erase. I had no idea who this guy had talked to in the interim periods between his first arrival at my lair and his last, so for all I knew some friend of his out there could even have the exact address or at the very least detailed descriptions of how to get there."

3:49

bengelinas: The author writes that he went to Denny's for a meal before he went back to the garage to make the remains smaller.

3:50

bengelinas: "Once in a while I would take a break, check my email, answer a few phone calls, check the status of my eBay page and have a bag of chips."

3:55

bengelinas: The author goes on for pages detailing how he all but obliterated the body with various knives and even a pipe.

3:56

bengelinas: "Every single event in life would have a whole new level of perspective to it. Carving a pumpkin and spilling its guts would

now carry a double meaning. So would slicing up a steak, carving a Thanksgiving turkey or laying plastic down to prepare for painting the family room."

3:58

bengelinas: The remains were loaded into his car. "It's an interesting feeling, driving around town with what used to be a human body bagged up in your trunk. No one has any idea they are stopped at a light right next to a serial killer with what could very well be on of their friends now sacks of meat parts in a hidden compartment. It made me wonder, in all my 10 years of driving around, had I ever unknowingly passed a vehicle or sat parked at a red light next to someone just like I would be one day? It blew my mind."

4:03

bengelinas: As the jury listened to the graphic details of dismemberment included in the manuscript, a reporter says they are focused absolutely in the words on paper in front of them and up on an overhead screen.

4:05

bengelinas: "I don't copy cat the style of Dexter Morgan. I don't have steady access to high power tranquilizers or the free time to stalk someone to get to know their routine well enough. I also don't keep souvenirs or trophies so I don't own a rosewood box with blood slides or anything quaint like that. My butchering tools are also more hands on rather than going powered since high speed spanning devices tend to make more spatter mess and I'd like to avoid a total blood bath if I can."

4:07

bengelinas: When the author arrived home, the remains apparently still in his car, Laci was online and having a personal crisis. The author writes that he helped her through it.

4:07

bengelinas: The next morning, he woke up early. 5 a.m.

4:09

bengelinas: "I got into my car and took off," the manuscript reads. "There were two bridges over the same river I knew how to get to off the top of my head that would make suitable locations for the dump. I got to the freeway bridge at the stroke of 5:30. It was still pitch black with no sun in sight. Right away I knew I couldn't do this from the bridge itself. There wasn't enough shoulder to stop without turning on my hazard lights and that would have attracted a cop car like a moth to a flame. There just wasn't anywhere to hide."

4:10

bengelinas: He found a boat launch. When that wasn't suitable, he thought about a rural area. But by then, the morning commute was looming. He would have to think of something else.

4:10

bengelinas: "The sewer," the author writes. "Of course. How obvious. No one ever goes down there. The body would rot away completely before anyone discovered the bones and by then it would be way too late to identify the person."

4:11

bengelinas: The author writes: "I chose the Eastern suburb of the city to dump my waste. It would be practically a ghost town with most of its residents either having commuted to work in the city or otherwise occupied and away from their homes."

4:12

bengelinas: "Within a few moments I found exactly what I was looking for: a manhole cover placed off to the side behind a power pole. I parked in an empty driveway and popped the trunk. Although it was broad daylight I wasn't worried. No one appeared to be around and I was checking throughout the entire process. Lifting the cover was a piece of cake."

4:12

bengelinas: The remains were dumped in the sewer in a matter of minutes, the author writes.

4:13

bengelinas: "I drove back to the kill room to finish destroying evidence. Once there, I packed my truck remnants into a garbage bag and put everything else in there that need to burn. Documents from Jim's car, receipts, even my empty chip bags. I had five full hefty bags full of garbage that actually would burn, this I knew for a fact. Plastic sheeting, cloth backdrops and paper towels. It may not have been good for the environment but one less person creating pollution for whatever forty some odd more years he would have walked the Earth more than evens that out."

4:14

bengelinas: The document ends with this line: "I used the gas from my jerrycan again, soaked all the garbage."

4:14

bengelinas: Court is breaking for the day.

4:25

bengelinas: I will be turning the entire manuscript into a viewable document. The link will be posted here shortly.

6:14

bengelinas: Here is the document, edited by the lawyers involved in the case (white), as well as Journal editors (black): http://www.scribd.com/doc/51760361/Manuscript-from-Mark-Twitchell-s-laptop The blacked-out parts contain nothing more than graphic descriptions of dismemberment or intimate, at times sexually explicit moments. Sections that include extremely personal details about the lives of people not charged in this case have also been censored. Crown prosecutors allege this document to be largely a true account.

6:40

bengelinas: Court is expected to resume at 10 a.m. MDT on Tuesday.

6:40

bengelinas: If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to send me an e-mail: bgelinas@edmontonjournal.com. I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as I can.

Tuesday March 29, 2011 10:07 bengelinas: This morning Const. Michael Roszko continues his testimony. The computer forensic analyst with Edmonton Police says he also found sections of the manuscript on a desktop computer at Mark Twitchell's parents' home.

10:26

bengelinas: The Crown alleges that Johnny Altinger was killed on October 10, 2008. Before that happened, Altinger is believed to have sent e-mails to friends informing them of his plans to meet a girl that night at the garage that jury has heard was rented by Twitchell.

10:28

bengelinas: Twitchell's lawyer Charles Davison has admitted that e-mails and messages sent after October 10, 2008 from Altinger's online accounts were not written by Altinger.

10:34

bengelinas: Roszko says this October 10 e-mail from Altinger's account, copying plentyoffish.com messages from "Jen" for a friend, was likely written by Altinger: http://www.scribd.com/doc/51339399/E-mails-to-Johnny-Altinger-from-Jen

10:41

bengelinas: Roszko says he found more than 68,000 unique images on Twitchell's computer.

10:41

bengelinas: "I found numerous pictures of people, women, marked with the plentyoffish.com stamp at the bottom of the picture,"

Roszko says. The site's logo is stamped on every photo posted on the dating site. "There were so many that it was kind of pointless (to count)."

10:53

bengelinas: In all, Roszko says he found 1,644 pictures he believed to be related to the homicide investigation, including photos with the plentyoffish stamp and photos related to advertisements for an incinerator and a stun gun.

11:07

bengelinas: A man identified as the first victim lured off the Internet during the Crown's opening arguments provided his harddrive and three pictures of a woman to police. Those three pictures of a woman were also found on Twitchell's laptop, Roszko says.

11:12

bengelinas: Roszko also found a document on the first alleged victim's computer called: "directions.txt."

11:14

bengelinas: In it, directions were provided to a garage off 50th Street and 40th Avenue. The garage, the directions stated, had the only unpaved driveway in the alley. "Seriously, who ever heard of a driveway that looks like the Amazon?" the text said. "It won't swallow your car, I promise."

11:16

bengelinas: Much like the messages sent to Altinger by "Jen" on plentyoffish.com, the text on this other man's computer described a discarded couch. The garage door would be half-open, this text stated. It was signed: "Sheena."

11:18

bengelinas: Roszko says he found IP blocking software called "Hide My IP Address" on Twitchell's laptop.

11:21

bengelinas: Background: The manuscript presented to court on Monday discussed the use of an IP blocker. "I downloaded an IP address blocker first and foremost," the manuscript stated. "I mean it would be rather silly of me to run this whole operation from my home computer without it, just so that if any of my play mates disappearances were ever actually investigated, there would be this electronic trail leading the police directly back to me and my little workshop of horrors."

11:23

bengelinas: The software appeared to be installed on August, 31, 2008.

11:23

bengelinas: (court is on a short break)

11:51

bengelinas: Under cross-examination by Twitchell's lawyer Charles Davison, Roszko says he found an article on Twitchell's home desktop computer called: "onlinedatingarticle.doc." Roszko says when he opened it up the file was indeed an article about online dating.

11:54

bengelinas: Roszko says a program designed to hide your IP address could be used to protect a computer from hackers, but not spam or spyware.

12:03

bengelinas: Roszko has left the stand after what amounted to more than six hours of testimony over the last two days.

12:04

bengelinas:

The jury is now hearing from Bob Reich, an Alberta Sheriff who works highway patrol.

12:06

bengelinas: Reich says the evening of October 13, 2008, he was on the Anthony Henday near Cameron Heights. "I observed a vehicle closing rapidly, moving in and out of traffic," Reich says.

12:07

bengelinas: As the vehicle passed Reich, he got a radar read of 128 km/h.

12:09

bengelinas: Reich says the male, alone in the car, was focused solely on the road and didn't seem to notice he had passed a fully marked patrol car.

12:10

bengelinas: Reich says he pulled the car over. It was a maroon Grand AM, with the plate DRK JEDI.

12:11

bengelinas: Reich says the driver's licence identified the drive as Mark Twitchell.

12:11

bengelinas: Reich apparently got a kick out of the vanity licence plate. "I said the force wasn't really strong with him that night," the sheriff says.

12:13

bengelinas: Reich says he asked Twitchell why he was speeding. Twitchell told the officer he'd received numerous tickets. He asked him to give him a break. "He also stated he was a film producer and he was making a movie and he was going to pick up someone famous at the airport," Reich says.

12:13

bengelinas: Reich took the $166 speeding ticket down to $89.

12:14

bengelinas: "He seemed really rushed," Reich says. "He seemed like he really had to get going, so I released him."

12:14

bengelinas: Court is expected to resume at 2 p.m. MDT

2:12

bengelinas: Traci Higgins is now on the stand. Higgins and Twitchell met at NAIT in 1997. They were taking the same English class and became friends. Eventually their relationship became romantic.

2:15

bengelinas: Higgins is a soft-spoken 35-year-old woman. She requires a microphone to be heard while giving testimony.

2:17

bengelinas: She says when she met Twitchell, he told her he was 18. When his birthday came around, she bought him a card that said Happy 19th Birthday. His parents were shocked. They said he wasn't turning 19. This was in 1997. Twitchell was born in 1979.

2:20

bengelinas: Later she had a conversation with Twitchell's parents about the places the Twitchell family used to live. Twitchell had told

her they lived in places his parents had never been.

2:20

bengelinas: Eventually Twitchell and Higgins broke up. "I didn't see how we could have a relationship if he wasn't honest with me," she says.

2:22

bengelinas: Higgins later developed an illness that resulted in a brain injury. She says she has trouble remembering specific dates and times.

2:24

bengelinas: Higgins left NAIT and moved to Lloydminster to be with a man she would then marry. The next time she heard from Twitchell he was moving to the States. He wrote as much in an e-mail that she refused to respond to. She had a friend do it instead.

2:29

bengelinas: While her marriage destabilzed in 2007, she met with Twitchell a number of times. She met Twitchell for supper at a north Edmonton Boston Pizza. She also remembers them having Denny's on the south side during that period in her life.

2:30

bengelinas: Higgins says while the dinners were largely spent catching up, as friends would. They talked about where their lives had taken them. Higgins says they ended at least one of these meetings with a long, intimate kiss.

2:31

bengelinas: During the meetings, Higgins learned that Twitchell had married a woman named Jess.

2:32

bengelinas: She moved to Wetaskiwin to be closer to her parents in the summer of 2007. She still lived there in October 2008.

2:37

bengelinas: Higgins met a new man online in the summer of 2007. Their relationship was rocky. "He was kind of crazy," she says.

2:38

bengelinas: She was open with Twitchell about her relationship with this new man. He gave her advice, a guy's perspective of what this guy was trying to do. "He strongly advised me to ditch him," she says.

2:39

bengelinas: She remembers going to see Quarantine with Twitchell in the fall of 2008.

2:40

bengelinas: They went to a matinee at South Edmonton Common, she says. It was a thriller/horror film with shaky, Blair Witch Projectstyle camera work.

2:41

bengelinas: She didn't like the movie. Most of the time they talked or kissed instead of watching it.

2:43

bengelinas: Around 5 p.m. she left Twitchell and went home to check up on her animals: two small dogs.

2:52

bengelinas:

Twitchell had only been to her home in Wetaskiwin once -- another night in October 2008. They went to Boston Pizza. After dinner, he came over and spent the night. A similar incident was described in the manuscript found on Twitchell's laptop.

2:56

bengelinas: She says there was another night they chatted on Facebook. Twitchell was worried about Higgins' health. Higgins says Twitchell called 9-1-1. A similar incident was described in the manuscript found on Twitchell's laptop.

2:59

bengelinas: Twitchell invited Higgins to go to the Halloween Howler at the Shaw Conference Centre for Halloween 2008 but the plans fell through.

3:06

bengelinas: Higgins says she has two tattoos. She got her first tattoo when she was dating Twitchell in 1997. It is a Celtic cross. Twitchell helped design the tattoo. The cross was based on a piece of jewelery. Twitchell added ivy around the cross, she says.

3:07

bengelinas: (court is on a short break)

3:27

bengelinas: Twitchell was unhappy in his marriage, Traci Higgins says. "I believe he mentioned the word 'divorce.'"

3:36

bengelinas: Higgins has just been shown a ticket stub recovered by police for the movie Quarantine. The stub shows the time 3:30 p.m. on Friday, October 10, 2008 at South Edmonton Common. She says that is when she saw Quarantine with Twitchell.

3:37

bengelinas: The jury heard previously that Twitchell told police he was at the garage cleaning up at that time on October 10, 2008.

3:38

bengelinas: The Crown alleges Johnny Altinger was lured to the garage the evening of October 10, 2008.

3:43

bengelinas: Under cross-examination, Higgins says she is religious.

3:43

bengelinas: In the manuscript, Laci is described as Christian.

3:46

bengelinas: Higgins' testimony is the third time the jury has heard about a Celtic cross tattoo. Beyond the tangled cross on her back, court has heard the term in the manuscript, where Laci is described as having a similar tattoo, said to be designed by the author of the manuscript.

3:47

bengelinas: Twitchell told police that the man who sold him the Mazda 3 for $40 had a tattoo of a Celtic cross on his neck, court previously heard.

4:18

bengelinas: Correction: Twitchell told police that th eman who sold him the Mazda 3 for $40 had a tattoo of a Celtic knot on his neck, court previously heard.

4:20

bengelinas: The passage in the manuscript found on Twitchell's laptop, describing Laci's tattoo: "I examined the tattoo on her left shoulder blade, the one I had designed for her in college. It was a Celtic knot-style cross with vines intertwined within it."

4:20

bengelinas: Higgins finished testifying today. Court will resume at 10 a.m. MDT on Wednesday.

4:22

bengelinas: Traci has a second tattoo, on her neck, an interlocking design that she told the jury was meant to represent everlasting love.

4:24

bengelinas: The manuscript mentions a second tattoo on the back of Laci's neck. The design of this tattoo is not described in the manuscript.

Wednesday March 30, 2011 10:34 bengelinas: There are delays this morning. Stay with us, though. We expect proceedings to resume shortly.

10:45

bengelinas: The jury is about to hear testimony from a woman named Renee Waring, who is appearing in court via CCTV.

10:46

bengelinas: She is currently in Cleveland, Ohio. She lives in the state.

10:46

bengelinas: As of today, she has never met Mark Twitchell in person.

10:51

bengelinas: On Crown prosecutor Lawrence Van Dyke's request, Waring explains how Facebook works for any members of the jury who do not use the site.

10:53

bengelinas: In late September of 2008, she became familiar with a Facebook profile under the name Dexter Morgan.

10:54

bengelinas: "I am a fan of the Dexter show from Showtime as well as the books by Jeff Lindsay. And Dexter Morgan is the main character out of those books and that show," Waring says. "I've watched every episode that Showtime has aired."

10:54

bengelinas: She became friends with the Dexter Morgan profile.

10:56

bengelinas: Waring did not know who was behind the Dexter Morgan profile. "As a fan of the show, I thought it would be interesting to have the main character be my friend."

10:59

bengelinas: She eventually began conversing with the Dexter Morgan profile via private messages on the social networking site. In early November 2008, she made screencaptures of the conversations she had with the profile and forwarded them to Edmonton Police.

11:02

bengelinas:

The Dexter Morgan profile used a picture of Michael C. Hall, the actor who plays Dexter.

11:04

bengelinas: Waring says she played a game on Facebook called Kidnapped with the Dexter Morgan profile. In the game, players "kidnap" their friends and hold them for points. She tried to kidnap Dexter Morgan. He was given the option to escape or ignore the request to play. He responded in a message to her that he had to ignore the request because if she kidnapped him, he might never want to escape.

11:07

bengelinas: The message from Dexter Morgan also credited Waring for her interest in Dr. Horrible, a web series by Buffy the Vampire Slayer series creator Joss Whedon. Waring says she had posted references to the show on her profile.

11:08

bengelinas: This was the start of a series of exchanges between Waring and the Dexter Morgan profile.

11:10

bengelinas: Waring's first response was playful. "Or would it be that there would be no way I could escape," she replied, adding ;) emoticon.

11:10

bengelinas: "I'm just trying to rack up the points," she wrote. "I know how annoying Facebook apps can be."

11:11

bengelinas: She agreed that Dr. Horrible (and actor Neil Patrick Harris, the star of the series) is "awesome."

11:13

bengelinas: That first message from Dexter Morgan landed in her Facebook inbox on September 29, 2008.

11:16

Court has heard that Twitchell was a fan of Dexter. These DVDs, for example, were seized by police from Twitchell's home. 11:21

bengelinas: Waring had no clue who might be using the Dexter Morgan profile. At one point, she asked if she was actually exchanging messages with Michael C. Hall.

11:22

bengelinas:

The response from the person behind the profile stated that she was close, that he was a filmmaker by trade who had just finished shooting a short film about a serial killer who lures married men off dating websites to their deaths.

11:22

bengelinas: This was still late September 2008.

11:23

bengelinas: Waring eventually asked for the user's name. On September 30, 2008, Dexter Morgan said his first name was actually Mark, and the short film he was making was called House of Cards.

11:25

bengelinas: "Along with getting to know the person behind Dexter Morgan because of curiosity, I had always wanted to be a writer and get into the movies," Waring says.

11:25

bengelinas: As Waring and Mark got to know each other, they also talked about the business.

11:29

bengelinas: Waring tried to find reference online to House of Cards, and while she found numerous films called House of Cards on IMDB.com, she found nothing about Mark's film. She pressed him for more information about his identity, even asking for a photo.

