2 - The Twilight Zone

Summary

Episode 2: The Twilight Zone - "The Man in the Black Mask"

Introduction

In the second episode of "The Man in the Black Mask", hosted by NBC News and part of Keith Morrison’s original Dateline podcast series, listeners delve deeper into a perplexing case intertwining the realms of cinema and crime. Titled "The Twilight Zone," this episode unravels the mysterious disappearance of Johnny Altinger and the ensuing investigation that blurs the lines between fiction and reality.

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The Disappearance of Johnny Altinger

The episode opens with filmmaker Mark Twitchell enduring a grueling five-hour interrogation by Detective Bill Clark at 4:00 AM. Twitchell, a rising young director known for his ambitious projects, is being questioned about the vanishing of Johnny Altinger, a missing man linked to Twitchell’s latest film project—a horror movie featuring a serial killer wearing a hockey mask.

Mark Twitchell: "The problem is that I'm so tired." [01:35]

His exhaustion and struggle to recall specific details set the tone for a tense interaction, with Twitchell appearing cooperative yet visibly strained.

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Detective Clark's Suspicions and Interrogation Techniques

Detective Clark is portrayed as a seasoned investigator who harbors doubts about Twitchell's innocence. Throughout the interview, Clark employs a mix of patience and subtle confrontation, aiming to unravel the truth behind Twitchell's involvement.

Detective Bill Clark: "I know he's lying to me. No doubt in my mind." [02:14]

Despite Clark's confidence, his evidence remains elusive. He admits, "I know very little, man." [05:58] yet remains steadfast in his belief that Twitchell is entangled in Altinger's disappearance.

As the interrogation progresses, Clark shifts roles from a good cop to a bad cop, increasing pressure on Twitchell without concrete evidence.

Detective Clark: "There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that you're involved in the disappearance of Johnny Altinger." [06:11]

Twitchell's demeanor changes noticeably, transitioning from polite cooperation to defensive suspicion—a pivotal moment highlighting the psychological battle between investigator and suspect.

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Investigative Developments and Breakthroughs

As dawn approaches, new information surfaces when a patrol officer locates Altinger's red Mazda at the spot Twitchell had indicated. This discovery aligns with Twitchell's statements about acquiring the car for a mere $40 and transferring it to a friend’s residence, further complicating the case.

Detective Clark: "I got him uncomfortable. But I don't have any evidence to confront him with." [07:13]

With limited evidence, Clark faces a dilemma: his instincts suggest Twitchell's involvement, yet the lack of tangible proof hampers his case.

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Mark Twitchell’s Background and Filmmaking Career

Post-interrogation, the investigation shifts focus to Mark Twitchell's life and career. He emerges as a charismatic and industrious filmmaker with no prior criminal record, reputable family background, and a burgeoning production company, Express Entertainment. His efforts to spotlight Edmonton as a potential film hub have garnered local support and investment.

Detectives uncover Twitchell's knack for securing funds, notably from investor John Pinsent, and his ability to produce engaging content, such as the teaser for his horror film project, "House of Cards."

Mark Twitchell: "When I saw it on there, I was thinking, great short film. I like the idea of this." [23:42]

Twitchell's films, blending elements of horror and dark humor, mirror his off-screen persona—a blend of professionalism and playful creativity.

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Discovering Twitchell's Films and Creative Process

Twitchell's work reveals a fascination with the darker aspects of human nature, as seen in his film "House of Cards." The screenplay depicts a serial killer who lures victims under the guise of an online flirtation, only to ambush them with violence—a narrative eerily reminiscent of Twitchell's real-life investigation.

Craig Melvin: "Imagine a cross between Friday the 13th and that Showtime series Dexter, but on a much lower budget." [22:00]

The film's promotional footage, intended to captivate potential investors, inadvertently becomes a focal point of suspicion, blurring the lines between Twitchell's cinematic creations and his personal life.

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Online Interactions and Potential Motives

A significant breakthrough in the investigation occurs when detectives examine Twitchell's online activities. They discover his interactions with Renee Waring, an aspiring filmmaker from Ohio who became entangled in a seemingly innocent yet ultimately concerning friendship online.

Renee Waring: "We flirted back and forth, and I kept asking him, you know, who are you? Tell me who you are, because I want to see the man behind the mask." [27:05]

Their exchanges centered around shared interests in storytelling and dark themes, eventually leading to collaborative idea generation about fictional serial killers. This discovery raises questions about whether these online dialogues influenced Twitchell's real-life actions or if they remain purely coincidental.

