While there was an unbelievable amount of evidence for the jury to look at during Mark Twitchell's first degree murder trial, more evidence has been released that the courts wouldn't let the jury see until now.
During the trial, jurors heard that Twitchell lured Johnny Altinger to his rented garage through an online dating site. Twitchell claimed that Altinger became enraged after finding out a planned date with a pretty blonde woman was actually set up by the local film maker.
Jurors never heard from Altinger's mom who said that her son would have never have resorted to violence.
"That's ridiculous," said Elfriede Altinger. "He would walk away from any kind of conflict. He would never attack anybody."
Jurors didn't hear Altinger's brother state that when Johnny phoned his friend about the man he met at the garage it likely stopped others from becoming his victims.
"I hope people see that if it were not for his communication to his friends," said Gary Altinger. "That other people might very well be dead in this community."
During his trial, excerpts from a computer document called SK Confessions were heard in court. The document was written by Twitchell, which mirrored the events that took place in the garage. His defence was that some was fiction to make for a better story.
But some writings in the document weren't revealed to the courts until now. In it, he wrote:
"For example, I am a pathological liar. I've habitually lied my entire life and despite my incredibly well adjusted and healthy family life and upbringing, it never stopped."
""My whole life I've always just done whatever the hell I wanted without any consideration for anyone else and it's never bothered me. I don't experience things like remorse or guilt."
Jurors heard he also corresponded on Facebook with a woman, where he called himself TV serial killer Dexter Morgan. What the jury didn't see were updates of that Dexter Morgan status. One that was just released to the media was only from a few days after Altinger was killed.
"Dexter is quite pleased with how the weekend's kill went," wrote Twitchell.
It's unclear if he was speaking about reality or the fictional show. But his victim's brother wondered if he even knew the difference.
"Mr. Twitchell lives in a world of his own," said Gary Altinger. "He doesn't know what reality is."
Something else the jurors didn't hear was the full unedited version of Twitchell's diary, where he explicitly talks about the dismembering process after killing Altinger. The courts decided to keep that information away from jurors because it was believed it may have been far too prejudicial for them to fairly decide Twitchell's guilt or innocence.
With files from CTV's David Ewasuk…