11:31

bengelinas: Mark responded: "OK, I give in." He directed her to the Xpress Entertainment website, Twitchell's production company. "This is my production company," Mark wrote in the message.

11:33

bengelinas: Waring responded: "Lol Mark! So you are a geek like me... Fantastic! :D And a cutie to boot! ;) Oh and married. Well, that will keep you honest. Good thing. The Secrets of the Rebellion looks amazing. I can't wait to see it... Also, Day Players looks hysterical."

11:38

bengelinas: Waring first learned where Mark might be in a message that said: "Canada in general, not terrible, but Edmonton specifically, my gawd."

11:40

bengelinas: Background: Court has heard that Secrets of the Rebellion was Twitchell's Star Wars fan flick. Day Players was a feature film, a comedy, that he was trying to get off the ground.

11:43

bengelinas: Mark said in a message that he was making an Iron Man costume for Halloween that year out of a special plastic that, when boiled in water, can be formed into pretty much any shape before it dries.

11:44

bengelinas: Mark wrote that he made a Bumblebee costume with the stuff last year. He boasted about winning a motorcycle at a radio station costume contest with the Bumblebee costume.

11:44

bengelinas: "I took it last year and I'm taking it this year," he wrote. "Doing something visually impressive and culturally current gets them every time."

11:53

The jury has heard that Twitchell was building an Iron Man costume in his parents' garage. 11:55

bengelinas: Twitchell's lawyer Charles Davison says Twitchell is prepared to admit at this point that he was the person writing Waring under the Dexter Morgan name on Facebook.

12:02

bengelinas: The two began sharing their "dark thoughts" or "dark fantasies." Waring told Twitchell about how she wanted to cut up her ex's new wife, described as a skinny woman who had moved into Waring's old house when Waring's name was still on the loan. Waring wrote that she fantasized about drawing circles in the woman's blood.

12:04

bengelinas: Twitchell replied: "Although I appreciate your dark fantasy about Skeletor... it's impractical." He wrote that the way she fantasized about killing the wife would leave too much forensic evidence. He also warned that the motive was obvious.

12:04

bengelinas: Twitchell said it would be better to build a kill room, just like Dexter, lined in plastic.

12:04

bengelinas: "Kidnap said anorexic girl," he wrote. "Get her to the room."

12:05

bengelinas: "In the US, stun guns are a cost effective approach, followed by a sleeper hold," he wrote.

12:06

bengelinas: Twitchell said it would be wise to tie up the body from head to toe in duct tape and put the pieces in plenty of Hefties. He suggested Waring pulverize the jaw bone and remove the teeth, as well as the finger tips, to avoid identification. "Ideally you want to incinerate the entire body," he wrote. But he admitted that would take a while.

12:19

Twitchell's Bumblebee costume 12:20

bengelinas: Court is on a break and is expected to resume at 1:15 p.m. MDT

1:38

bengelinas: There is another delay, as court tries to sort out issues with the video feed from Ohio. In the meantime, here are some other photos of costumes the jury heard Twitchell made.

1:40

Twitchell dressed as the superhero Wolverine

1:42

Twitchell dressed as Kit Fisto, a minor Jedi character from the new Star Wars movies. 1:56

bengelinas: Renee Waring has returned to the stand. The jury is seated. Her live video testimony continues.

2:03

bengelinas: In a new Facebook message, sent October 5, 2008, Twitchell, still writing under the Dexter Morgan alias on Facebook, suggested to Waring that a stun baton might prove ineffective. "I'd go with a sturdy copper pipe. Lead is too heavy," he wrote, adding that it would be good to tape one end of the pipe. "Two swift, hard bonks to the back of the head and out cold."

2:03

bengelinas: It would be hard to break up the body by hand, he wrote. "A hunter's game processing kit comes with everything you would need to cut the body into nice manageable pieces."

2:08

bengelinas: They exchanged further correspondence on October 9 into October 10. The last message she received from him on October 10 came at 3:22 p.m. Eastern Time. It said: "Sorry this is so short but I'm juggling six things right now and it's time to shift down to five."

2:12

bengelinas: October 10 is the day the Crown alleges Johnny Altinger was killed.

2:15

bengelinas: On October 14, she received a response from Twitchell on Facebook. "This weekend I made the rounds to two family Thanksgiving events and I've also something else keeping me busy. But I'm really concerned about telling anyone because of the implications," he wrote. "Suffice it to say I crossed the line on Friday and I liked it."

2:16

bengelinas: Waring responded: "So what happened? You wouldn't have brought it up unless you needed someone to confide in, so spill it, Mark."

2:17

bengelinas: On October 15, Twitchell responded: "Why don't you give me your phone number and I'll tell you about it when you get back."

2:18

bengelinas: Waring sent Twitchell her phone number on October 24. "I received one phone call with a voicemail. I did not have a chance to speak with anyone."

2:19

bengelinas: "'Hi, it's Mark. I'll try to call you back later.' And that was it."

2:23

bengelinas: After that voicemail, a couple days passed. Waring next heard from Twitchell via Facebook the evening of October 26. "Hey, i just wanted to let you know I do in fact have a pulse," Twitchell wrote. "I just haven't been in a situation to use it lately."

2:24

bengelinas: Twitchell said a lot had been going on, and it wasn't good. "Yay for life sucking," he wrote. "Maybe we should just go some (place) tropical and leave our lives behind for a while."

2:27

bengelinas: In this final Facebook conversation, he wrote about the possibility of getting a boat and taking off for the Dominican Republic with Waring.

2:27

bengelinas: She next heard from him on October 27, this time via e-mail.

2:29

bengelinas: He wrote: "Where do I even start? What's the short version? My marriage is ending. Long story."

2:29

bengelinas: In the e-mail he told her about a missing person investigation, possibly a homicide, surrounding the garage he used. "The police have tossed my house and impounded my car," he wrote, adding: "They won't find anything." He asked her not to ask about the details. "Of course all my recent delves into the darker fiction don't look good in all of this."

2:31

bengelinas: The last time Waring and Twitchell exchanged messages was on Halloween, the day Twitchell was arrested. She sent him a Dexter-themed e-card. "See you soon," it said.

2:31

bengelinas: She received a response that day. It simply said: "You're so sweet you're giving me cavities lol."

2:32

bengelinas: On November 5, 2008, Waring forwarded all this material to the Edmonton Police Service.

2:35

bengelinas: Waring has finished testifying. Court is breaking for the day. It is expected to resume tomorrow at 10 a.m. MDT.

4:31

bengelinas: In the Facebook exchange with Waring, Twitchell writes: "We have an open marriage so honest for us is being completely forthcoming about who and what we're doing to make sure we play safe."

4:31

bengelinas: He also writes: "We all have a dark side, some darker than others. And you're not the only one to relate to Dexter. It sometimes scares me how much I relate, I mean, look at this profile lol."

4:56

bengelinas: Waring seemed to doubt Twitchell's ideas for a clean and quiet kill would work in real life. Oh well, thats what dark fantasies are just a fantasy, she wrote in one Facebook message.

Thursday March 31, 2011 10:11 bengelinas: This morning, the jury hears from Alberta's assistant chief medical examiner Dr. Bernard Bannach.

10:15

bengelinas: Bannach says the police called the medical examiner's office on June 4, 2010 to assist in the recovery of human remains in a city storm sewer in an alley between 129th and 130th Avenue and 86th and 87th Street.

10:16

bengelinas: Four people from the medical examiner's office responded to the scene, including Bannach.

10:19

bengelinas: Office investigator Dennis Caulfield suited up in coveralls and boots and descended into the sewer. He recovered portions of a human torso. Through the use of a bucket, Caulfield also removed all the sediment from the sewer floor, which was sifted through back at the office.

10:23

bengelinas: On June 7, 2010, Bannach examined what was recovered -- bones from the upper and lower torso, along with some decomposed soft tissue. "What is notably absent is any identifiable human organs," Bannach says, showing photos of the remains in court.

10:24

bengelinas: (I am writing from the audio feed this morning. Any descriptors will be Bannach's.)

10:26

bengelinas: The upper torso and pelvis were apparently found separated.

10:36

bengelinas: The medical examiners recovered teeth from the sediment.

10:36

bengelinas: Some of the bones appeared to have been cut, Bannach says.

10:51

bengelinas: All the bones recovered appeared to be from one person, Bannach says. Less than half of the bones in the human body were recovered.

10:58

bengelinas: Crown prosecutor Avril Inglis is reading graphic details of dismemberment as described in the manuscript found on Mark Twitchell's laptop. Bannach says the account, which describes the ease with which tissue can be cut, and indeed, a head can be removed, are true to what Bannach has professionally experienced.

11:06

bengelinas: (court is on a short break)

11:27

bengelinas: Court is now hearing from University of Alberta forensic anthropologist Owen Beattie.

11:31

bengelinas: Beattie has decades of experience as a forensic anthropologist. He was called to the medical examiner's office to give his opinion on the remains in August 2010.

11:34

bengelinas: Beattie was asked to look for any marks on the bones. "On some of these bones there is evidence of cut marks. But not all bones have cut marks," he says.

11:46

bengelinas: Some bones appeared to have been cut by a sharp blade or knife, Beattie says. Some bones are clearly broken.

12:14

bengelinas: Inglis has Beattie going through every bone recovered from the sewer in great detail. Beattie says when bone is cut or sawed, quite often the bone will break before the blade has made it through, creating a distinctive edge called a "breakway spur."

12:17

bengelinas: Damage on the femur appears to be caused by a different instrument than the other bones, Beattie says. "A fair degree of force would have been required to allow the bone to fail."

12:28

bengelinas: Beattie also says the cuts to the top vertebrae were consistent with the head being removed. One paragraph of the manuscript found on Twitchell's laptop described cutting a head off. Beattie says that passage from the manuscript is consistent with the damage he saw on the remains.

12:34

bengelinas: (court is expected to resume at 2 p.m.)

2:09

bengelinas: Const. Joe Tassone, who used to train Edmonton Police officers to use Tasers, was given the stun baton seized from Mark Twitchell's garage. He says when he turned it on, the weapon sparked. He applied it to aluminum foil. "The weapon itself had enough voltage to push the current approximately four inches." He also says the stun gun, in his opinion, would not incapacitate but would likely cause some pain.

2:23

bengelinas: The jury is now hearing from DNA analyst Robert Schimpf, who works at the RCMP lab where the evidence collected in this case was sent for testing.

2:40

bengelinas: DNA was collected from forks, straws, juice bottles and a drinking glass in Johnny Altinger's apartment. The samples were tested against each other to develop a DNA profile for Altinger.

2:41

bengelinas: DNA samples were also obtained from Johnny Altinger's mother and brother.

2:46

bengelinas: All this led Schimpf to conclude that the DNA collected from Johnny Altinger's apartment belonged to Johnny Altinger. They had a workable DNA sample for their victim. The next step was to test that sample against evidence seized by police.

2:49

bengelinas: First up was the knife in a sheath found in Mark Twitchell's Grand AM. The blood found on the knife matched Altinger's DNA sample.

2:50

Knife found in Mark Twitchell's car 2:52

bengelinas: Blood was also found on a duffel bag in Twitchell's car. This blood was likewise matched to Altinger.

2:55

bengelinas: Blood matching Altinger's profile was also found on a pair of jeans lying on the floor in Mark Twitchell's basement bedroom.

3:00

Jeans found on the floor in Mark Twitchell's basement 3:02

bengelinas:

Schimpf says he tested the hockey mask also found in Mark Twitchell's basement. DNA found on the inside of the mask matched Twitchell's.

3:03

bengelinas: Blood on gloves found in Mark Twitchell's parents' basement also matched Altinger's DNA profile.

3:09

bengelinas: When he was arrested, the belt Twitchell was wearing, as well as his shoes, had Altinger's blood on them, Schimpf says.

3:11

bengelinas: (court is on a short break)

3:35

bengelinas: Blood on the meat cleaver found in the game processing kit in Mark Twitchell's garage matched Johnny Altinger's sample. Some limited DNA from a second male was also found on the cleaver, but not enough to match it to anyone.

3:40

bengelinas: Blood matching Johnny Altinger's DNA profile was also found on the caper, skinner, boning/fillet, and butcher knives as well as the carving fork, shears and saw in the game processing kit.

3:41

Game processing kit found in Mark Twitchell's garage studio 3:45

bengelinas: Blood on the threaded end of the metal pipe found in the garage was also matched to Johnny Altinger's DNA, as was the blood-soaked tape on the opposite end of the pipe.

3:52

bengelinas: Altinger's blood was found on both tables in the garage, as well as a pair of scissors and a stick at the same scene. Testing showed blood on a tooth fragment found on the garage floor was also Altinger's.

4:01

bengelinas: In the sewer, medical examiners found a tooth among the partial remains that were recovered. DNA extracted from the tooth was a match to Altinger's sample, albeit a weaker match than DNA from other exhibits.

4:17

bengelinas: Court has ended for the day. Check back tomorrow at 10 a.m. for testimony from a new witness.

Friday April 1, 2011 10:19 bengelinas: This morning the jury hears from Gilles Tetreault, who met a girl on plentyoffish.com.

10:20

bengelinas: Her username was "spiderwebzz." Her pictures on the dating website showed a pretty blonde. Tetreault initiated contact. She responded, said her name was actually Sheena.

10:21

bengelinas: Sheena's responses were friendly and forward, Tetreault says. They exchanged a series of messages on the site, but never spoke on the phone. Eventually, Sheena invited Tetreault on a date. They were to meet at a southside garage on October 3, 2008 for dinner and a movie at South Edmonton Common.

10:23

bengelinas: Sheena's directions to the garage led Tetreault off 50th Street onto 40th Avenue and into an alley, where he would find a garage with an unpaved driveway. "Seriously, who ever heard of a driveway that looks like the Amazon. Whatever, it won't swallow your car. I promise," the e-mailed directions from Sheena stated.

10:24

bengelinas: Tetreault asked where he should go and she told him to go into the garage when he gets there. "The half open car door is a dead giveaway lol," Sheena's message said.

10:25

bengelinas: Tetreault says he was never provided with the street address. "I kept asking for a house number. I kept asking for a phone number," he says. She refused to give either, stating she felt unsafe doing so. "I kind of understood that. There can be a lot of stalkers on the Internet," he says.

10:25

bengelinas: But he says it was odd that she wouldn't give him her house number.

10:27

bengelinas: Tetreault was supposed to be there at 7 p.m., but he had to work until 6 and was late for the date. When he got there, the garage door was indeed half-up. Tetreault ducked into the garage. It was dark.

10:28

bengelinas: Someone came up behind him, put him in a bear hug, then struck him repeatedly with a black object.

10:30

bengelinas: "I turned around to find out who this person was, and... I see this man with a painted up hockey mask on," Tetreault says. The mouth of the mask was cut out. "I immediately thought that I was getting mugged," he says.

10:32

bengelinas: "I tried to escape his grasp," Tetreault says. His attacker kept triggering the black object. Every time he pulled the trigger, the object turned blue and made a noise. "It felt like an electronic bug zapper," Tetreault says. "I just gave him this look to say: 'Hey, this thing's not really hurting me.'"

10:34

bengelinas: "We were just standing there, looking at each other," Tetreault says.

10:34

bengelinas:

So the attacker put the black object away and pulled out a gun.

10:35

bengelinas: He yelled at Tetreault to get down on the ground. Tetreault wasn't sure if the gun was real or fake "I kept thinking to myself: if it's real, I can't run away from the gun. I have to do what he says."

10:36

bengelinas: Tetreault got down on the garage floor. The man in the mask put gray duct tape over Tetreault's eyes.

10:37

bengelinas: Tetreault started to think about how he hadn't told anyone he was going on this date. No one knew where he was.

10:38

bengelinas: Tetreault couldn't see anything with the tape over his eyes, but he heard jingling, like his attacker was doing something with a belt. "It sounded almost like he was going to pull his pants down or something like that," Tetreault says. "I got very scared I didn't know if he was going to pull a knife out or he was going to rape me."

10:38

bengelinas: "I decided I'd better fight back," he says. "I figured I'd rather die my way than his way."

10:39

bengelinas: Tetreault stood up, ripped the duct tape from his eyes and exclaimed: "I can't do this. i can't go down like this."

10:39

bengelinas: Tetreault says he reached out and grabbed the gun barrel. "I felt that it was a plastic gun," he says. "I tell my friends it was the best feeling I ever felt in my life."

10:41

bengelinas: "I really wanted to break that gun. I started prying at the gun with my left hand. I remember looking at it and it almost seemed like I was bending the gun a little bit," he says.

10:41

bengelinas: This appeared to anger the man in the mask.

10:42

bengelinas: Tetreault spotted a set of handcuffs, and thought to grab them and hit the man with them. But the man started punching Tetreault in the side of the head. "Because I'm not cooperating, this is the way it has to be," Tetreault remembers the man saying.

10:44

bengelinas: Tetreault tried to kick the man in the groin but he moved away. The man in the mask tried to grab Tetreault's shoe. In the scuffle, the attacker tried to headbutt Tetreault with the mask.

10:44

bengelinas: "Did he get you?" Crown prosecutor Avril Inglis asks.

10:45

bengelinas: "He just grazed my forehead," Tetreault says.

10:45

bengelinas: Tetreault rolled out under the garage door, leaving his jacket behind. "I tried to start running and use my legs, and my legs

wouldn't work. I just completely fell, my face right on the gravel driveway."

10:45

bengelinas: "I just don't know why my legs wouldn't work. I felt so weak. I started crawling and tried to crawl away, but obviously he came after me."

10:45

bengelinas: "He grabbed my legs, started dragging me back to the garage."

10:46

bengelinas: The man in the mask pulled Tetreault back in the garage. Tetreault got to his feet and slipped away again. He made it back outside and started to run as fast as he could.

10:47

bengelinas: A couple was walking up the street. Tetreault ran over to them.

10:48

bengelinas: "I'm out of breath. I'm tired. I'm weak. I'm hunched over and I can barely speak."

10:48

bengelinas: "There's a guy attacking me, he's mugging me, please help me," Tetreault remembers saying. "They were just stunned, just standing there. They didn't know what to do."

10:50

bengelinas: The man in the mask caught up to Tetreault and stopped, apparently stunned to see other people with him.