Detectives grapple with determining the boundary between Twitchell's fictional explorations and potential real-world implications, pondering if his fascination with serial killers might have translated into actual criminal behavior.

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Current Status and Ongoing Investigation

Despite uncovering Twitchell's background, film projects, and online interactions, Detective Clark remains unconvinced of Twitchell's innocence. The lack of direct evidence keeps the case unresolved, leaving both the detectives and the listeners in suspense.

Detective Bill Clark: "I had this gut instinct that this young married father had somehow made a perfect stranger vanish from the face of the earth." [15:47]

As the investigation continues, the podcast leaves listeners pondering the intricate dance between illusion and reality, questioning whether Twitchell's filmmaking is merely art imitating life or a harbinger of deeper, darker truths.

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Conclusion

"The Twilight Zone" masterfully intertwines the elements of mystery, psychology, and the creative arts, presenting a compelling narrative that challenges listeners to discern truth from deception. As Detective Clark delves deeper into Mark Twitchell's life, the episode underscores the complexities of investigating individuals whose lives are as meticulously crafted as their cinematic endeavors.

With unresolved questions lingering, the episode sets the stage for future revelations, inviting audiences to continue the journey into the enigmatic world of "The Man in the Black Mask."

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Notable Quotes:

• Detective Bill Clark: "I know he's lying to me. No doubt in my mind." [02:14]
• Detective Bill Clark: "There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that you're involved in the disappearance of Johnny Altinger." [06:11]
• Mark Twitchell: "When I saw it on there, I was thinking, great short film. I like the idea of this." [23:42]
• Renee Waring: "We flirted back and forth, and I kept asking him, you know, who are you? Tell me who you are, because I want to see the man behind the mask." [27:05]
• Detective Bill Clark: "I had this gut instinct that this young married father had somehow made a perfect stranger vanish from the face of the earth." [15:47]

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This summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and developments from Episode 2 of "The Man in the Black Mask," providing a comprehensive overview for those who have yet to listen.

Transcript

[Savannah Guthrie]

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[Craig Melvin]

Every morning.

[Savannah Guthrie]

We choose how to begin our day.

[Craig Melvin]

I think about the people at home. They tune in because they are curious.

[Savannah Guthrie]

They care about their world and they care about each other. There's always something new to learn, whether a news event or a new recipe. And when we step through the morning together, it makes the rest of the day better. We come here to make the most of today.

[Craig Melvin]

We are family. We are today.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Watch the Today show with Savannah Guthrie.

[Craig Melvin]

And Craig Melvin, weekdays at 7am on NBC. Is any place anywhere as stressful, as confining, as exhausting as a police interview room at 4:00 in the morning? Filmmaker Mark Twitchell had been in that little room for five hours, patiently answering Detective Bill Clark's questions about this guy, Johnny Altinger, who'd been missing for more than a week now. During a break, a decidedly drooping Twitchell pulled out a cell phone and punched in his wife's phone number.

[Mark Twitchell]

The problem is that I'm so tired.

[Savannah Guthrie]

And it's so hard to remember things.

[Craig Melvin]

Of course, he wasn't exactly alone at that moment. He shared the space with a microphone and a camera so that outside the room, Detective Bill Clark could watch and listen. But all Mark Twitchell did was complain to his wife.

[Savannah Guthrie]

It's so hard to remember, like, these minute, specific details about these days that I just didn't ever bother to think about or remember. Because who the hell does that, you know?

[Craig Melvin]

Detective Clark was asking so many detailed questions because I know I'm not getting the truth.

[Detective Bill Clark]

I know he's lying to me. No doubt in my mind. I know he's involved up to his neck. I don't still know what he's done.

[Craig Melvin]

If anything, that is. Because really, all Clark had was just a feeling that Mark Twitchell had been handing him a whole load of nonsense, fully expecting Clark to believe it. He didn't. But he'd been letting things develop Organic, like, if you will, patiently, like, he bought it all.

[Detective Bill Clark]

I agreed with everything he said. Like, I didn't. This wasn't the time of the interview to start pushing him on it. It wasn't the time to start confronting him. That would come later on.

