Member-only story
Catfished by a ‘Dexter’ Fantasist: The Murder of John Altinger
Mark Twitchell posed as a woman online to lure in and brutally murder his victim.
In early October of 2008, 38-year-old John Altinger told close friends that he was going to meet a woman he had been speaking to through an online dating website. However, after John failed to return home from the date, friends and family became increasingly concerned. They suddenly began receiving suspicious emails from someone claiming to be John, informing them he was going on a romantic vacation to Costa Rica and wouldn’t be returning soon. John’s boss had also received his resignation letter by email, but there was no further communication after that.
Feeling suspicious, friends decided to force their way into John’s home. They found his passport and no signs that any essentials had been packed, both indications that John had fully intended to return and could not have travelled out of the country. With these findings, they approached the Edmonton Police Department in Alberta, Canada, and an investigation was launched.
Fortunately, before his disappearance, John had provided a friend with some details about his upcoming date, including the general location. Using this information, a detective working on the case was led to a garage rented by an…