10:50

bengelinas: "I yell: 'That's the man!'"

10:51

bengelinas: "He's stunned," Tetreault says. "He knows he kind of looks stupid because he has his painted hockey mask on. At that point I think he didn't know what to do so he pretended he was my best friend... He said: 'Hey, c'mon friend, or c'mon fred, or something like that.'"

10:53

bengelinas: At first the man looked like he was going to take of the mask. Instead he turned around and walked away.

10:53

bengelinas: The couple started walking away too.

10:53

bengelinas: "I yelled: 'Hey, aren't you going to help me out?'"

10:54

bengelinas: The male turned around, but the girl told him to leave it.

10:55

bengelinas: They kept walking. "I knew they weren't going to help me out," Tetreault says. "I think I mumbled something: 'Never mind, I'll do it myself.'"

10:55

bengelinas: Tetreault decided he could make it back to his truck at the garage. "I decided I'd feel safer in my truck," he says.

10:57

bengelinas: He could see feet in the garage as he jumped into his truck and drove off. He doesn't know what happened to the jacket he left behind.

10:58

bengelinas: As Tetreault drove home, the adrenaline wore off. "All of a sudden everything started hurting me at once," he says. His ribs hurt. He had welts all over the side of his head.

10:59

bengelinas: He pulled over to the side of the road. "I felt very sick, like I needed to throw up, but I couldn't throw up," Tetreault says.

10:59

bengelinas: He had a bottle of water in his truck. He poured the water over his face, then laid down in the truck for a while.

11:00

bengelinas: When Tetreault got home, he went on plentyoffish.com. The "spiderwebzz" profile and all the messages they exchanged were gone.

11:01

bengelinas: Tetreault is a shorter man in his mid-thirties. He stands at about 5'7". Tetreault says his attacker was a little taller than him, about 5'10, 5'11, though he admits he's not a good judge of height.

11:02

bengelinas: His attacker didn't take anything from him, though Tetreault does remember being told that if he cooperated, it would just be a standard mugging.

11:02

bengelinas: He remembers pulling at the mask and seeing his attacker's cheek. The cheek looked red, like the mask had been rubbing on the man's face, or maybe he had freckles. Tetreault says his attacker seemed younger, in his twenties.

11:03

bengelinas: Inglis shows Tetreault photos of the garage crime scene. Tetreault points out where he met the couple, around the corner from the garage. His truck, he says, was right by the open door.

11:05

bengelinas: Tetreault says he told a friend about the encounter. On November 2, 2008, this friend pointed out an article online about an investigation. The article said police were looking for a first victim.

11:05

bengelinas: Tetreault contacted police.

11:06

bengelinas: Court is now on a short break. Cross-examination of Tetreault is expected to begin at 11:25 a.m. MDT

11:34

bengelinas: Twitchell's lawyer Charles Davison asks Tetreault about a set of handcuffs he remembered seeing in the garage. Tetreault thought about using the handcuffs to hit his attacker. During his testimony this morning, Inglis showed Tetreault a photo of the handcuffs recovered by police. Tetreault could only say the handcuffs seized "looked like" the ones he recalled seeing in the garage.

11:34

bengelinas: Davison asks Tetreault to further detail what he saw in the garage. Tetreault says he doesn't remember everything he saw in there. "I was fighting for my life," he explains.

11:34

bengelinas: Davison has no further questions.

11:42

bengelinas: Marisa Girhiny is now on the stand. Girhiny says she was walking with her boyfriend on a street in Mill Woods near Greenview School the evening of October 3, 2008. They heard what was sounding like a shuffling sound. Someone came flying out and fell in front of them. He had a big welt on his head. He said: "You have to help me, someone's trying to rob me."

11:43

bengelinas: A man in a mask emerged. "At that point, I started to freak out and tried to walk around, because I wanted to get out of there." She says her boyfriend was trying to figure things out. She called him to come with her.

11:44

bengelinas: She doesn't remember the man in the mask saying anything.

11:51

Twitchell's garage studio 11:51

bengelinas: Girhiny says the man who fell in front of her, asking for help, came from the direction of a garage a few metres away. She says as they were about to run away, she turned around to see the man in the mask on the other side of the fence seen above, peering over the fence, still wearing the mask.

11:52

bengelinas: She says the hockey mask had the mouth cut out in the area where a goatee would grow.

11:55

bengelinas:

The Crown calls to the stand Girhiny's boyfriend Trevor Hossinger. He says they left Girhiny's house on their walk at about 7 p.m. "As we were walking towards the alley, about halfway down, I heard two noises, as if someone was getting punched in the stomach," he says. "I heard two: 'Ugh! Ugh!' noises."

11:57

bengelinas: Hossinger says the man in the mask was wearing a blue hoodie and blue jeans. He was about 6'2" and was wearing the hood up. The man's baggy clothes made him look bigger than he probably was.

11:58

bengelinas: As he was coming toward Hossinger, he noticed the mask seemed to be coming off his face a little. "I was actually able to see the left side of his face," Hossinger says.

11:59

bengelinas: It looked like the man had a black mark under his eye, like a football player might have.

12:01

bengelinas: Hossinger says the man in the mask came within a metre of him, then turned around and walked back to the garage as if nothing had happened.

12:01

bengelinas: Hossinger says he noticed a black Ford truck in the driveway of the garage.

12:02

bengelinas: The other man, who fell in front of them, had a welt on the side of his head. His clothing was torn. He was holding his stomach.

12:02

bengelinas: "He said: 'Can you help me? I'm being robbed.'"

12:03

bengelinas: Hossinger looked back at the attacker, who was apparently still watching. "Can you at least help me get to my car?" the injured man asked.

12:03

bengelinas: Hossinger looked back at the garage, then turned and joined his girlfriend.

12:05

bengelinas: Hossinger says the man in the mask was still standing in the driveway, behind the fence, as they walked away.

12:08

The mask found in Twitchell's basement. 12:10

bengelinas: The jury is hearing from Const. Tim Horon, who was a member in the Hate Crimes Unit in October 2008. He was contacted by a homicide detective to help out on the investigation into Johnny Altinger's disappearance. Horon was asked to e-mail Twitchell's production company Xpress Entertainment purporting to be interested in investment opportunities.

12:13

bengelinas: He sent his first e-mail on October 25, 2008. He received a response from Mark Twitchell explaining that a $35,000 investment in a film project would be returned in full at the pre-production stage, and that Horon could stand to eventually make more than $100,000.

12:14

bengelinas: He set up a meeting with Twitchell on October 31 at Second Cup. The idea was to develop a rapport with Twitchell to lure him into public so they could make their arrest. That meeting at Second Cup never happened.

12:16

bengelinas: Horon was also asked to research plentyoffish.com. He set up two separate profiles. One was of a young woman looking for romance and not just a one night stand. He was asked to monitor the responses, including the views to his profile and messages received, over the course of an hour.

12:16

bengelinas: He received four messages and 27 views to his profile. There were no requests for instant messenger contact.

12:17

bengelinas: Horon then set up a profile for a 20-year-old woman who was looking for sex. "I didn't want a relationship. I was just looking for a no-strings-attached experience, I guess."

12:18

bengelinas: "The response was markedly different," he says. Over the course of an hour: "I received 44 e-mails, I had 90 views to my profile and over 50 requests to speak to me on instant messenger."

12:20

bengelinas: Court has ended for the day. It is expected to resume Monday at 10 a.m. MDT.

12:44

bengelinas: After comparing notes with Alex Zabjek, I've added this quote to the 10:32 a.m. post above: "I tried to escape his grasp,"

Tetreault says. His attacker kept triggering the black object. Every time he pulled the trigger, the object turned blue and made noise. "It felt like an electronic bug zapper," Tetreault says. "I just gave him this look to say: 'Hey, this thing's not really hurting me.'"

1:37

bengelinas: "Sheena" sent this note to Tetreault: http://www.scribd.com/doc/52089980/Sheena-sends-an-e-mail-to-Tetreault

Sunday April 3, 2011 10:09 Moderator: Court is expected to resume Monday at 10 a.m. MDT. To read more from the Twitchell trial - click here Monday April 4, 2011 10:04 bengelinas: The trial is expected to resume shortly.

10:12

bengelinas: On the stand this morning is Const. Fons Chafe, an Edmonton Police expert in blood spatter. He has the EPS equivalent of Dexter Morgan's job.

10:22

bengelinas: Chafe reads blood stains. He looks at blood spatter patterns and shapes to determine what physical events may have taken place to cause the blood to fall as it does. There is a spray sometimes seen from impact, he says. There are also blood drops, not unlike you'd expect from a bleeding nose. Sometimes blood stains are transferred. When this happens, something has come into contact with blood and has moved the blood to another surface.

10:26

bengelinas: Chafe says he uses Hemastix and luminol to detect and highlight blood stains at crime scenes. Hemastix are frequently used for medical purposes, to detect blood in urine. But they are also useful for detecting blood on surfaces at scenes, he says. Luminol glows blue where blood is present.

10:30

bengelinas: Chafe examined Twitchell's Grand AM. He says he observed blood stains in and around the plastic edges of the trunk. Transfer staining was present on the plastic edges. "It was created from a wet blood surface coming into contact with a second surface," he explains.

10:32

bengelinas: He found blood drips in the trunk too.

10:35

bengelinas: "Loading of a wet blood source into and out of the trunk would create these types of transfer patterns."

10:35

bengelinas: Chafe found more stains on the interior on the driver's side, where he says the blood was still wet when it came into contact with the carpet.

10:37

bengelinas: After finishing his examination of Twitchell's car, Chafe examined Altinger's Mazda 3.

10:38

bengelinas: The Mazda also had blood in the trunk. The interior was stained. Chafe points to one stain in particular. "This is a drip stian caused by a drop falling. A wet blood source would have had to have been positioned over top of this."

10:39

bengelinas: Like Twitchell's trunk, there were also transfer stains in the trunk of the Mazda.

10:45

bengelinas: The reddish stains in the trunks were visible to the naked eye, he says.

10:49

bengelinas: Chafe next responded to Mark Twitchell's St. Albert home, where he was directed to the washing machine. He noticed a stain inside the machine's water tub. He points to a red mark in a series of slides before the jury. "This is a diluted blood stain," Chafe says.

10:50

bengelinas: Hemastix showed further staining inside the machine.

10:54

bengelinas: "If it was in operation, it could deposit these stains as a result of centrifugal force or movement," he says. "Water could dilute the blood."

10:58

bengelinas: Chafe spent a few days at Twitchell's garage studio. He noticed red spatter stains on the concrete pad outside the garage, created from blood being dispersed in the air from an: "external application of force." Impact is one means to dispersal. "A sudden shaking motion can also cause blood to be dispersed through the air," he says. Blood exiting the body can also cause spatter. "Usually when that happens we see larger types of patterns, in terms of volume." The stains on the concrete were smaller.

11:05

bengelinas: He also found spatter stains with both upward and downward directionality on the outside of the garage. He can tell the direction the blood was traveling when it hits a particular surface by the elliptical shape and tail left by the blood. In all, Chafe found 33 impact spatter stains on the wall. "There are a number of different sizes, which would indicate force that's been applied to an object," he says.

11:07

bengelinas: Court is taking a short break. When the trial resumes, the jury is expected to hear what Chafe found inside the garage.

11:30

bengelinas: The blood found in the trunk carpets was shown to belong to Johnny Altinger, the jury previously heard.

11:31

bengelinas: Inside the garage, Chafe says he observed numerous impact stains on the inside of the twin garage doors. He counted 222 impact stains on the west door alone, he says.

11:46

bengelinas: The stains found on the exterior of the garage were created by actions that took place inside the garage, Chafe says.

11:52

bengelinas: The garage door must have been up at least part way to allow spatter to reach the exterior. The door had to have been raised to 77.5 cm (a couple feet) at a minimum, Chafe says.

12:00

bengelinas: On the wall between the garage doors, the blood spatter had a distinctive appearance, Chafe says. Below 80 cm up the wall, the spots had circular shapes. Above 80 cm, the blood spots took on increasingly elongated shapes. This, Chafe says, means the wet blood source would have been below a height of 80 cm at the moment of the impact.

12:05

bengelinas: On the other door, blood spattered lower. The source would have been just above 40 cm from the ground.

12:07

bengelinas: Chafe says it would take more than one impact to create the types of patterns he saw in the garage.

12:13

bengelinas: There will be a delay in updates as I head into the courtroom to examine Chafe's slides.

12:44

bengelinas: Chafe uses a computer program to map the trajectory of each blood drop. He found four main areas where impacts may have occurred. One was very close to the garage doors.

12:45

bengelinas: The jury has previously heard that samples Chafe took from the garage were a match for Altinger's blood.

12:46

bengelinas: Along one wall, he also found "cast off" stains. These are created when an object that has blood on it is shaken or moved, as if the blood has been "cast off."

12:53

Chafe's computer diagram shows four impact points. The lines depict the likely paths of blood. 12:55

bengelinas: Court is expected to resume at 2 p.m. MDT with more from Chafe.

2:04

bengelinas: Chafe cautions that these four points are the minimum number of impacts that took place in the garage.

2:08

bengelinas: At the time of this investigation (October 2008), the Edmonton Police Service was still using film as a means of photographing scenes, Chafe says while showing photos of luminol reactions in the garage.

2:09

bengelinas: The luminol reacts with the iron in blood and turns blue, he says.

2:09

Luminol reaction on garage floor. 2:11

bengelinas: "Luminol is very useful for detecting blood that is not visible to the naked eye," he says. "It is possible that if blood has been removed for the surface and is not visible, you will get a reaction."

2:18

bengelinas: When luminol was applied to the northwest floor of the garage, there was no reaction. But impact stains were prevalent on the walls and the back of the garage door that surround that area. Considering this, it was highly probable that impact stains appear on the floor too. "The fact that there is an absence there, it's possible that no impact stains were generated onto that surface, or there may have been something covering that surface at a given particular time," Chafe says.

2:21

bengelinas: They observed white patterns within the luminol, markings that suggested something had been moved across the floor through the blood.

2:22

Luminol reaction on different section of garage floor. 2:25

bengelinas: Chafe also examined the pipe found in the garage with tape on one end. He noticed transfer blood stains on the tape and spatter stains on the bare metal section of the pipe.

2:26

Pipe found in garage. 2:27

bengelinas: The types of stains found on this pipe rarely travel beyond three metres, Chafe says.

2:30

bengelinas: Chafe observed a number of stains on a pair of running shoes Twitchell was wearing when he was arrested. There were spatter stains on the shoes, either caused by an "impact event" or blood dripping into a larger pool of blood, spattering smaller droplets onto anything in close proximity.

2:46

bengelinas: Under cross-examination, Chafe says he sometimes uses human or animal blood to experiment with spatter patterns.

2:47

bengelinas: He says he's used paint at times too.

2:52

bengelinas: He says different liquids behave differently when they hit surfaces, so he uses blood to understand how blood behaves.

2:55

bengelinas: Chafe says at certain points, he used a single swab on multiple stains in the garage. The swab was then a match for Altinger's blood. Twitchell's lawyer Charles Davison wonders if all those stains would have matched Altinger's blood.

3:05

bengelinas: Not every stain is submitted for laboratory analysis. Seven swabs were submitted to the lab to prove blood content. Davison questions if the diagrams presented today are accurate if not every droplet is proven blood. Chafe says he used Hemastix on all the drops noted in his diagrams.

3:07

bengelinas: Davison wonders: if another substance had been present that resembled blood, would that have thrown off his analysis? Chafe maintains the Hemastix detected what was likely blood at all points he put in the computer. But Chafe has also testified today about his use of visible recognition of what appeared to be blood in the garage.

3:10

bengelinas: Davison asks him if he'd be able to visually determine the difference between blood and a mixture of water, corn syrup and red food colouring if both were present.

3:11

bengelinas: Chafe says it depends on what the mixture of food colouring, water and corn syrup looks like. Colour would be an important

factor, he says.

3:11

bengelinas: Chafe admits he's never experimented with that particular mixture of ingredients. The closest he's experimented with is water and corn starch.

3:12

bengelinas: Those are Davison's questions.

3:17

bengelinas: The jury is on a short break. Court will resume shortly.

3:52

bengelinas: Now on the stand is former homicide detective Frank Metselaar. He says he was a task investigator. It was his job in the Twitchell investigation to help with interviews and evidence gathering, as well as run a covert operation for this case.

3:52

bengelinas: He focused on Johnny Altinger. He looked into Altinger's financial account use, checking to see if his accounts were being used.

4:01

bengelinas: He also had involvement in early searches for remains. They went to Sherwood Park, Beaumont, Fort Saskatchewan and St. Albert in late 2008. The dumping of remains down a suburban sewer was described in the document found on Twitchell's laptop. They used this passage as a guide, seeking out sewers that matched the description in the document. They found nothing.

4:05

bengelinas: Metselaar also tested the driving times between key scenes in the case. From the garage to Johnny Altinger's house took 1314 minutes to drive. From Twitchell's home in St. Albert to Traci Higgins' home took an hour and four minutes to drive. For the latter route, he used a sticky note map seized as evidence in the case.

4:06

bengelinas: The route from Twitchell's home to Altinger's home would similarly employ the Anthony Henday, Metselaar says. The driver would simply need to turn off the Henday at 111th Street.

4:07

bengelinas: Another crudely-drawn sticky note map seized by police depicts this sort of route between St. Albert and Altinger's home, Metslaar says.

4:11

bengelinas: After the spring thaw, the detectives continued their search for the remains. They searched the communities of Wetaskiwin, Vegreville and Rosalind.

4:22

bengelinas: They found nothing.

4:22

bengelinas: Court is expected to resume tomorrow at 10 a.m. MDT.

4:29

bengelinas: Correction: Detective Metselaar searched the community of Rosalind for remains, and not the Edmonton neighbourhood

Rosslyn, as was stated above. Tuesday April 5, 2011 10:09 bengelinas: Steve Showler, who worked as a detective in Southwest Division in 2008, was one of the officers who seized Johnny Altinger's car from Joss Hnatiuk's driveway. He would interview Hnatiuk twice. He says the request for a search warrant for Twitchell's garage was initially refused. Showler suggested they ask Twitchell for consent to search. The jury has previously heard that Twitchell obliged.