[Craig Melvin]

So the 4:00am Intermission in this cat and mouse play was a time for Clark to dream up an Act 2. Almost like he and Twitchell were going through some weird inverse improv routine. Each one in that little room acting a role without a script, trying to outperform the other.

[Detective Bill Clark]

Did you not think that kind of strange? I mean, I have to ask, since you're paying $40 for a car, how much did you think the car was worth?

[Savannah Guthrie]

I thought it was worth somewhere between 3 and 4000.

[Detective Bill Clark]

That you're paying $40 for it.

[Craig Melvin]

Yeah, $40 for a used car. It couldn't possibly be true. But why admit that you had missing man's car and then lie about the price you paid for? Made no sense. I'm Keith Morrison, and this is the man in the Black Mask, a podcast from Dateline, episode two, the Twilight Zone.

[Detective Bill Clark]

I mean, a lot of what I did in the first part is just. I was just acting. I'm doing, you know, of course, playing the role, letting them believe. I'm believing every word he's saying.

[Craig Melvin]

Well, you're reading him. During that interview, he had been reading you, and he had made some. Probably had made some judgments about your ability as an interviewer, about, I don't know, your intellect. What did he think of you, do you think, during that interview?

[Detective Bill Clark]

I don't think he. I think he didn't think I was that smart. I think he thought he was smarter than me.

[Craig Melvin]

But just as Detective Clark was getting set to rejoin Mark Twitchell for the start of act two of their little drama, a patrol officer reported in the one who'd been sent out to look for that missing red Mazda, the red Mazda that belonged to the also missing Johnny Altinger. He had found it, and it was right where Mark Twitchell said it would be. The patrolman searched it, of course, but.

[Detective Bill Clark]

Nothing untowards about the car. Johnny's not in the car. The guy who got the car has given a statement, and it's basically what Mark told me in the interview, that.

[Craig Melvin]

He bought it for 40 bucks.

[Detective Bill Clark]

He bought it for 40 bucks, and that's what he told his friend, and he had his friend drive it over to his house.

[Craig Melvin]

So what, you're suddenly your big down arrow is starting to turn up again?

[Detective Bill Clark]

Well, I mean, no, I wouldn't say it's turning up, but at least I know he hasn't lied about how the car got to his friend's house. So we discussed strategy at that point, and then. I know. I says, you got nothing else? I said, I'm gonna have to go in and confront him. And the whole idea of that confrontation is to see his reaction and see what his answer is. Because an innocent man, we expect you to say to this, look, I didn't do it. You got the wrong guy. We've done the good cop routine. Now, my forte, the bad cop's coming out. This is what your forte?

[Craig Melvin]

This is what you like.

[Detective Bill Clark]

This is what I like. This is what I relish. Now I'm gonna start with the hammer, him with what I know. Problem is, I know very little. And I know. I know very little, man. He must know by the way I talk.

[Craig Melvin]

I don't know much, but Detective Clark acted like he knew everything. From the moment he opened the door and re entered the room. It was all bluster, of course.

[Detective Bill Clark]

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that you're involved in the disappearance of John Altinger. No doubt in my mind at all.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Why? I have no idea what the hell's going on.

[Detective Bill Clark]

And then his response is like. It's. He goes, whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean? Or something like that. He goes, it's like, I can't believe this.

[Craig Melvin]

Yeah.

[Detective Bill Clark]

I'm going like, holy. This is our guy now. We need to know what he did. I know. Then I got him. Like, I know he's done it. He's done something to him. I don't know what. I don't know how.

[Craig Melvin]

Just based on his reaction to your accusation.

[Detective Bill Clark]

Absolutely.

[Craig Melvin]

I don't understand.

[Detective Bill Clark]

But you do understand, because you know what I'm talking about. You're involved in this.

[Savannah Guthrie]

I just don't understand.

[Craig Melvin]

Now that it was clear to Mr. Twitchell that he was being questioned not as a witness, but as some sort of suspect. He dropped the chummy act like a bad script.

[Detective Bill Clark]

You can see a whole change in demeanor.

[Craig Melvin]

Sure.

[Detective Bill Clark]

Certainly.

[Craig Melvin]

He shut down.

[Detective Bill Clark]

He shut down, and, you know, I'm looking in his eyes. I'm watching him. He's leaning back at times. He's tightening up a little bit. All signs, you know, he's uncomfortable. I got him uncomfortable. But I don't have any evidence to confront him with, to really push him on the points and get him to make any confessions or any admissions about anything. Why can't you give me your version of events that Night so scared.

[Craig Melvin]

Once, around the time Don was contemplating a start on the day, Mark Twitchell mumbled something about reality seeming more like some sort of fantasy.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone right now.

[Craig Melvin]

But in the face of Detective Clark's best portrayal of a bad cop, Mark Twitchell never wavered. The whole long prairie night. He was unfailingly polite, helpful, seemed to have no interest in calling a lawyer. So by the end of the night, I got nothing.

[Detective Bill Clark]

I got no evidence. My gut instinct at that time is this guy's involved. He's involved up to his neck in this. What exactly he's done to him, I don't know yet. But I'm gonna find out.

[Craig Melvin]

Or maybe Clark was just too suspicious and the guy was not up to his neck in anything. Anyway, about the time the sun was rising out there in the real world, Mark Twitchell let Clark know he'd had enough. Am I being charged?

[Detective Bill Clark]

I am.

[Craig Melvin]

Am I free to go?

[Detective Bill Clark]

Yep.

[Mark Twitchell]

Then I will.

[Craig Melvin]

Yeah. And Twitchell simply walked out of the interrogation room, leaving Bill Clark standing alone on his empty stage and none the wiser. Twilight Zone indeed. Foreign.

[Savannah Guthrie]

If you have a locked AT&T phone, we're here with bolt cutters. T Mobile will help pay off your locked phone and give you a new 5G phone for free. All on America's largest 5G network. Visit t mobile.com carrierfreedom via virtual prepaid MasterCard. In 15 days is free phone up to $830 via 24 monthly bill credits plus tax and a $10 device connection charge. Qualifying port in trade in service on Go5G next and credit required. Contact us before canceling entire account to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance on required finance agreements. Do you have bill credits and if you pay off devices early.

[Craig Melvin]

It was late past midnight when they broke into the farmhouse.

[Detective Bill Clark]

Never in a million years would you.

[Craig Melvin]

Think that you'd see your parents house taped off by that yellow tape.

[Mark Twitchell]

And they said, you remember dad up being killed?

[Craig Melvin]

They left behind a wall of blood and a took a case of double murder on a long strange trip.

[Detective Bill Clark]

She looked at me and she said, I'm screwed.

[Craig Melvin]

Murder in the Moonlight. A new podcast from Dateline. Listen to Murder in the moonlight for free starting Monday, February 17th. Or unlock new episodes right now by subscribing to Dateline Premium on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or dateline premium.com now they had the final answer. Or did they? Nothing has more suspense than a Dateline mystery. And no one wants to wait to find out what Happens next. That's why everyone needs dateline premium, where listening is always ad free. You get the whole story and nothing but the story. Or do you? Yes, actually, you do. Subscribe now on apple podcasts, Spotify or Dateline premium.com. there's no knowing what Mark Twitchell said to his wife after his long, strange night. The bowels of the edmonton police department. No telling if he knew that bullheaded detective was still somehow fixated on him. Oh, but he was. So now detective Clark and colleagues began poking about in the story of Mark Twitchell, as in, who is this guy, really? And it didn't take long. Twitchell was a hard working local boy, no criminal history, never been arrested, good parents, nice young wife, sweet little daughter. And he was on his way to becoming an Edmonton celebrity. His movie production company called express entertainment, detectives discovered was not some sham front, but a perfectly legitimate licensed business. More than that, actually. His was a promising effort to help Edmondson off in northern Alberta get some national attention as a potential center of movie making, like what had happened in Toronto and Vancouver. And Mark Twitchell was very good at drumming up attention and money from local investors like John Pinsent.

[Savannah Guthrie]

He was a very sharp, bright, young, articulate entrepreneur. Exactly the kind of individual that most of us are looking for.

[Detective Bill Clark]

So he came to our group. He sold the group, really, I think on the enthusiasm he was dropping Alec.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Baldwin, for example, as being someone who had that he had a commitment from.

[Detective Bill Clark]

Basically what he was looking for was 10 individuals to put forward $35,000.

[Craig Melvin]

Detectives even got a look at the teaser film for Twitchell's next project, the three and a half million dollar buddy comedy day players, in which Mark played the role of director even as he was the director. Sort of a hall of mirrors type story. A movie about. A movie about making a movie or something.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Amy is my girl. You broke up with her, jackass. So that doesn't give you the right to. Guys, can you keep it down back there? We're trying to keep the audio clean for the take.