10:11

bengelinas: The jury is now hearing from the primary investigator in the case -- now-retired EPS homicide detective Mark Anstey.

10:13

bengelinas: Anstey says 112 police officers were involved in the investigation, including 13 homicide detectives, seven forensics officers and 81 patrol officers.

10:17

bengelinas: Initial search warrants were obtained on Oct. 21, 2008 for Twitchell's vehicle, Altinger's vehicle, Twitchell's home in St. Albert and his garage studio in Mill Woods.

10:18

bengelinas: The next day they got a fifth warrant for Twitchell's cell phone, that allowed them to monitor incoming and outgoing calls. It also provided cell tower information, giving the police an approximate location on Twitchell whenever the phone was used.

10:19

bengelinas: Twitchell was also put on 24 hour surveillance.

10:22

bengelinas: Anstey says they checked with Altinger's doctors, with the morgue, they flagged all the airlines, had Altinger's name run through immigration, checked to see if anyone by his name was connected to any trips to the Caribbean. Twitchell's lawyer Charles Davison agrees that the police investigation was thorough.

10:23

bengelinas: International checks remained in place and were updated every few months until Altinger's remains were recovered, more than a year and a half after he went missing.

10:30

bengelinas: Anstey says when he received the SKconfessions document off a laptop in Twitchell's car, he had two main things to prove: who owned the laptop, and whether the document was fiction or a true account. Anstey went through the document, line by line, and identified 301 passages that might have occurred in real life. Detectives sought to prove or disprove every one of these selected passages.

10:33

bengelinas: One of the homicide detectives assigned to prove or disprove passages was Dale Johnson, who is now on the stand. He says at one point in the investigation, he visited bridges in the river valley, using the SKconfessions document as a guide. "There's a passage in the lengthy document that describes an area of the city where the author mentions two bridges that pass over a river," the detective says. "It describes where a person would park and walk down the riverbank. It references the disposal of a body." Johnson was tasked with finding that location.

10:39

bengelinas: He thought the document might be describing newer bridges built as part of the Anthony Henday -- two bridges, north and southbound over the same stretch of river. Johnson visited these bridges on October 25, 2008, and found things in common with the passage in the document. He says he was able to walk down to the water's edge on a steep incline. Gravel made it difficult to maintain a sure footing.

10:40

bengelinas: "The only way to get to the water's edge was by traversing a very steep slope covered in loose rocks and I would have bet money that lugging heavy hefty bags down it would have me slipping to serious injury without fail," the SKconfessions document states.

10:50

bengelinas: Johnson says on November 5, 2008, he was among police and city workers tasked with inspecting sewers around Twitchell's parents' home, north of 130th Avenue. Johnson says they found nothing in those sewers.

10:50

bengelinas: In June 2010, Altinger's partial remains were found half a block south of the sewers they searched.

10:59

bengelinas: Another homicide detective, Brad Mandrusiak, is now on the stand. Mandrusiak was largely responsible for obtaining search warrants in the case. He was also the coordinator for Twitchell's arrest on Halloween. They decided to arrest him outside his parents' home after certain DNA results came back from the lab.

11:00

bengelinas: Twitchell had been in online communication with a police officer posing as a potential investor, and had agreed to meet with the undercover officer at a coffee shop at 3 p.m. on Halloween.

11:01

bengelinas: Twitchell was arrested at a quarter to 3 p.m., when he left his home to walk to the coffee shop.

11:06

bengelinas: When Mandrusiak searched Twitchell, he found keys, a wallet, a cell phone, and two tickets to the Bear's Halloween Howler.

11:07

bengelinas: On June 3, 2010, Mandrusiak and fellow homicide detective Jeff Kerr were called to meet Twitchell at the Remand Centre shortly after 6 p.m.

11:10

bengelinas: They met Twitchell and his lawyer Charles Davison. Twitchell tried to pass Mandrusiak a piece of paper. Mandrusiak said there were some formalities that had to take place before he could take the paper. Twitchell had to be reminded of his rights before passing over the paper, Mandrusiak said.

11:11

bengelinas: Mandrusiak said Twitchell understood his rights. "He passed me a piece of paper that had been folded in half once to hide the content," Mandrusiak said. "As he passed the paper, I could see that it looked like a Google map."

11:14

bengelinas: On the elevator, the detectives looked at the map. It depicted an area of north Edmonton. There was some writing on the map: "Location of John Altinger's remains."

11:15

bengelinas: The map directed the officers to an alleyway between 86th and 87th Street, south of 130th Avenue, where two manhole covers would be found in close proximity near a telephone pole. The map also had two signatures on it.

11:17

bengelinas: The detectives followed the directions on the map and found the sewer, as it was described on the map. "We looked

through the grate," Mandrusiak says. "We wanted to verify if there was anything in there... What I saw was what I believed to be two pieces of human remains within the sewer."

11:18

bengelinas: They secured the area until the next morning, so they could search the sewer in daylight on June 4, 2010.

11:50

bengelinas: There are no further questions for Det. Mandrusiak.

11:52

bengelinas: The Crown admits that Twitchell received nothing for his release of the map to police. But Twitchell did request that the meeting not be publicized. The police agreed to this.

12:03

bengelinas: The Crown's case has concluded with an agreed statement of facts, in which Twitchell admits the Canadian Tire receipt recovered by police was for two lengths of pipe. In the statement, the Crown and defence also agree that while tissue and bone were found on the threaded end of a recovered pipe, the medical examiner was not able to determine if the matter was human.

12:04

bengelinas: The agreed statement of facts also details the basic plot of Dexter, including the serial killer character's use of a moral code when selecting who he kills. It speaks to the great lengths he takes to cover up his crimes, often covering his crime scenes with plastic before killing of his victims.

12:06

bengelinas: With the Crown's case concluded, court is expected to resume at 10 a.m. MDT on Wednesday.

12:28

bengelinas: The Google map Mark Twitchell gave police on June 3, 2010, directing them to partial remains of John Altinger: http://www.scribd.com/doc/52351149/Twitchell-s-Google-map-to-the-body

12:53

bengelinas: "Dexter," as defined in today's agreed statement of facts, is officially: "a popular book and television series in which the main character, named Dexter Morgan, works as a blood-spatter analyst with the Miami Metropolitan Police Department."

12:53

bengelinas: "Dexter's father recognized his son to be a sociopath at a young age," the statement reads. "Dexter is also a serial killer, who was trained by his father (who believed Dexter's homicidal nature could not be eliminated) to choose his victims on moral grounds. The attempted moral basis for his killing is called 'The Code.'"

12:54

bengelinas: According to the agreed statement of facts: "Another part of 'The Code' that Dexter's father urged was the importance of appearing normal to the outside world. Simple human acts (like smiling for pictures and acting sad during funerals) do not come naturally to Dexter."

12:54

bengelinas: "Dexter Morgan uses distant locations for his killings to take place and goes to great lengths to dispose of all evidence of his crimes," the statement continues. "The rooms he uses are covered in plastic. He frequently dismembers the bodies of the deceased and usually disposes of the remains by throwing them overboard from his boat into the Bay. Dexter's 'Dark Passenger' is more heavily referred to in the books, and is both his alter-ego and his desire to kill (e.g. he will refer to himself as 'we' when he is killing his victims in the book). In the television show it is just used to personify his need to kill and isn't treated as a fully formed alter-ego."

12:55

bengelinas: Tomorrow it is expected that court will hear if Twitchell's lawyer will call any witnesses. As always, please feel free to email me with any questions or comments: bgelinas@edmontonjournal.com.

Wednesday April 6, 2011 10:04 bengelinas: Mark Twitchell's lawyer Charles Davison says the jury has heard from numerous witnesses, and not many said positive things about his client. But Davison says Twitchell must still be seen as innocent, as they have yet to hear all the evidence.

10:07

bengelinas: "The Crown has to prove Mr. Twitchell's guilty," Davison says. "Mr. Twitchell doesn't have to prove anything."

10:07

bengelinas: "Sometimes a criminal trial can be equated to the painting of a picture," Davison says. The picture won't be finished until the jury has heard Twitchell's defence.

10:07

bengelinas: Twitchell will testify, Davison says. "He has instructed that he wants to give up his right to remain silent. He wants to testify."

10:08

bengelinas: "He is responsible for the death of Mr. Altinger," Davison says.

10:08

bengelinas: But not all homicides are criminal, and not all criminal homicides are murder, Davison says. What will be key is the intent.

10:12

bengelinas: "He will confirm a lot of what you've heard about him," Davison says. In 2008, he was indeed trying to make a name for himself in the movie business.

10:14

bengelinas: "Mr. Twitchell's also going to confirm some of what you've heard about his human failings and frailties," Davison says. Around the time that he finished the House of Cards, Davison expects the jury will hear that Twitchell came up with what he thought would be a novel concept when making this kind of thriller film.

10:14

bengelinas: Twitchell is expected to say he lured people to the garage as a hoax. "He was planning ultimately to both make movies and write novels about those kinds of experiences," Davison says. "I'm not going to ask you to accept that that's a proper way to behave. That may strike you as a way of using people."

10:14

bengelinas: But Twitchell isn't on trial for luring or deceiving people, Davison says. Listen to his evidence.

10:15

bengelinas: Davison says he doesn't know how Twitchell's going to respond as a witness. "I ask you to keep in mind his situation."

10:15

bengelinas: Twitchell has now been called to the stand.

10:18

bengelinas: In 2008, Twitchell says Day Players, his first feature-length comedy, was in the first stages of pre-production. He was gathering start-up cash and had filmed a trailer.

10:21

bengelinas: Twitchell also says they made House of Cards, a short film he admits to writing and filming in late September 2008. Twtichell says he indeed rented the garage. He admits to purchasing the KA-BAR knife, meat cleaver and game processing kit seized by police. They were all to be used as a props for House of Cards. The game processing kit was intended to be used in future installments of House of Cards. Though it was initially supposed to be a distraction, something to fill some time while Day Players was getting off the ground. He had planned to make sequels to House of Cards. Ultimately, the kit wasn't used in the initial film, Twitchell says.

10:24

bengelinas: Twitchell says he ordered the barrel seized by police from the garage for four key reasons.

10:24

bengelinas: 1. A garbage can for the set.

10:24

bengelinas: 2. As a set piece for the background.

10:26

bengelinas: 3. As a character-used prop. Originally he planned an opening scene to House of Cards, Twitchell says. In the scene, he audience sees the killer character working on his laptop in the garage. He then takes the lid off the barrel and someone's in there, duct taped. "It was sort a reveal, a dark joke," Twitchell says.

10:26

bengelinas: 4. As part of a replica batch incinerator. Building a replica would be cheaper than buying a real one, Twitchell says. He was going to build the fake incinerator based on pictures he'd seen online.

10:28

bengelinas: Twitchell says he bought the two pipes seized by police as a basis to make fake versions of the pipes. They would be used in a mold, to create rubber pipes for use in stunt fights in his movies.

10:29

bengelinas: Police found various swords around Twitchell's St. Albert home. He says he collects swords found in movies he likes. Some were used as props in House of Cards. Court has already heard the victim in the film is run through with the blade of a samurai sword.

10:34

bengelinas: Twitchell says he had an idea to turn House of Cards into a series of works across different mediums.

10:35

bengelinas: First to be released would be a feature film, about a serial killer who at times addresses the audience. Twitchell says ideally the movie would give the audience a lasting feeling that there were dangerous people walking among them.

10:37

bengelinas: Twitchell says he would then write a novel. But this novel wouldn't just be a rehash of the movie. Twitchell says the novel would be an account of the producer of the film. This would make the events in the film seem more real, Twitchell says. His intent would be to keep his audience: "down the rabbit hole."

10:38

bengelinas: The third step would be an online presence, making a forum, possibly, that would include posts from people who claimed to be involved, who may have seen the room from the movie and book in real life.

10:40

bengelinas:

Twitchell says he did the three in reverse. First he would build hype, make it seem like it really happened, by building an online presence. An aspect of this was luring people to the garage, Twitchell says.

10:41

bengelinas: Twitchell also began writing the novel. He says he based a lot of the character traits on his real life, a technique he chalked up to his inexperience. He says he had never written a novel.

10:45

bengelinas: Twitchell says he indeed exchanged messages with Cleveland native Renee Waring over Facebook under the name Dexter Morgan. Twitchell wrote her, in part, about the mindset of psychopaths, what it's like to think like one. He says he was doing research into the mindset of psychopaths for his idea, using everything from the DSM-IV to basic online research.

10:45

bengelinas: The DSM-IV is a manual of mental disorders.

10:47

bengelinas: Early October 2008: Twitchell says set up a fake female profile on plentyoffish.com. "It was the first stage in starting the recruitment process, getting that first online urban legend project started."

10:49

bengelinas: Twitchell used photographs of a blonde woman. He says he got the photos off another profile on the free dating website.

10:51

bengelinas: Twitchell says he corresponded online with Gilles Tetreault. They set up a time for him to come to the garage under the pretenses of dinner and a movie.

10:52

bengelinas: Davison: "Why was no telephone or street address given to Mr. Tetreault?"

10:53

bengelinas: Twitchell says if he gave out his cell phone number: "the whole thing would fall apart."

10:54

bengelinas: As for not providing the exact street address of the garage, Twitchell says he didn't want anyone bothering the tenants in the house on the same property. Court has heard the house on the property was rented by foreign workers. It was unrelated to the garage, which was rented separately.

10:55

bengelinas: The inside of the garage was made to look like a kill room, Twitchell says. Plastic was put up and the large table was used to help with the effect.

10:55

Gilles Tetreault thought he was meeting this woman. 11:01

bengelinas: Twitchell says he's not sure exactly when he arrived at the garage that evening, possibly around 6 or 6:30 p.m. He was wearing blue jeans, as well as a green hoodie a pair of New Balance sneakers that have been entered as exhibits in the trial. Police earlier testified that they found blood on the sneakers.

11:04

bengelinas: The plan was for Twitchell to explain the concept when Tetreault arrived. He would get him to go about his life, and when the film and book came out, Tetreault would go online and support the concept by talking about the event actually happening.

11:05

bengelinas: "I get this spur of the moment bright idea to switch it up at the last second," Twitchell says. "I'll actually pretend to scare this guy, to actually convince him that he's being attacked. This decision, I made about 10-15 minutes before he got there. I actually didn't have a lot of time to think it through."

11:06

bengelinas: "I thought that if he got there and had this feigned encounter and he took off, it would be ridiculously effective," Twitchell says. "That this guy actually thinks this took place. When the movie and the book come out, he thinks: 'That's exactly what happened.' So he starts telling people about it."

11:06

bengelinas: Twitchell donned the hockey mask he used in House of Cards.

11:06

The mask seized from Twitchell's home. 11:07

bengelinas: When Tetreault arrived at the garage, Twitchell admits he "rushed" him.

11:09

bengelinas: Twitchell says he used the stun baton. He knew it wouldn't hurt Tetreault. "I had tested it," Twitchell says. He says he turned it on and touched it at an earlier date. He had to make sure the baton wouldn't hurt anyone when it was used as a prop in House of Cards.

11:10

bengelinas: "I rushed him," Twitchell says. "I run toward him. I don't know how else to put it, use the stun baton to scare him, and from there the altercation progresses."

11:11

bengelinas: "The general mechanics" of the altercation are "pretty much" described in the SKconfessions document found on Twitchell's laptop, he says.

11:13

bengelinas: Court is on a 20 minute break.

11:14

bengelinas: The SKconfessions document found on Twitchell's laptop can be read here: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Deleted+file+Twitchell+laptop/4518062/story.html

11:16

bengelinas: Twitchell says the hockey mask design goes way back. He says he made a version of the mask back when he was 16, for a movie he made with friends spoofing Judge Dredd.

11:20

bengelinas: He says he had hoped the serial killer movie would work a little like the Matrix or Signs, making the audience question whether it was fact or fiction. He says that many people saw the Matrix and wondered afterward if they were actually in the computer-generated world depicted in that film.

11:23

bengelinas: To keep this blog rolling, I have been writing off the audio feed. My colleagues tell me Twitchell appears calm on the stand. The courtroom is full.

11:26

bengelinas: Twitchell calls his movie/novel/online concept: "Multi-format Psychosis Layering Entertainment"

11:29

bengelinas: Twitchell says he never intended to hurt Tetreault with the baton.

11:32

bengelinas: Court has resumed.

11:34

bengelinas: Twitchell admits to writing the document found on his laptop.

11:35

bengelinas: Court has heard that the SKconfessions document was recovered in parts by a computer forensics officer.

11:36

bengelinas: Twitchell says the concept for taking House of Cards beyond a short film came to him during a brainstorming session with much of the House of Cards crew at a Sawmill restaurant in Capilano. Twitchell says he began writing SKconfessions the next day: September 29, 2008.

11:39

bengelinas: Twitchell says he wrote the sections describing his October 3, 2008 encounter with Tetreault in the days following the encounter.

11:39

bengelinas: Essentially, the manuscript was written over time, in several sittings, and not all at once.

11:43

bengelinas: Twitchell says that while the action described in the first victim passages of the manuscript are generally accurate, the way the protagonist views the experience is fiction.

11:44

bengelinas: Early on in the manuscript it describes downloading an IP blocker. Twitchell says he indeed purchased an IP blocker.

11:46

bengelinas: The software he purchased said it protected against spyware. He also bought the program to protect himself from attacks on his computer. The kinds of people he says he was trying to lure off the Internet he hoped would have a sense of humour. They would preferably be gamers, geeks, people present in the online world. "I thought if I ever pissed someone off in the process of this... that they might try to sabotage my computer or something like that."

11:47

bengelinas: Twitchell says "Frank" in the manuscript is Gilles Tetreault.

11:48

bengelinas: Twitchell sent a message to Tetreault warning him not to report what had happened. He says he deleted his fake plentyoffish.com account a couple minutes later.

11:50

bengelinas: Twitchell hung on to the mask, the hoodie, the baton and the handcuffs present or used in the altercation. He did this because he figured at that point it would be best to come clean if Tetreault did report what had happened.

11:54

bengelinas: Twitchell says his relationship with his wife was "distant" during the fall of 2008. He had decided in May to put his all into getting Day Players off the ground. But his wife Jess insisted that he have a day job to guarantee income to support the family. Twitchell says he found it difficult to work a day job and still find time to raise funds for the budget.

11:54

bengelinas: So Twitchell quit his job in the middle to the end of May and "let her believe" he still had the job. He did this for months.

11:56

bengelinas: Twitchell says when Jess discovered a dating site open on his computer, he panicked. "I had to make up a story to buy myself some time and basically put off the inevitable."

11:56

bengelinas: "Jess was pretty firm when it came to moral behaviour," Twitchell says. "I knew at some point when that came out, basically the marriage was going to end."

11:57

bengelinas: But he wasn't ready for those issues to come up. He was too busy with Day Players and needed to get his finances in order.

11:57

bengelinas: So he admits he came up with a story about being hired to write an online article about dating websites.

11:58

bengelinas: Twitchell says he indeed hired an actor to pose as his editor.

12:00

bengelinas: In the fall of 2008, Twitchell would sometimes communicate online (Facebook, online chats) with his ex-girlfriend Traci Higgins. That led to face-to-face meetings for coffees in bookshops, and eventually get-togethers at nights and on weekends.

12:01

bengelinas: On October 10, 2008, Higgins and Twitchell went to a movie, a matinee showing of the handheld horror flick Quarantine at South Edmonton Common. They chose whatever movie was about to start when they got there, Twitchell says.

12:02

bengelinas: They sat in the back row and chatted until the movie began. "Not very long after the movie started, we started kissing," Twitchell says. "We were pretty much making out for the entire film. Most of it."

12:03

bengelinas: The last time that they had been so affectionate was an encounter a year before at a Boston Pizza. Twitchell was on a lunch break from set building on his Star Wars movie Secrets of the Rebellion. They kissed several times.

12:04

bengelinas: On October 10, 2008, Twitchell was still married to and living with his wife.

12:05

bengelinas: In one Facebook message to Renee Waring, Twitchell wrote: "Suffice it to say I crossed the line on Friday, and I liked it."

12:05

bengelinas: "That is me warming up to confide in Renee what was going on with Traci," Twitchell explains.

12:07

bengelinas: "I'm referring to the make-out session with Traci in the movie theatre," Twitchell says. "On the tenth of October, I felt like I was falling love with Traci all over again."

12:08

bengelinas: Davison begins to ask Twitchell about the events on October 10, 2008 that involved Johnny Altinger.

12:08

bengelinas: "I began by repeating the same process of setting up the online profile and essentially the luring hoax with John that I had with Gilles," Twitchell says.

12:09

bengelinas: He used different photographs gathered from plentyoffish.com. The interaction between them went back and forth over a couple days before they'd cemented a time and day to meet at the garage.

12:09

bengelinas: Twitchell says he was using the name "Jen" to communicate with Altinger.

12:10

bengelinas: As with Tetreault, Twitchell did not provide a phone number or exact address to Altinger.

12:10

bengelinas: "I was just trying to give him the overall impression that he was going to be meeting this woman for a sexual encounter."

12:11

bengelinas: Twitchell provided detailed directions to the garage. He says he wanted to prevent Altinger from showing up at the front door of the house.

12:15

bengelinas: "Park in the only driveway on your left that looks like a forest, lol," Twitchell wrote Altinger under the name Jen. "There's a couch and some other garbage I haven't had time to call the city about yet. I'll just leave the garage door partly open for you to sneak in through."

12:18

bengelinas: Twitchell says he arrived at the garage some time around 6 p.m. that night. Before Altinger arrived, he set up his laptop in the garage. Twitchell was using the laptop to communicate with Altinger prior to his arrival at the garage.

12:18

bengelinas: "From the inicdent with Gilles, I learned a lot of lessons," Twitchell says. He had more lights in the garage. He left the mask out of it.

12:18

bengelinas: Twitchell had the KA-BAR knife in the garage. He says he kept it there to use on set for odd jobs.

12:18

bengelinas: It was an expensive knife that was only featured for a moment in House of Cards. He wanted to get more use out of it.

12:19

bengelinas: The prop handgun used in the earlier Tetreault encounter was also in the garage.

12:19

KA-BAR knife found in Mark Twitchell's car 12:23

bengelinas: Twitchell says he rehearsed what he would say to Altinger when he arrived.

12:23

bengelinas: Altinger was supposed to get there at 7 p.m.

12:23

bengelinas: "I saw his car pull along the alleyway without pulling into the driveway. I wasn't sure at the time at that moment that it was him specifically."

12:24

bengelinas: The sun had started to set.

12:24

bengelinas: Altinger apparently drove a loop around the area. He came back around, parked the car and shut off his engine.

12:25

bengelinas: One bay door of the garage was ajar, Twitchell says.

12:25

bengelinas: "He calls out: 'Hello,' and I reply back to him: 'Hold on just a sec.'"

12:27

bengelinas: Twitchell says he turned on a halogen light. He doesn't remember exactly what was said. "We were both essentially operating under the impression that I was aware why he was there."

12:27

bengelinas: Twitchell was the person working in the garage that Altinger had been told to expect. "I introduced myself. I said my name was Mark, I'm a filmmaker, and I was dressing (the garage) to look like a kill room set."

12:28

bengelinas: Twitchell says he "threw up the smoke screen" that Jen wasn't there yet.

12:29

bengelinas:

Twitchell then brought up Secrets of the Rebellion. He asked Altinger if he had heard of it. He hadn't. "He didn't want to hang out and chat forever." Twitchell says he told Altinger that Jen would be back in about ten minutes.

12:29

bengelinas: He says he showed Altinger the pipes and the prop gun. "I actually remember pulling the magazine out and showing him that it was Airsoft."

12:30

bengelinas: "He seemed to humour me," Twitchell says, "then politely excused himself."

12:31

bengelinas: Court is now on a break. Mark Twitchell's testimony is expected to resume at 2 p.m. MDT.

2:05

bengelinas: When Johnny Altinger left the garage for the first time, Mark Twtichell says he took the time to think about how he was going to broach the subject.

2:05

bengelinas: "When John returned, he parked in the same spot, came back in and again, I put it off," Twitchell says.

2:06

bengelinas: Twitchell says he wanted to consider what he would say to Altinger a little more. It was the first time he actually had the chance to do it. "So I gave him another story, and that was that the Jen person was stuck in traffic on the Whitemud." He told Altinger she wouldn't be able to make it to the garage for at least 30 minutes.

2:07

bengelinas: When Altinger returned that second time, Twitchell was on his cell phone. "I was pretending to wrap up a phone call with the imaginary person," he says.

2:07

bengelinas: Altinger decided to leave.

2:10

bengelinas: Still in the garage, Twitchell went back on the computer. He thought to himself that this is going better than he expected. He wondered if Altinger was on the phone, describing what had happened. That would build buzz, Twitchell thought.

2:11

bengelinas: Twitchell says he was at first unsure about whether to reveal to Altinger over e-mail or in person that he'd been lured under false pretenses. Twitchell says he ultimately decided to invite Altinger back to the garage for a third time. He e-mailed Altinger again, still posing as Jen.

2:12

bengelinas: Altinger came back to the garage for a third time. He parked in the driveway in front of the door that was ajar. "He comes in again through the door," Twitchell says.

2:13

bengelinas: "We acknowledge each other. He shrugs and says: 'I guess he's a glutton for punishment.'"

2:13

bengelinas: Twitchell says he responded: "Actually, John. I'm the one doing the punishing."

2:14

bengelinas: He says he revealed to Altinger that there is no Jen. He says he tried to explain his "psychosis layering" idea.

2:14

bengelinas: "He didn't seem too humoured by it," Twitchell says.

2:15

bengelinas: Twitchell says he's thought about that moment a lot over the past two and some years. He says he's not sure what wires of communication crossed. "When I finished what I'll call a haphazard explanation, he became what I perceived to be indignant. His manner projected angry and when he began speaking it just enforced that."

2:15

bengelinas: Twitchell says Altinger said: "This is what you do? You're just luring people here and springing this on them? That's pathetic."

2:16

bengelinas: "Pathetic? Look who's talking," Twitchell said.

2:16

bengelinas: "I turned my back on him," Twitchell says. "I said he should probably crawl back to whatever little hole he'd just crawled out of, because he could probably never a woman that good looking in his life anyway."

2:17

bengelinas: "The next thing I remember is the impact in my lower back," Twitchell says.

2:17

bengelinas: He assumed Altinger had kicked him.

2:17

bengelinas: Twitchell turned around and pushed Altinger back, he says.

2:17

bengelinas: "I get this idea in my head: 'What if he retaliates and tries to smash up the laptop?'"

2:18

bengelinas: Twitchell says he tried to block Altinger's path to the laptop. "The pipes are also right there too."

2:18

bengelinas: Twitchell says Altinger grabbed a pipe and swung it.

2:18

bengelinas: "I dodged the first couple," Twitchell says. The third blow came down on Twitchell's elbow.

2:19

bengelinas: "I recoil and grab the pipe," Twitchell says. "I twist it out of his grasp. And then I swung."

2:19

bengelinas: "The edge of the pipe caught him on the top of the head," Twitchell says.

2:20

bengelinas:

"We grapple, grabbing each other's arms, trying to get an advantage over each other, basically turning, sidestepping. I'm trying to get him off of me."

2:20

bengelinas: Twitchell had the pipe in his hand.

2:21

bengelinas: "I'm swinging the pipe, trying to hit him off of me. I keep hitting him in the head as he's pulling on me," Twitchell says.

2:22

bengelinas: Twitchell says Altinger fought back, striking him with a fist to the stomach, head and chest.

2:22

bengelinas: Each time Twitchell swung that pipe, he says he increased the power he put behind the blow.

2:22

bengelinas: "It was just a lot of mangled mess of swings," Twitchell says.

2:23

bengelinas: Altinger grabbed the pipe from Twitchell. Altinger was bleeding -- a lot. "Blood had sprayed on me," Twitchell says.

2:23

bengelinas: Twitchell says he wasn't sure what to do. Altinger was angry.

2:24

bengelinas: "So I reach for the knife," Twitchell says.

2:24

bengelinas: Twitchell undid the sheath but didn't pull the knife out. He thought holding the knife and undoing the clasp would send a message to Altinger to end the fight.

2:25

bengelinas: Altinger was holding his head. He said: "My head, my head you f--k."

2:25

bengelinas: Twitchell says Altinger then came at him with the pipe.

2:26

bengelinas: "It was just the sickest feeling ever," Twitchell says. "I just started to feel this wet sensation around the hand still holding the handle and I let go, instinctively. And then I saw it sticking out of him."

2:26

bengelinas: The blade had plunged into Altinger's body, below the sternum. Twitchell says Altinger staggered back.

2:28

bengelinas: Twitchell says studied anatomy classes with his first wife in the states. And he knew then that where the knife landed, Altinger wouldn't make it.

2:28

bengelinas: "It's one of those things when I'm just stuck there and can't decide what to do. I'm just frozen by inaction. There's a war

going on between screaming out in my head: 'Call 9-1-1!' But at the same time: 'How bad does this look? Take a look around. Look at what this place looks like.'"

2:28

bengelinas: Altinger collapsed by the bay door.

2:29

bengelinas: Twitchell says the altercation began by the wooden table at the far end of the garage and ended by the open bay door.

2:30

bengelinas: "Did you do anything to then help Mr. Altinger?" Charles Davison asks Twitchell.

2:30

bengelinas: "No," Twitchell says.

2:31

bengelinas: "I kept saying to myself: 'Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.'"

2:31

bengelinas: Twitchell pauses. His voice quivers greatly as he says: "I could finally move. I walked over to him."

2:32

bengelinas: "It took me a really long time to figure out what the hell I was going to do," Twitchell says. "I started thinking about how I could have been so f--king stupid. Even with all the precautions I took, you can't think that you can just predict human behaviour."

2:33

bengelinas: Twitchell decided to use his set: "to do things it had never been designed to do."

2:34

bengelinas: He tried to block out what he was feeling. He told himself it wasn't a man anymore, that it was just a "shell."

2:34

bengelinas: He struggled to lift Altinger's frame and was eventually able to set the body on the table.

2:36

bengelinas: In Twitchell's manuscript, he details a dismemberment with a game processing kit.

2:37

bengelinas: Twitchell says the physical description of the dismemberment in SKconfessions is generally accurate, with a few exceptions.

2:40

bengelinas: Twitchell says he struck at the teeth with the second pipe that first night. He says he thought to remove the teeth to help conceal the body's identity. But Twitchell says he couldn't quite go through with the process.

2:42

bengelinas: He put the pieces of the body in garbage bags and put them in the back of Altinger's Mazda, which Twitchell says he drove into the garage.

2:43

bengelinas:

"I did a quick, haphazard job of cleaning up, just getting the plastic sheeting out of the way." He soaked up the blood with paper towels. The work was exhausting, Twitchell says.

2:44

bengelinas: He used water bottles to clean up and put on a fresh set of clothes he had in a duffel bag. He says the clothes he had on were "caked in blood."

2:45

bengelinas: Jess called him on his cell after Altinger had died -- "part way through the process of me trying to deal with the body." She asked him to pick up formula on his way home. "I drove from the garage to Shopper's Drug Mart on St. Albert Trail, almost where the Wal-Mart is. I checked to see if it was open. It wasn't."

2:46

bengelinas: He got home some time around midnight or 1 a.m., threw his clothes in the washing machine, took a shower and tried to sleep.

2:46

bengelinas: The next day was Saturday, October 11, 2008: Thanksgiving weekend.

2:48

bengelinas: Twitchell says he doesn't remember everything about that weekend. He remembers running out to pick up the baby formula Jess had asked for the night before. He remembers going to family functions. He doesn't remember going back to the garage that weekend.

2:49

bengelinas: On Monday, he told Jess he was going to go to his parents' house to work on his Halloween costume.

2:49

bengelinas: "Is that actually what you did," Charles Davison asks.

2:49

bengelinas: "Not at first," Twitchell says.

2:50

bengelinas: He drove down Ellerslie Road to Altinger's home, using the address of the licence he found in Altinger's wallet.

2:52

bengelinas: Twitchell says he went on Altinger's computer and accessed open accounts, to give friends and family some indication Altinger wouldn't be around for a while -- "a desperate attempt to buy time."

2:52

bengelinas: "It wasn't the best decision to make," Twitchell says. "It comes down to me trying to run away from a situation I should have faced head-on."

2:54

bengelinas: Twitchell says he was trying to learn more about Altinger. He says he wanted to "punish" himself by learning who this man was.

2:55

bengelinas: He took Altinger's laptop on his way out, to hide his presence there. "It was not very well thought out," he says.

2:55

bengelinas: Twitchell took Altinger's printer too, in case any information had been stored in or sent to it.

2:56

bengelinas: When he left Altinger's home, Twitchell says he made a random stop somewhere in the city, anywhere he could find a garbage to throw the printer. He later threw out Altinger's laptop as well, in another random dumpster.

2:57

bengelinas: Twitchell arrived at his parents' house, where the family had Thanksgiving dinner.

2:59

bengelinas: The next day, Twitchell went back to the garage and transferred the bags to his own car. He put the barrel in his car too, then drove to his parents' place.

3:00

Police successfully fit the barrel in Twitchell's car. 3:00

bengelinas: Twitchell says he tried to burn the remains in the barrel in his parents' backyard. He doused one bag in the barrel with some gasoline in a Dixie cup. When it didn't successfully destroy the remains, he packed everything up and went back to the garage that afternoon.

3:01

bengelinas: Twitchell took some time to think. He decided it best to "reduce" the remains into smaller pieces and dump them into some sort of water source.

3:04

bengelinas: Twitchell pauses, says he was mistaken in earlier testimony. He says he actually tried to remove the teeth during this second processing of the remains.

3:04

bengelinas: He also tried to remove the fingerprints -- "a sad attempt to hide identity."

3:05

bengelinas: "I figured if the remains were ever found independently, by themselves, that they wouldn't necessarily be linked to what had happened," Twitchell says.

3:06

bengelinas:

The feelings he described in the manuscript when cutting up the body the second time were exactly the opposite of the truth, he says.

3:06

bengelinas: He felt weaker, not stronger. "I felt like I was carrying a serious burden that I was very worried I wouldn't be able to share," Twitchell says.

3:06

bengelinas: In the manuscript: "I felt good about this."

3:06

bengelinas: "Did you feel good about this?" Davison asks.

3:07

bengelinas: "Definitely not," Twitchell says. "You know when you fall asleep on your arm and it goes numb and you can't feel it. That's pretty much the sensation of divorce that I felt from my emotional state at that time."

3:07

bengelinas: "Even if you try to poke and prod at it, it doesn't react."

3:08

bengelinas: Emotionally coping with what had happened was a door Twitchell says he tried to open. "But even what you see through that crack was too much to handle."

3:10

bengelinas: Twitchell says he writes what he knows. In House of Cards, Twitchell says he is Roger: a guy who can't appreciate what he has at home. The killer character is him berating himself for his actions.

3:12

bengelinas: When Altinger died, Twitchell says he tried to do something similar. He wrote about what happened in the SKconfessions manuscript, but added shocking, lewd and crass content, apparently trying to beat himself down for what had happened.

3:13

bengelinas: The remains were in Twitchell's trunk for some time. They were in there when he drove to a bridge on the west-end, thinking he could dump the remains in the river. When that didn't work, he settled on a sewer.

3:14

bengelinas: He found a suitable sewer in an alley near his parents place, opened the manhole cover and poured everything out of the bags into the sewer.

3:15

bengelinas: Twitchell says he then drove down to Mill Woods and gathered up everything in the garage that would burn.

3:16

bengelinas: Court is now on a 20 minute break.

3:24

bengelinas: Twitchell cried on the stand when he described first approaching Altinger's body after he was stabbed. He brought a tissue to his eyes. He choked a little on his words.

3:41

bengelinas:

Contrary to the description in Twitchell's manuscript, he says he wasn't eating potato chips when he further dismembered Altinger's body.

3:42

bengelinas: Twitchell says he tried to burn the drop cloth that had been hanging in the garage along with various garbage also from the garage. He says he threw one of the pipes into the fire too.