[Mark Twitchell]

I don't want to have to do this 16 times.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Sorry, sorry.

[Craig Melvin]

Fantasy and reality all mixed up somehow. Just to cover the basis, the police interviewed Mark Twitchell's crew members. They vouched for him completely and revealed they all shared a passion for star Wars. They loved the whole tale about the force and the dark side. Loved it so much that their first project together was a star wars fan film called secrets of the rebellion. Mark was wildly successful that time at drumming up local media coverage, which is when he started Becoming kind of a big deal in Edmonton. He was even interviewed by the cbc.

[Savannah Guthrie]

We keep pretty good pace with Lucasfilm, actually, when it comes to producing the films.

[Craig Melvin]

His was, no bones about it, a low budget production, but even so, Twitchell was able to land one of the original Star wars actors, Jeremy Bullock, who played the bounty hunter Boba Fett. That was enticement enough to get Toronto based actor Sean Storer to sign on for a part.

[Savannah Guthrie]

As soon as I found out that I would be playing alongside him, I was like, great, why not? It's a named actor.

[Craig Melvin]

Sci fi is not Storer's thing, though. And once he got to Edmonton, he found the atmosphere on Mark Twitchell's set a little too playful, unserious, at least for him. One cringeworthy moment happened when Twitchell paraded around the set with a pillow stuffed under his shirt and he said he.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Looked like Alfred Hitchcock. And then he wore that for the rest of the day. I thought that was ridiculous, but everybody else thought it was great, laughed and they played it because this is him. And if you don't laugh at his joke, you know what I mean, where there's the alpha in the room and everybody flocks to them. And he was the alpha either, but, well, that's what everybody had him as.

[Craig Melvin]

Which certainly fit Mark's reputation, which was that he was a prankster. Well, maybe you have to be if you're trying to start a movie business. Anyway, Mark Twitchell came off squeaky clean. His film company was respected, as was he and Bill Clark and the Edmonton police. Back at square one by the look of things.

[Detective Bill Clark]

What do we got? We got nothing.

[Craig Melvin]

Edmonton homicide detective Bill Clark, along with other members of the Edmonton police service felt a little like Alice in the rabbit hole. Their missing man, Johnny Altinger, had vanished without a trace. The only person of any interest at all was a wholesome aspiring movie producer who was once known to love pranks and publicity stunts and who stood up to a Clark grilling with his manners intact. At which point they might have left the poor guy alone. But not quite. Twitchell had implicated himself in Altinger's disappearance by admitting he had the man's car. So police were able to get a warrant now to search Twitchell's garage slash soundstage and his car and his home.

[Detective Bill Clark]

And knock on the door. His wife answers and I tell her who I am, and she goes, yeah, she was not happy I was there. And she tells me that, yeah, my husband called me. He's at his lawyer's office and he told me not to talk to you guys. So I'm trying to schmooze her because I want to talk to her a bit and find out anything I can and how much he's been around the house and that type of thing.

[Craig Melvin]

What were your impressions of his wife? Besides the fact that she was agitated and upset? Seemed like a nice person.

[Detective Bill Clark]

Yeah, she seemed really nice. I mean, she's got a little baby, I think it was. The child was six months old, little daughter. And I'm feeling bad for her now.

[Craig Melvin]

How'd she react to this?

[Detective Bill Clark]

Mad. Mad at me. Didn't like the police come. Of course, I expected it. Right.

[Craig Melvin]

And so police looked through Twitchell's home and found very little, at least on the face of it. They seized his computers, which is pretty standard. And when they searched those computers, they uncovered. Well, it was an affair. Twitchell had a girlfriend. So inevitably then his wife found out and she kicked him out. And in a matter of days, Mark Twitchell went from happily married indie filmmaker to just another 20 something guy living in a parents basement. And so Detective Clark paid Twitchell's dad and mom a visit. That is a little bit of dad, a lot of mom.

[Detective Bill Clark]

She just struck me as a parent that her son does nothing wrong. Whereas the father wanted to listen to me. He wanted to hear what I had to say. And he listened. But he got overridden.