3:43

bengelinas: Twitchell asked his friend Joss Hnatiuk to drive and park Altinger's Mazda 3 at Hnatiuk's house. Twitchell admits he misled his friend about how he got the car. "I needed his help but I didn't want to get him involved in my mess."

3:45

bengelinas: Twitchell also admits he did not tell the truth to Const. Christopher Maxwell or Detective Mike Tabler when they questioned him.

3:49

bengelinas: In Twitchell's e-mail to Detective Tabler, and indeed his second written statement to Det. Bill Clark, Twitchell says he was not telling the truth when he wrote that he bought Altinger's car for $40 off a man bound for the tropics with a "sugar mama."

3:49

bengelinas: "I lied to Clark about what happened," Twitchell says.

3:51

bengelinas: Twitchell says he was apprehensive and nervous when the detectives were questioning him. He was trying to present a face to them, to buy some time, he says. "I was primarily thinking that if I could just have enough time to get my co-producer to take over Day Players, or be able to do something successful with the Halloween Howler that year, that I'd be able to give that money to my family and be able to watch out for them..."

3:52

bengelinas: Twitchell admits to drawing a map on a sticky note from his home in St. Albert to Traci Higgins' home in Wetaskiwin. That note was seized by police, along with other notes.

3:55

bengelinas: Twitchell says he makes lists. Another sticky note found by police listed the following: - "ship phone while it's on" - "return addy of vic" - "destroy wallet contents" - "use labtop (generic) Wi Fi for e-mail" Twitchell says this was a list of story concepts for the novel, things he'd have the protagonist do.

3:58

bengelinas: Another note found by police, that included the phrases: "Kill room clean sweep," and "F--k Traci senseless," was written before Altinger's death, Twitchell says. The clean sweep referred to tidying up the garage set. The latter phrase Twitchell says he wrote as a joke that he intended to show Higgins.

3:59

bengelinas: Twitchell says in the days leading up to his arrest he was living at his parents' home. "I tried to distract myself with working on the Iron Man Halloween costume, anything I could do to distract myself..."

4:01

bengelinas: The last time he saw Jess, either October 21 or 22, she came to his parents' house to talk. Twitchell says he confessed to her everything he had been keeping from her: the ruse about the online article, the situation of not going to a day job -"Everything. I emptied the whole bag."

4:01

bengelinas: When Twitchell was driving around with Altinger's body in his trunk, he says he was struck by paranoia and fear.

4:08

bengelinas: In the manuscript: "It's an interesting feeling, driving around town with what used to be a human body bagged up in your trunk. No one has any idea they are stopped at a light right next to a serial killer with what could very well be one of their friends now sacks of meat parts in a hidden compartment. It made me wonder, in all my ten years of driving around, had I ever unknowingly passed a vehicle or sat parked at a red light next to someone just like I would be one day? It blew my mind."

4:09

bengelinas: Twitchell says he revealed the location of the remains to give Altinger's family and friends closure.

4:13

bengelinas: He waited until June 2010 because of legal advice.

4:14

bengelinas: Those are Davison's questions.

4:14

bengelinas: Court is expected to resume Thursday at 10 a.m. MDT with cross-examination of Twitchell by the Crown prosecutors.

5:32

bengelinas: Online photo gallery of Mark Twitchell's costumes: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/twitchellcase/Gallery+Mark+Twitchell+costume+creations/4549684/story.html

Thursday April 7, 2011 10:02 bengelinas: The jury is seated.

10:02

bengelinas: Mark Twitchell steps back up to the witness box.

10:04

bengelinas: Crown prosecutor Avril Inglis begins her questions to Twitchell by repeating his admission that he was basically willing to lie to suit his needs.

10:05

bengelinas: He lied to Gilles Tetreault, created a whole fake persona, some girl named Sheena. He took the time to find photos. "You were just as deliberate in your lying when you did the same thing with Mr. Altinger a week later, correct?" Inglis asks.

10:05

bengelinas: Twitchell agrees.

10:07

bengelinas: Altinger's reason for being at the garage was fabricated by Twitchell. Twitchell was acting, to the point where he staged a phone call with no one on the other end.

10:12

bengelinas: Twitchell agrees he made up the username "Spiderwebzz" for the fake profile he used to lure Tetreault to the garage.

10:12

bengelinas: The username Spiderwebzz proved an ironic choice, Inglis says. "You were weaving a spider web around Mr. Altinger."

10:14

bengelinas: Twitchell admits he can see how Inglis sees the username as ironic.

10:14

bengelinas: Twitchell admits he was repeatedly willing to lie to the ones he loved.

10:14

bengelinas: He lied about having a day job to his wife. "You continued with a daily deception," Inglis says.

10:14

bengelinas: "Yes," Twitchell says.

10:14

bengelinas: The therapy appointments. Jess so believed that Twitchell was going to therapy that she made a note of his appointments on her wall calendar.

10:15

bengelinas: Then there was the lie about the freelance article. "She caught you on a cheater's website and you came up with a really elaborate lie, didn't you?" Inglis says.

10:15

bengelinas: "Yes," Twitchell says. "It was a way of me backing out and shying away from a conflict."

10:17

bengelinas: "It was a way of you avoiding responsibility for what you'd really been doing, correct?" Inglis asks.

10:17

bengelinas: Twitchell says yes.

10:17

bengelinas: The "SK" in "SKconfessions" stands for serial killer secondarily, Twitchell says. It's really meant to reference Stephen King, he says.

10:21

bengelinas: He says it was meant to be a nod to King's writing that lying is fiction, and that fiction is art, and therefore, art is a lie, or something similar.

10:22

bengelinas: Confessions was a reference to a Mark Twain quote, Twitchell says, that: "a novel is a confession to everything by a man who had never done anything."

10:23

bengelinas: Inglis is speaking quickly. One could say she is confrontational, but certainly she is forward in her line of questioning.

10:24

bengelinas: Shortly after Altinger died, Twitchell was able to lie to his wife. He came up with the lie that he was at their old gym, because he remembered it was still open. "Moments after Mr. Altinger bled to death in your garage, in front of your eyes, you were able to talk to her and come up with a quick lie, is that correct?" Inglis asks. Twitchell says yes.

10:24

bengelinas: "Definitely not nearly as easy as you make it sound," Twitchell says.

10:25

bengelinas: Twitchell lied to his girlfriend Traci Higgins, Inglis says. He did so repeatedly. Twitchell had a history of lying over the history of their relationship, Inglis says.

10:25

bengelinas: "It seems to me you're willing to lie for any reason, no matter how inconsequential," Inglis says. She brings up the lie to the police officer, who pulled Twitchell over for speeding. Twitchell told the officer he was going to the airport to pick up an actor, when he was actually going to see Traci in Wetaskiwin.

10:26

bengelinas: In Twitchell's SKconfessions manuscript, Traci is Laci, Jess is Tess, and so forth. "None of those monikers were meant to mask who they were in real life," Twitchell says.

10:30

bengelinas: "We've heard evidence that you lied to your friends," Inglis says. "Joss Hnatiuk. You told him quite a story about how you got your hands on Mr. Altinger's red Mazda." Twitchell agrees.

10:30

bengelinas: Twitchell says he didn't feel like he could tell Hnatiuk the truth.

10:31

bengelinas: Twitchell told the police stuff had been moved in the garage when they first met there. But that wasn't true. There was nothing weird in the garage. Everything was as he left it.

10:32

bengelinas: Twitchell says he did "blank" on having Altinger's car when he was first interviewed by police. "When they were asking me questions about the car, my mind was somewhere else completely," he says.

10:33

bengelinas: Twitchell told Hnatiuk that he was concerned this whole thing might be a set-up. Twitchell admits that was also a lie. He didn't believe anyone was setting him up.

10:38

bengelinas: The first time Twitchell mentioned the car to police was an e-mail he sent to Det. Mike Tabler. You can read the e-mail here: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/interview/4492805/story.html

10:38

bengelinas: Twitchell told Hnatiuk, three hours before that e-mail was sent, that he'd already spoken to police, who informed Twitchell that the car was stolen. Twitchell says this was a lie, that he didn't want to drag his friend into the whole mess.

10:39

bengelinas: Hnatiuk was already in possession of Altinger's car, which had Altinger's blood in it, Inglis says. "Wouldn't you agree with me that you'd already dragged him into this."

10:39

bengelinas: "I guess a little bit, but not to that level, not something that would get him in serious trouble," Twitchell says.

10:39

bengelinas: And then Twitchell entered Altinger's home and lied to Altinger's friends. He admits this on the stand.

10:40

bengelinas: "You broke and entered the dead man's home, correct?" Inglis asks.

10:40

bengelinas: "Yes," says Twitchell.

10:40

bengelinas: "You went in there and you looked around in his stuff," Inglis says.

10:40

bengelinas: "Yes," says Twitchell.

10:41

bengelinas: Twitchell also admits he wrote separate e-mails to individual friends of Altinger. He updated Altinger's MSN status to read: "I've got a one way ticket to heaven and I'm not coming back."

10:41

bengelinas: "You wrote that about the man who died in front of you several days earlier," Inglis says.

10:41

bengelinas: "Yes, I did," Twitchell says.

10:42

bengelinas: Twitchell admits he was trying to mislead the police who were investigating Altinger's disappearance. He says he lied about the lock being changed on the garage. He says he bought the lock that was on the garage door, the lock he told police he had no knowledge of.

10:48

bengelinas: Twitchell says he lied to Det. Tabler during their interview. He told Tabler he didn't know who Altinger was, when at that time he knew where he lived, what he drove, and who he was friends with, their names anyway.

10:49

bengelinas: Tabler: "Okay, the indications we have, and weve got this through our investigations, and the address comes up, and the garage is described, and he actually says that he was there on that particular day. The particular day were talking about is I think the fifteenth."

10:50

bengelinas: Twitchell: "The fifteenth. OK."

10:50

bengelinas: Tabler: "Now I may be mistaken I may be mixing a couple things up but I think fifteenth and thats the day youre indicating that you were probably down there putting supplies there."

10:50

bengelinas: Twitchell: "Okay, yeah."

10:50

bengelinas: Tabler: "Okay."

10:50

bengelinas: Twitchell: "Like on a Wednesday or something."

10:51

bengelinas: Tabler: "He was supposed to go there and meet a girl who described the address and told him how to get there."

10:51

bengelinas: Tabler: "Now this is a girl hes met through a, you know, an internet site."

10:52

bengelinas: Tabler: "Doesnt know her from before. So he, of course, lets friends know where hes going."

10:52

bengelinas: Tabler: "Sends it out to a few friends, all of a sudden he disappears. Last known place was there. Said he went there, met a guy. The girl wasnt there. Met a guy in the garage."

10:52

bengelinas: Twitchell: "In the garage?"

10:53

bengelinas: Tabler: "Yeah."

10:53

bengelinas: Twitchell: "Okay. That would explain some things."

10:53

bengelinas: Tabler: "Tell me what youre thinking."

10:54

bengelinas: Twitchell: "Well it explains the foreign padlock if he switched it out or something like that. That makes sense."

10:54

bengelinas: Tabler: "Who switched it?"

10:54

bengelinas: Twitchell: "Whoever this guy is?"

10:56

bengelinas: Inglis plays a video recording of Twitchell's interview with Tabler for a good six minutes.

10:57

bengelinas: When she pauses the video, Twitchell says he was acting during the interview. Some of it, at least, was faked.

10:57

bengelinas: "Looking back at that frankly, I'm kind of surprised someone would buy that," Twitchell says.

10:57

bengelinas: Twitchell says his answers seemed over-exaggerated.

10:58

bengelinas: Twitchell says he lied to Det. Brian Murphy too.

10:59

bengelinas: He gave Murphy a verbal account of how he got the red car off a guy for $40. Twitchell admits the lie was elaborate. "I was trying to make it as realistic as I could," Twitchell says.

10:59

bengelinas: He even sketched out a Celtic knot tattoo he says the man who sold him the car had on his neck.

11:00

bengelinas: This story also appeared in Twitchell's e-mail to Det. Tabler and Twitchell's eight-page statement to Det. Bill Clark.

11:00

bengelinas: "The e-mail I sent Tabler was like throwing myself under the bus, but at the same time I was trying to crawl back to the curb," Twitchell says.

11:02

bengelinas: Twitchell wrote in his statement to Clark: "At this point I'm alarmed that unknown persons know where I live and may be entering premises I'm supposed to be in control of. I don't know if the person who sold me the other car is involved but looking back it certainly feels that way and I have to wonder if I'm being targeted or if it's a nasty coincidence. If this mystery car is the one the police are looking for in connection with the missing person, it makes sense being in the same neighborhood and I hope they can find something to make sense of this."

11:02

bengelinas: "You're expressing your own worry and your own paranoia," Inglis says.

11:02

bengelinas: "Yeah," says Twitchell.

11:04

bengelinas: Twitchell spent four hours in an interview with Clark. Inglis says Twitchell had four hours to tell Clark the truth, and Twitchell admits he didn't.

11:05

bengelinas: In Twitchell's interview with Clark, he said: "Whats the category for suicidal?"

11:05

bengelinas: "Why, are you suicidal?" Clark asked.

11:06

bengelinas: "Whats the point, I mean If everything that Ive been working for is just suddenly gonna end," Twitchell said. He laughed a little.

11:08

bengelinas: Twitchell says at that point in the conversation, he realized he'd spent years developing a career, and if he had allowed himself to continue down that road with Clark, he would have talked about his family, his daughter, about missing her first milestones.

11:10

bengelinas: At that point, Twitchell says he was desperately trying to distance himself from his emotions. But Twitchell says his emotions were: "crashing at the door." Twitchell says the regret, the remorse, they were weighing on him. He started thinking about the future. He had never been through something like this before. He wasn't sure what could be next.

11:10

bengelinas: Court is on a short break. The trial is expected to resume shortly.

11:31

bengelinas: In the interview, Clark said: "Tell me what happened to John. Tell me where he is. So we can do the decent thing and not only for him but for his family. And for your own wellbeing. Youre not gonna be able to live with yourself with this for the rest of your life."

11:32

bengelinas: "Youd surprised what I can live with," Twitchell said to Clark.

11:32

bengelinas: Twitchell says he was surprised how he had been able to push himself through this situtation without breaking down.

11:34

bengelinas: Inglis says that statement seems at odds with his statement that he felt regret and remorse.

11:34

bengelinas: Twitchell says he was feeling regret and remorse. "If I at any point let that overcome me, then I knew that I would be breaking down, unable to function."

11:36

bengelinas: Twitchell says he broke down after his interview with Clark, when Jess came to see Twitchell at his parents' place.

11:36

bengelinas: "It must have been a very tough time," Inglis says.

11:36

bengelinas: "It was," Twitchell says.

11:36

bengelinas: He says he was feeling everything at that point.

11:40

bengelinas: Twitchell wrote his friends an e-mail warning them not to talk to police. "You all have a right to silence and you should exercise that right," Twitchell wrote. "Sometimes what we see on TV is in fact a true representation of the way things work." He wrote that the police had lied to him.

11:40

bengelinas: "Clark did try throwing a few things at the wall to see what stuck," Twitchell says of their interview.

11:44

bengelinas: Inglis asks Twitchell to explain his film/novel/online concept, which he later renamed MAPLE: Multi-Angle Psychosis Layering Entertainment.

11:45

bengelinas: He again outlines his idea: to make a feature film about a serial killer who lives a relatively normal life, to plant an uncertainty in the audience's head, the thought that anyone among them could be a sociopath.

11:46

bengelinas: Then the book would come out. The book would make it seem like the movie content was real. It would be from the point of view of the filmmakers.

11:46

bengelinas: Then, the online component would come into play. He would build buzz by luring people to the garage and "recruiting" them to post online about how these things had happened, further scaring the public.

11:48

bengelinas: "It's a way of keeping the fantasy going so you get the most out of the entertainment experience," Twitchell says.

11:49

bengelinas: He says he came up with the idea for MAPLE after the wrap-up party for House of Cards at the Sawmill restaurant.

11:50

bengelinas: Twitchell describes his creative process, his inspiration, as tapping into a sort of "savant power." He says his inspiration comes to him like a faucet that turns off and on by itself, quite unexpectedly.

11:51

bengelinas: Twitchell says when his wife caught him on the cheater website ashleymadison.com, it wasn't research for an article, or research for a film. It was personal.

11:52

bengelinas: Twitchell says it would have been a "bad idea" to tell his friends about MAPLE. He says there's no way they could have kept the secret. His wife would have found out and her concerns over the costliness of his filmmaking would have again surfaced.

11:53

bengelinas: Twitchell says SKconfessions is part two of the MAPLE project. It was the start of the novelization. It's written as a firstperson account. Twitchell says the manuscript is blended with real-life events, but it is not the truth.

11:55

bengelinas: The narrator of SKconfessions is the producer of the film Twitchell planned to make.

11:55

bengelinas: The novel would have been published under the name of the producer of the film, Twitchell says.

11:57

bengelinas: Day Players was Twitchell's feature comedy. As court has already heard, Twitchell filmed a trailer for it. Twitchell says the Day Players project was his focus at the time.

11:57

bengelinas: It's the reason he quit his last job, in May 2008. "I'd been working on it steady," Twitchell says, "in most of my available time since December 2007."

11:58

bengelinas: Twitchell gave Det. Tabler an enthusiastic description of the Day Players project during their interview.

11:59

bengelinas: Twitchell and a man (since revealed to be an undercover cop) exchanged e-mails up until Twitchell's arrest. Twitchell and the undercover cop discussed potential investment in Day Players.

12:01

bengelinas: Inglis says she's confused. She says it appears to her that the moment his "savant power" struck him and he had the inpsiration for MAPLE, his focus shifted to the MAPLE project exclusively.

12:04

bengelinas: Twitchell says the funding plan for Day Players had been hammered out and was coming together. He had some time in October, while he waited to hear from his co-producer on Day Players, who was supposed to fill in the funding gaps. He saw this lull as a perfect opportunity to develop the MAPLE idea.

12:05

bengelinas: In October, Twitchell started writing the book. He started "recruiting participants." He started his affair with Traci Higgins.

12:08

bengelinas: Twitchell says he lured Gilles Tetreault and Johnny Altinger to the garage as part of MAPLE.

12:09

bengelinas: Inglis asks of that fake date with Tetreault: "What was the exact plan?"

12:10

bengelinas: Twitchell says the plan was for Tetreault to arrive and enter the garage. Twitchell says he would introduce himself. He says it would: "Just be him and I coming up with a basic, rough, made up story for an interaction we would have." He would instruct Tetreault to go home and wait until the movie and book came out. At that point, Tetreault would start posting online about how things in the book or movie happened to him.

12:11

bengelinas: Inglis asks why Twitchell would work with strangers instead of his friends. Twitchell earlier said he didn't trust his friends with the idea. He thought they couldn't keep a secret.

12:12

bengelinas: The strangers, though, had no connection to Twitchell. If they did spill the beans online, no one would believe them, Twitchell says.

12:13

bengelinas: Flash forward a couple years. If the movie is out, and strangers go online saying it was all a hoax, that they were asked to make up the story and post it online as fact, this would be a good thing, Twitchell says.

12:13

bengelinas: It would create controversy, and in turn, publicity.

12:14

bengelinas: Twitchell says the men he found on plentyoffish.com seemed to have a sense of humour and might be willing to go along

with all this. He based this off their profile content: their lists of personal interests, the things they wrote to attract women.

12:15

bengelinas: Altinger didn't have a sense of humour about being had, according to Twitchell's account. Altinger was pissed off, Twitchell says. He says he seemed to hurt Altinger's pride.

12:17

bengelinas: Twitchell says descriptions in SKconfessions that made it look laborious and tricky to lure people off the dating website were exaggerated. The process of setting up a fake profile and finding someone right for the project actually took about 20 minutes, not withstanding the subsequent meeting that would then take place at the garage.

12:18

bengelinas: The killer in SKconfessions says all of the weapons in the garage could be explained away as props. "That's what you're saying now," Inglis says.

12:19

bengelinas: Twitchell says all the weapons police found in the garage following Altinger's death WERE props.

12:22

bengelinas: Inglis gets specific. She lists the weapons seized from the garage: The KA-BAR knife, that killed Altinger and wasn't used in the movie, was a prop. The pipe used to beat Altinger in the head, that was purchased after House of Cards, was a prop, to be used for future projects.

12:23

bengelinas: "I did want to get at least one more short film before we did anything else with it," Twitchell says of House of Cards. "Like Joss had suggested, the webisodes."

12:24

bengelinas: Altinger's blood was on every edged weapon in the game processing kit. Only the rib spreader was clean, Twitchell admits. He used the game processing kit to dismember Altinger's remains.

12:24

bengelinas: The kit was supposed to be in House of Cards, Twitchell says. But the scenes with the kit were cut out.

12:25

bengelinas: This decision was made by Twitchell and his crewmember David Puff, Twitchell says.

12:28

bengelinas: Inglis doesn't understand why there's no mention of the game processing kit in the House of Cards script if the decision to omit the kit was made at the last minute. Twitchell says the printed script that court has seen is an early version, that the script went through changes in the lead up to, and during, filming. Making changes to stories throughout the filmmaking process is very common with shoots, Twitchell says.

12:32

bengelinas: Inglis asks Twitchell when he purchased the game processing kit. Twitchell says he doesn't remember exactly what day he bought it. It might have been some time in September.

12:34

bengelinas: Court is expected to resume at 2 p.m. MDT

12:46

bengelinas: Now that I have a second to catch my breath, here's a more detailed account of Twitchell discussing his "savant power."

12:50

bengelinas: On September 28, House of Cards wrapped filming and some of the cast and crew went to a Sawmill restaurant in Capilano to celebrate. There they discussed ideas for where they could take House of Cards: online, maybe? A web series seemed like a good idea. "There was some really wild, creative concepts and theories," Twitchell says.

12:52

bengelinas: "Later that night, when I came home, that's when the concept for MAPLE just struck me," Twitchell says. He says he calls his creative engine his "little internal creative genius."

12:52

bengelinas: "It's something like a subconscious, innate savant power," Twitchell says.

12:52

bengelinas: "Your savant power," Inglis asks. "Could it also be called inspiration?"

12:53

bengelinas: "In a way," Twitchell says. "But it's not something that I can manually control or manipulate. It's like if you had a faucet but the dials didn't work and it just ran water when it felt like it and you had to get in there with a pitcher."

12:53

bengelinas: "When that inspriation would hit me it was like right now," he says.

1:00

bengelinas: My colleagues say when Twitchell talks about his film projects on the stand, he's focused and excited. He uses detail. At times he smiles. When he is asked about Altinger's death, or confronted with multiple lies to his wife, his girlfriend, friends and police, he is expressionless. His answers are terse during these periods of questioning. His hands at times grip the ledge of the witness stand.

2:03

bengelinas: Inglis suggests Twitchell intended to kill Tetreault.

2:03

bengelinas: "I would say definitely not," Twitchell says.

2:05

bengelinas: Twitchell admits he told Tetreault not to meet him in a public place. He didn't provide the exact address. Twitchell had the lights off in the garage when he got Tetreault to duck into the garage through the ajar bay door. "You gave him a lot of subterfuge," Inglis says.

2:05

bengelinas: This was a trap, Inglis says.

2:06

bengelinas: "That's a misinterpretation," Twitchell says.

2:06

bengelinas: He says he changed the attitude of the narrator in the document to be predatory.

2:10

bengelinas: It's true that Tetreault was lured to the garage and an altercation resulted. That altercation happened. But Twitchell says his intent was just to "feign" an attack.

2:10

bengelinas: "I'm going to suggest to you that you didn't pretend to attack him," Inglis says. "You actually attacked him."

2:10

bengelinas: "Yeah, I guess you can see it that way," Twitchell says.

2:10

bengelinas: Inglis asks bluntly if Twitchell attacked Tetreault.

2:11

bengelinas: Twitchell says he did, but not in the way Inglis is suggesting.

2:12

bengelinas: Tetreault said on the stand that he thought he was going to die. "That's because he was being assaulted," Inglis says.

2:12

bengelinas: "Yes," Twitchell says.

2:13

bengelinas: "By you," suggests Inglis.

2:14

bengelinas: "Yes," Twitchell says.

2:14

bengelinas: "Just as you described in your writings," Inglis suggests.

2:14

bengelinas: "To a certain point, yes," Twitchell says.

2:16

bengelinas: "You wrote in (SKconfessions) that the stun baton didn't really work. And Mr. Tetreault testified that it didn't really work," Inglis says.

2:19

bengelinas: Twitchell said Wednesday that he knew the stun baton would have no effect when he wielded it during his improvised encounter with Tetreault at the garage.

2:19

bengelinas: Inglis wonders why Twitchell kept zapping Tetreault if Twitchell knew it would have no effect.

2:19

bengelinas: "I suggest to you you thought it would work, just as you wrote, and during the attack you realized how useless it was."

2:20

bengelinas: "Sorry, you're wrong," Twitchell says. He maintains he tested it beforehand and knew it wouldn't work. He later said he thought the baton would scare Tetreault.

2:21

bengelinas: Inglis refers Twitchell to his Facebook correspondence with Renee Waring. Twitchell wrote that a stun gun would be easy to obtain in the United States and would be a cost-effective approach. This message was sent to Waring the day before the Tetreault encounter.

2:23

bengelinas: Two days after the Tetreault encounter, Twitchell responded to Waring, stating that stun weapons are OK, but that they can be ineffective and sloppy, and it's possible the victim can grab it away. He suggested instead using a pipe with tape on the end. Two swift hard bonks of the back of the head and they'd be out cold, Twitchell wrote.

2:24

bengelinas: Inglis suggests this was Twitchell talking out changes to his "deadly planning."

2:24

bengelinas: Twitchell says the ultimate goal of his encounter with Tetreault was for Tetreault to escape.

2:24

bengelinas: "You followed him out and you dragged him back under the garage door. You didn't let it end with him escaping. You followed him out and dragged him back caveman style," Inglis says. "You dragged him back to the garage by his leg. Correct?"

2:25

bengelinas: "Yes," Twitchell says.

2:25

bengelinas: "So it didn't end with him escaping, did it?" Inglis says.

2:25

bengelinas: "Actaully, it did," Twitchell says.

2:25

bengelinas: Court heard that Tetreault did eventually escape, after Twitchell ran out after him and encountered a couple out walking.

2:26

bengelinas: Twitchell says the stun baton was supposed to scare Tetreault.

2:27

bengelinas: Inglis is going through the narrative of the Tetreault encounter is SKconfessions, line-by-line, asking if each is a true statement.

2:27

bengelinas: The point of the handcuffs was to keep him from getting the upper hand, Twitchell says. "I was going to cuff his hands."

2:28

bengelinas: "I would have let him out... clearly," Twitchell says.

2:29

bengelinas:

Tetreault was not cuffed. He made it out of the garage. Twitchell admits the description of him pulling Tetreault up the drive by his leg, "caveman style," was true.

2:31

bengelinas: Inglis suggests Twitchell changed his modus operandi after the Tetreault encounter.

2:31

bengelinas: Twitchell says he learned a lesson after the Tetreault encounter. He says he learned to be more straight-forward the next time. No improvising. Have the light on when the next man he met online got to the garage.

2:32

bengelinas: He would be upfront.

2:33

bengelinas: "You're telling us now, that despite all of the evidence that points to planning and deliberation and intent on your part, that's all explained by Multi-Angle Psychosis Layering Entertainment" Inglis says.

2:33

bengelinas: "Ultimately, yes," Twitchell says.

2:35

bengelinas: Inglis points to a paragraph in SKconfessions: "I covered my tracks well. You see in my day life I'm an independent filmmaker and everything in that garage could be easily explained away as props for filming a psychological thriller."

2:35

bengelinas: "You wrote those words," Inglis says. 'And now that's what you're telling all of us."

2:36

bengelinas: Inglis wonders why, if Twitchell had planned this plan out for weeks, why he didn't know what he would say to Altinger when he arrived at the garage. She points out that he had Altinger leave and come back more than once that night.

2:37

bengelinas: "Drawing the experience out was just a matter of adding time and creating more a basis for writing it out," Twitchell says. It was supposed to build suspense in the book.

2:37

bengelinas: Inglis says Twitchell: "chickened out." Twitchell denies this.

2:38

bengelinas: Altinger went to the garage a total of three times that night. This was supposed to help Altinger get on board with his project, Inglis asks.

2:40

bengelinas: "What you wrote says you intended to kill Mr. Altinger (in SKconfessions)," Inglis says. A lot of evidence has been tendered to support this.

2:40

bengelinas: Twitchell says he wasn't planning to kill Altinger. He didn't deliberately kill him. All the planning can be explained by MAPLE. "To make it look that way in the novel. That's how it works," Twitchell says.

2:43

bengelinas:

Twitchell bought the pipe and left it in his garage the day before Altinger died.

2:43

bengelinas: "I understand how bad it looks," Twitchell says.

2:45

bengelinas: Twitchell says he's "come to hate" SKconfessions.

2:46

bengelinas: Twitchell maintains when he wrote "I crossed the line and I liked it," he was talking about his girlfriend, falling in love with her, and not Altinger's death.

2:47

bengelinas: Twitchell says during his conversations with Waring over Facebook he had been flirting.

2:47

bengelinas: And then he told her about his new relationship.

2:51

bengelinas: Inglis suggests what Twitchell said yesterday, his detailed account of the altercation with Altinger, was fiction. She suggests the true account is in SKconfessions.

2:51

bengelinas: Twitchell denies this.

2:52

bengelinas: "I suggest to you that you did deliberately stab Mr. Altinger with the hunting knife, just like you intended to," Inglis says.

2:52

bengelinas: She says he had the hunting knife at the ready. He watched Altinger die.

2:52

bengelinas: "No," Twitchell says.

2:53

bengelinas: "You were acting when you teared up in front of the jury," Inglis says.

2:53

bengelinas: "I do not have those abilities," Twitchell says.

2:53

bengelinas: "You don't have the ability to act?" Inglis asks.

2:55

bengelinas: "I don't personally think so," Twitchell says.

2:55

bengelinas: Inglis says he was acting in front of Det. Tabler. Twitchell admits he was acting during the interview with Tabler, but he was not acting when he cried on the stand Wednesday.

2:56

bengelinas: Twitchell maintains the garage set was there to appear as though it was a kill room and was not supposed to actually be used as a kill room.

2:58

bengelinas: Inglis repeats: SKconfessions is a true account of what was going on.

2:58

bengelinas: "No," says Twitchell.

2:59

bengelinas: Twitchell maintains that everything about the mentality of the narrator is different from what he was actually thinking.

3:01

bengelinas: "I suggest to you that your plan to become a serial killer was inspired by House of Cards," Inglis says. Either that or House of Cards was inspired by his plan to become a serial killer.

3:01

bengelinas: Twitchell says it was neither.

3:02

bengelinas: 'It was a vanity project to prove that you could lure people, kill them and get away with it," Inglis suggests And because it was a vanity project, Inglis suggests that Twitchell kept track of it all, wrote about it.

3:02

bengelinas: Twitchell denies this.

3:07

bengelinas: Inglis says everything put before the court over the last weeks proves SKconfessions to be true except Twitchell's testimony. Inglis points out the forensic evidence and the many testimonies that match portions of the document. Twitchell is at a loss to point out evidence beyond his that shows any part of SKconfessions is fiction.

3:09

bengelinas: Inglis comes back to the lies she brought up at the start. Twitchell admits he lied to his wife, his friends, Tetreault, Altinger, Altinger's friends and family. Inglis suggests Twitchell's testimony was a deliberate attempt to mislead the jury.

3:09

bengelinas: Twitchell admits he lied to all those people. But he denies misleading the jury.

3:09

bengelinas: Twitchell asks if he planned to kill Altinger: "Then why did I do such a panicked, frenzied job of it?"

3:11

bengelinas: Inglis has no further questions. Twitchell's lawyer Charles Davison has nothing to ask in response and has no other witnesses to call.

3:18

bengelinas: The pace of today's cross-examination definitely requires me to go back through what I have written very carefully and finetune things. I may need to clarify or add to the narrative after comparing notes with my colleague Alex Zabjek. I will note any major changes or additions below.

4:36

bengelinas: Inglis finished her cross-examination with this suggestion: "Your ultimate goal was to kill someone and you did kill Mr. Altinger in the most planned and careful and deliberate way as you've described in SKconfessions. And then you spent the next three weeks until your arrest trying to cover up."

4:37

bengelinas: "More trying to run away than cover up," Twitchell says.

4:37

bengelinas: "And the whole time all of this was going on, you were keeping an accurate account of the proceedings," Inglis says.

4:37

bengelinas: "No," Twitchell says.

4:52

bengelinas: Correction at 10:12: Twitchell used the username "spiderwebzz" to lure Tetreault to the garage, not Altinger.

6:10

bengelinas: Quote Clarification at 2:43: "I understand how bad it looks," Twitchell says. I initially quoted Twitchell saying: "I can see how bad it looks."

6:51

bengelinas: Quote added to 10:24: "Moments after Mr. Altinger bled to death in your garage, in front of your eyes, you were able to talk to her and come up with a quick lie, is that correct?" Inglis asks. Twitchell says yes.

6:55

bengelinas: The defence has wrapped up its case. But the trial isn't over and this live blog will continue to be updated every time the jury steps into the courtroom.

7:00

bengelinas: Correction at 2:52: "No," Twitchell says. I regret that I originally I wrote Altinger said this.

Friday April 8, 2011 10:45 bengelinas: After court Thursday, members of the media met with Johnny Altinger's brother Gary and mother Elfriede. Over the last several weeks, and of course over the last couple years, our family has been exposed to such grief that no human being should ever feel, Gary Altinger said.

10:46

bengelinas: Gary described his brother as a selfless man. "He was always helping everybody. He was gentle," Gary said. "Its been the worst. Nothing else can be said.

10:47

bengelinas: Altingers mother Elfriede said there will never be closure. "But we will move on to the next step I think, start to heal, if thats possible.

10:52

bengelinas: Court is expected to resume on Monday at 11 a.m. MDT. In the meantime, we've collected many documents, videos and images entered as evidence in the trial at http://www.edmontonjournal.com/twitchell. As always, if you have any questions or comments about the trial, the blog or our coverage in general, I can be reached at bgelinas@edmontonjournal.com.

Monday April 11, 2011 11:06 bengelinas: Mark Twitchell's lawyer Charles Davison gives his closing arguments to the jury this morning.

11:10

bengelinas: Davison thanks the jury for their time over these last few weeks.

11:11

bengelinas: He reminds them of the "two most important principles" that underlie a criminal trial in Canada: the presumption of innocence and proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

11:14

bengelinas: Davison says he's heard the evidence, just like them. "I'm realistic enough to know and appreciate that you might feel a little bit of a challenge right now presuming Mr. Twitchell innocent," he says.

11:16

bengelinas: But Davison says they need to be absolutely sure he committed the crime. Suspicion isn't enough.

11:17

bengelinas: Much of their decision, Davison says, will hinge on whether they believe the SKconfessions document Twitchell wrote is fact or fiction.

11:17

bengelinas: "Even if you think it probably happened the way it was written up in that document, that's not the same as being sure," Davison says.

11:17

bengelinas: "SKconfessions is at best a fictionalized version of certain real events," Davison says.

11:18

bengelinas: He argues that there are embellishments in the document and facts that were changed to make it a better story.

11:19

bengelinas: "In SKconfessions, the narrator character talks about building a table and chair," Davison says. "That's an easy, clear example because we know Mr. Twitchell didn't build those items."

11:23

bengelinas: The jury has heard from all the prop-builders for House of Cards. They testified that they built the chair and the table.

11:25

bengelinas: The heavy wooden table with a metal finish was designed and built as a set-piece for Twitchell's short film, but the jury has also heard, from Twitchell, that it was used during the dismemberment of Johnny Altinger's body.

11:30

bengelinas: Davison points out other differences between the facts the jury has heard and the SKconfessions document. He asks them to consider many of the sections describing Twitchell's relationship with Traci Higgins (Laci in the document), which he says are inconsistent with the reality of their on-again, off-again relationship.

11:31

bengelinas: These facts were spun to cast the narrator in a more positive light.

11:32

bengelinas: "This was not supposed to be a document about accidental death. This was not supposed to be a document about a need to defend oneself from a fight," Davison says. "This was supposed ot be a story about the character's progression into becoming a serial killer."

11:32

bengelinas: "It was written intending to fit within a certain genre," Davison says. "It was intended to jar the reader, and chill the reader, and shock the reader."

11:33

bengelinas: Writing up Johnny Altinger's death as a murder made the story more interesting, Davison suggests.

11:34

bengelinas: "The reason he wrote it up as a murder: that was the whole point of the storyline he was working on," Davison says.

11:35

bengelinas: Davison then asks the jury to consider Twitchell's actions before and after Johnny Altinger's death.

11:38

bengelinas: The jury has heard that Twitchell rented the garage where Altinger was killed in his own name. When police sought the renter, they needed to make one phone call to reach Twitchell, who drove down to meet the police at the garage.

11:39

bengelinas: "Does that make sense if he's going to commit a planned, thought-out murder?" Davison asks the jury.

11:42

bengelinas: The jury has also heard that Twitchell thought it was likely that Altinger had contacted friends, telling them where he was going that night.

11:43

bengelinas: Would Twitchell have gone through with a planned murder if he suspected that Altinger's friends knew where Altinger was, Davison asks. "That, I submit, simply doesn't make sense."

11:46

bengelinas: Then there's the story of the $40 car that Twitchell told police he bought from a random man. It was a lie, Twitchell admitted in court. But was it a very good lie, Davison wonders. Here is a man with a proven record of strong pitches. The Crown suggests Twitchell is capable of creating some pretty elaborate ruses and schemes.

11:47

bengelinas: Davison says the $40 car story is: "such a pathetic and unlikely story that it's (a wonder) anyone put any stock in it whosoever."

11:48

bengelinas: "Some of what he did not do is important as some of what he did do," Davison says.

11:51

bengelinas: When the police focused in on Twitchell, Davison says there is no suggestion that his client tried to flee.

11:52

bengelinas: On the stand last week, some of Twitchell's testimony may have actually helped the Crown's case, Davison says.

11:54

bengelinas: The first victim, Gilles Tetreault, testified about seeing a holster at his attacker's side. He wasn't sure what it was for. Twitchell clarified that he was wearing the knife that killed Johnny Altinger.

11:54

bengelinas: Davison then reminds the jury of the old story of the boy who cried wolf.

11:55

bengelinas: The village boy cried wolf, and when the villagers came to help, they found it to be a lie. This happened again and again. Then, a wolf really did come at the boy. He cried wolf, and the villagers did nothing, assuming it was still a lie.

11:56

bengelinas: The jury has heard testimony from witnesses and Twitchell himself showing his ability to lie in the past.

11:58

bengelinas: Davison submits that the jury should not turn their backs on Twitchell and assume his position of self-defence is a lie just because he's lied before. "The stakes in a criminal trial are too high," Davison says.

11:59

bengelinas: In closing, Davison asks: "Can we be sure about what happened the night of Oct 10, 2008 in that garage?"

11:59

bengelinas: If the jury is not sure, Davison asks that they find Twitchell not guilty of Altinger's murder.

12:00

bengelinas: Court is expected to resume at 1 p.m.

1:04

bengelinas: Crown prosecutor Avril Inglis delivers the Crown's summation. She says a reasonable doubt is not a far-fetched doubt. it is not a doubt based on sympathy. It is a doubt based on common sense and reason. "This case has been a search for the truth among piles of evidence, weeks of evidence," Inglis says.

1:04

bengelinas: She suggests that in this case, the simplest explanation is the correct one.

1:07

bengelinas: Inglis asks the jury to find no weight in Twitchell's testimony last week. She says he's a proven liar. He's lied to his wife, to his girlfriend, to his friends and police.

1:07

bengelinas: "You know that he lied when he lured Mr. Altinger and Mr. Tetreault," Inglis says.

1:11

bengelinas: The jury heard about Twitchell's ability to come up with quick lies. Shortly after Johnny Altinger died, Twitchell's wife called and asked where Twitchell was. He said: the gym. When she said the gym was closed, he responded: the old gym, which is open later.

1:12

bengelinas: "Remember that detail that Jess Twitchell offered you?" Inglis says. "Remember how quick he was to come up with that lie?"

1:12

bengelinas: She says Twitchell's also good at changing his story when he gets caught in a lie.

1:12

bengelinas: "There's evidence he used lies to accomplish his goals," she says.

1:13

bengelinas: He lied about having a job. "He agreed with me that he perpetuated that lie every single day he got out of bed... for months," Inglis says.

1:15

bengelinas: "An extremely important aspect of the lies you heard from Mr. Twitchell is the details that he provided in his lying. No matter how ridiculous, those details would pile up and pile up. And I suggest to you the elaborate degree of lying that you heard about is extraordinary," Inglis says.

1:18

bengelinas: When his wife caught him on the affair website ashleymadison.com, Inglis wonders why Twitchell didn't just say it was research for House of Cards. Instead he made up a lie about a freelance article he was writing about online dating. The jury heard he hired an actor to play his editor to deceive his wife.

1:18

bengelinas: Twitchell went through great means to suggest Altinger wasn't dead, Inglis says. He sent numerous e-mails to Altinger's friends. He even responded to some of them.

1:22

bengelinas: Then there's the lie about the $40 Mazda. Inglis suggests the only reason Twitchell went to police about Altinger's car was because his friend Joss Hnatiuk gave him an ultimatum, said if Twitchell didn't tell police, he would. Inglis suggests Twitchell would never have involved his friend if Altinger drove an automatic. But because Twitchell couldn't drive a stick, he had to call his friend for help in moving the car.

1:23

bengelinas: Inglis says Twitchell's "most elaborate lie of all" is MAPLE. He said everything can be explained by his new and revolutionary idea called Multi-Angle Psychosis Layering Entertainment, a plan to blend fiction with fact by recruiting strangers to help him create an online urban legend. MAPLE, Inglis says: "is as ridiculous as the story about the $40 Mazda."

1:24

bengelinas: Gilles Tetreault was attacked so that he would think that he was being attacked? "It's ridiculous," Inglis says. "It's unreasonable to believe that."

1:24

bengelinas: He would rather trust strangers than friends to be involved in MAPLE? "This lie was elaborate and it was detailed. In no way does it make it true," Inglis says.

1:25

bengelinas: "Any information that you have received solely from Mr. Twtichell should have no credit," Inglis says.

1:25

bengelinas: "Mr. Altinger's death was no accident."

1:25

bengelinas: "SKconfessions is in fact a 42-page confession," Inglis says.

1:28

bengelinas: Twitchell claims the only things that are fiction in SKconfessions are the killer's intent and the planning and deliberation. "Specifically what he says is not true about this document are the requirements of first-degree murder," Inglis says.

1:32

bengelinas: Tetreault's account of the first attack mirrored greatly the description in SKconfessions, Inglis says.

1:32

bengelinas: Inglis suggests that Twitchell did not know the stun baton was useless when he wielded it against Tetreault. He kept using it until Tetreault realized the baton didn't work.

1:32

bengelinas: Inglis says Twitchell's intent was to lure Tetreault to the garage, extort and then kill him.

1:34

bengelinas: When the attack failed and Tetreault got away, Inglis says Twitchell changed his plan. Just as it says in SKconfessions, she suggests Twitchell "ramped up the savagery" of his attack when he lured Altinger to the garage a week later.

1:34

bengelinas: "I dropped the stun baton in favour of two 24-inch lengths of galvanized steel pipe," Inglis quotes from SKconfessions.

1:36

bengelinas: She suggests this "diary" was not the only place he wrote about this change in strategy. He wrote about the change of opinion to an American Facebook friend.

1:37

bengelinas: On Oct. 3, in what seemed to be musing on his friend's part about how to plan a kill, he recommended using a stun gun to disable the victim. Two days later, he wrote back that a stun gun can be ineffective. Better to use a pipe.

1:42

bengelinas: She reads from SKconfessions, specifically the scene that describes Johnny Altinger's death. It "dovetails" with evidence the jury has heard in the case. You can read the document here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/51760361/Manuscript-from-MarkTwitchell-s-laptop Altinger's death is described beginning on page 16.

1:42

bengelinas: "Once Mr. Altinger was stabbed, there was a copious amount of blood. There was blood everywhere," Inglis says. Police saw this using tools like luminol.

1:46

bengelinas: "Mr Twitchell's criminal conduct was very much subject to trial and error," Inglis says. Mistakes like his failed attempt to dump the remains in the river were not made because of panic, Inglis says. They were trial and error.

1:47

bengelinas: Inglis suggests the jury reject his explanation that he put up Plexiglas walls around his emotions, allowing him to do what he did to Altinger's remains. The jury has heard that Twitchell cut up Altinger's remains on two separate occasions.

1:48

bengelinas: "I had a dead guy who needed processing, so that's what I did: I processed him," Twitchell wrote in SKconfessions.

1:48

bengelinas: The details of dismemberment in SKconfessions are credible, according to the medical examiner and forensic anthropologist who testified.

1:49

bengelinas: And Altinger's post-mortem MSN status update: "Johnny has a one way ticket to heaven and is never coming back," was a double entendre, Inglis says. It was "a sick joke" Twitchell made to himself.

1:50

bengelinas: "He wrote repeatedly about avoiding detection," Inglis says.

1:54

bengelinas: Inglis suggests SKconfessions was never meant to be read by anyone but Twitchell. "Mr. Twitchell wrote this document for Mr. Twitchell," she says. It is a diary, and Inglis says the jury should rely upon it to determine his intent and state of mind in October 2008.

1:55

bengelinas: "Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest to you the ultimate conclusions in this case will be easy for you to find," Inglis says. "It is not a plan for a movie or a book or an online urban legend. It's not. The plan was to become a serial killer and nothing else."

1:55

bengelinas: "Mr. Twitchell planned to lure Mr. Altinger for the sole purpose of killing him, just as he had tried to do with Mr. Tetreault and failed," Inglis says. "He did not kill Mr. Altinger accidentally or in self-defence."

1:56

bengelinas: She repeats that the simplest explanation for what they have heard happened in October 2008 is the correct one. "The truth is obvious and it has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt." Inglis asks the jury to find Twitchell guilty of first-degree murder.

1:57

bengelinas: With that, the summations on both sides have concluded. Court is expected to resume Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. MDT.

Tuesday April 12, 2011 10:35 bengelinas: Justice Terry Clackson now instructs the jury on their task before they begin deliberation.

10:38

bengelinas: Clackson says they must examine the evidence without sympathy. "Sympathy can have no place in your deliberation," he tells the jury.

10:39

bengelinas: He reminds the jury that only witness answers are evidence. The questions may provide context to the answers. But they are not evidence.

10:40

bengelinas: They must presume Twitchell innocent until they have had the chance to examine all the evidence. If the evidence, taken as a whole, changes their minds about his innocence and they believe Twitchell guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, only then can they find him guilty.

10:41

bengelinas: "A reasonable doubt is a doubt based on reason and common sense," Clackson says. "It is not enough for you to believe

that an accused is probably or even likely guilty."

10:41

bengelinas: "If that is where you end up, you must find him not guilty," Clackson says.

10:44

bengelinas: If the jury is not sure if Twitchell intended to kill Johnny Altinger or the jury is not sure if he acted in self-defence, the jury must give the benefit of their doubt to Twitchell, Clackson says.

10:48

bengelinas: Clackson reminds the six men and six women of the jury that they must consider only what they have heard in court. They must not rely on anything people outside of court have said or anything they have heard or read through media reports.

10:53

bengelinas: It is up to the jury whether or not they believe any witnesses they have heard.

10:54

bengelinas: Clackson says they must not consider statements made by EPS Const. Joe Tassone about the power of the stun baton seized from Twitchell. They must only use his testimony to determine whether or not the baton worked when he turned it on.

10:55

bengelinas: The Crown chose to ignore Twitchell's offer to plead guilty to interfering with Altinger's body. The Crown rejected that plea in favour of pursuing the first-degree murder charge. Clackson says the attempted plea must be put out of the minds of those on the jury. They cannot convict Twitchell simply because they perceive him to be a bad person, Clackson says.

10:55

bengelinas: If they believe Mr. Twitchell, they may conclude he acted in self-defence or accidentally stabbed Mr. Altinger, they must acquit him.

10:56

bengelinas: They can believe all of a person's testimony, some of a person's testimony or none of a person's testimony.

11:01

bengelinas: They may consider the "untruths" that they heard Twitchell told and use that evidence when they consider Twitchell's testimony.

11:02

bengelinas: Based on what has been said in court, those on the jury should have little problem deciding that Johnny Altinger is dead and Mark Twitchell killed him, Clackson says. But to find Twitchell guilty of murder, they must also decide that the death was unlawful. They must consider accident and self-defence, and decide, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Altinger's death was neither. To find Twitchell guilty of first-degree murder, they must also decide that Twitchell had the state of mind for murder. The death, Clackson says, had to be both planned and deliberate to qualify as first-degree murder.

11:05

bengelinas: Clackson says a person's demeanor is of no use in helping decide if a person is guilty or not. People react differently to different situations, Clackson says. He offers the example that a look on a person's face could suggest they are lying, but could also indicate their stomach is upset.

11:12

bengelinas: When considering whether Twitchell was acting in self-defence when he stabbed Altinger, the jury must decide if Twitchell was unlawfully assaulted, if he used force to defend himself, and if he used the right amount of force to stop the assault. Was the use of force excessive? Clackson says it is not Twitchell's responsibility to prove that he was justified in using force. It is the Crown's responsibility to prove that he was not justified.

11:16

bengelinas: The force Twitchell used must have been used to defend himself to be considered self-defence.

11:17

bengelinas: It is Twitchell's purpose, not the result, that matters when considering self-defence.

11:21

bengelinas: Court is now on a short break. The jury is expected to hear more instructions from Justice Clackson at 11:40 a.m. MDT.

11:48

bengelinas: There's another delay. Court will resume shortly.

12:05

bengelinas: "Purpose is a state of mind," Clackson says. "Why did Mr. Twitchell use force?"

12:05

bengelinas: "You must not decide this question only by looking at what happened to Mr. Altinger."

12:11

bengelinas: If Twitchell killed Mr. Altinger but did not mean to kill him, Twitchell would be guilty of manslaughter, Clackson says.

12:11

bengelinas: "The issue here is whether Mr. Twitchell meant to kill Mr. Altinger."

12:13

bengelinas: If they decide that Twitchell meant to kill Altinger, it's murder. But not every murder is first-degree murder, Clackson says. If they decide Twitchell meant to kill Altinger, they must then consider if it was both planned and deliberate.

12:14

bengelinas: Deliberate means considered, not impulsive, Clackson says. "A deliberate act is one that the actor has taken the time to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of."

12:18

bengelinas: If they are not satisfied that Altinger's death was both planned and deliberate, but they do think Twitchell meant to kill him, they must find Twitchell guilty of second-degree murder.

12:19

bengelinas: If the men and women of the jury decide that Twitchell meant to kill Altinger and the murder was planned and deliberate, they must find Twitchell guilty of first-degree murder.

12:20

bengelinas: The verdict must be unanimous.

12:20

bengelinas: If they are not able to agree on a verdict, there will be a mistrial.

12:21

bengelinas: The subject of guilt is up to the jury. Punishment is up to Clackson.

12:23

bengelinas: The jury will be kept from their homes until they reach a verdict.

12:27

bengelinas: The jury now begins deliberation.

2:38

bengelinas: When the jury comes back, I will update the blog with the verdict. I will also endeavor to promptly tweet the verdict with a link back to the blog. You can follow me at twitter.com/bengelinas. We'll have a story up on edmontonjournal.com as soon as possible.

5:46

bengelinas: After an afternoon of deliberation, the jury is about to deliver the verdict.

5:47

bengelinas: Mark Twitchell is guilty of first-degree murder.

5:49

bengelinas: Justice Terry Clackson thanks the jury for their duty to the court. He says they have packages and help available to help them process some of the things they have heard and witnessed during this trial.

5:50

bengelinas: "Many of you have been stoic in your sitting here listening to what could not have been a very pleasant experience," Clackson says.

5:54

bengelinas: "Even for those of us who have been in the business for a long time, some of what we have witnessed, demonstrated to us over the last three weeks in this courtroom, was difficult to see, difficult to hear and especially difficult to have repeated time and time again," Clackson told the jury.

6:02

bengelinas: Sentencing is expected to take place following a short break.

6:10

bengelinas: Court is now hearing victim impact statements from Johnny Altinger's mother and brother.

6:10

bengelinas: Gary Altinger was Johnny Altinger's only sibling.

6:13

bengelinas: He says as kids, he would turn the other way when bullies went after Johnny, so he would learn to fight his own battles. He regrets not helping Johnny more than two years ago.

6:15

bengelinas: Gary writes that his children stay up at night, scared of monsters. "Monsters do live among us," Gary writes.

6:16

bengelinas: Johnny's mother Elfriede writes that she used to be the kind of person who rarely took an Aspirin. Now she needs antidepressants just to get through the days.

6:16

bengelinas:

"There is no joy in my life. It has been ripped away from me," she writes.

6:16

bengelinas: She doesn't believe in the death penalty, but says that Twitchell needs to die a slow death every day of his life.

6:17

bengelinas: To this day, Johnny Altinger's voicemail remains active. His mother often calls his number, just to hear his voice.

6:18

bengelinas: When Twitchell was asked if he had anything to say. "I was going to address the court with some comments, but in light of everything that's been happening here, considering what's going on, " Twitchell said, "I'll pass on that."

6:18

bengelinas: Mark Twitchell has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison and is not eligible for parole until 25 years into that sentence, mandatory for a first-degree murder conviction.

9:08

bengelinas: Thanks to everyone who followed the live blog over these last few weeks. Your notes -- especially your corrections -were greatly appreciated. As always, I'm available to answer any questions or concerns at bgelinas@edmontonjournal.com. Watch for a more on the case at edmontonjournal.com/twitchell in the coming days.

Friday April 15, 2011 9:03

Writer: Lucas Timmons Live blog: The Mark Twitchell Trial Close English Dansk Deutsch Espaol Finnish Franais Italiano Nederlands Norsk Portugus Svenska Close