[Craig Melvin]

They set up a surveillance team, 24 hour watch to keep an eye on the house and Twitchell. But his behavior was anything but suspicious. He went on about his business, took meetings with investors about his day players movie project, even picked up a $35,000 check from financial backer John Pinsent.

[Savannah Guthrie]

The Mark Twitchell that I was dealing with was articulate, in control, running his.

[Detective Bill Clark]

Project the way that you would expect.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Any entrepreneur to be running their project.

[Craig Melvin]

And in Detective Clark's world, up arrows and down arrows. There was one other huge up arrow in Twitchell's favor. Motive. Or that is to say, the lack of one. Twitchell had nothing at all to gain by killing Altinger. There was no love triangle. There was no rivalry, no robbery. And to put it simply, Twitchell was not a criminal. Didn't have a record, hadn't ever been arrested. Even so, why would a cop, bullheaded or not, remain so determined that this young married father had somehow made a perfect stranger vanish from the face of the earth?

[Savannah Guthrie]

Hey, everybody, I'm Al Roker from the Today show. Let's kick start your wellness journey with the all new Start Today app. Everything you need for a healthier you all in one place. Fitness challenges for all levels. Meal plans that are easy and delicious and so much more. It's built to fit your lifestyle, and our experts will guide you every step of the way. Come on, let's do this.

[Craig Melvin]

To subscribe, download start today from the.

[Savannah Guthrie]

App store on your Apple device.

[Craig Melvin]

Now Terms apply. Cancel anytime through Apple under profile settings. Strange things come to light under the northern sun, especially with the aid of a search warrant. One of the items seized from movie maker Mark Twitchell, as mentioned earlier, was his office computer. And on the computer's hard drive, they found the actual raw footage of Twitchell's horror movie, filmed right in that dank little two car garage searched earlier by the police. The movie Twitchell told the detective about the first time he was questioned.

[Savannah Guthrie]

It's a suspense thriller. Actually, it's a short film. The total runtime's only going to be.

[Detective Bill Clark]

About eight or nine minutes.

[Craig Melvin]

House of Cards is what Twitchell was calling it, a promotional film. Get enough people talking about this and he might persuade some investor to ante up the money for a feature length movie. We're rolling.

[Detective Bill Clark]

Action.

[Craig Melvin]

In House of Guards, a male killer poses online as a flirtatious woman to entrap his victim, a philandering husband who tells his wife he's heading off to the gym. I'm off. Shouldn't be too long, just a couple of hours. But once he arrives at the rendezvous site, the victim is dropped with a stun baton by an assailant wearing a hockey mask.

[Mark Twitchell]

Okay, we're ready for the killer stuff.

[Craig Melvin]

We are rolling. Killers, take a slight step to the right there. There you go. And action. Frame zap. Okay, that was terrible. The victim is then duct taped to a chair and stabbed with a samurai sword, of all things. Murdered, cut up into little bits. Imagine a cross between Friday the 13th and that showtime series Dexterity, but on a much lower budget. We're rolling in 5, 4, 3, 2. Thrust. In one take of that scene, as the killer thrusts the sword into a dummy, a wad of white stuffing comes poking out the other end. And in a snap, a tense drama is transformed into a comedic farce. And that delighted the crew. Oh, my God. The victim in this teaser version was played by Edmonton comedian Chris Hayward.

[Savannah Guthrie]

You guys have been a great audience.

[Chris Hayward]

Thank you very much for letting me come.

[Craig Melvin]

So the police decided to have a little chat with Mr. Hayward. But Hayward, no slouch when it came to the entertainment business, thought the visit from the police must be a prank of some sort. I worked on Reality television. It was one of the first things I got into television on. And, yeah, they throw you curve balls and they have, they have writers and they. I didn't know. I thought, somebody's making this up. This can't be true. This is not a real story. Police also tracked down Toronto actor Robert Barnsley, who played the starring role in House of Cards. That is the deranged, mask wearing murderer actor. You ready? Ready.

[Mark Twitchell]

When I saw it on there, I was thinking, great short film. I like the idea of this. It sounds interesting, you know, and of course I want to try to be the killer. I want to be the bad guy.

[Craig Melvin]

And Mark Twitchell seemed like a very.

[Mark Twitchell]

Normal guy trying to do a film.

[Craig Melvin]

Nice guy.

[Mark Twitchell]

Yeah, very nice. Very pleasant.

[Craig Melvin]

Playing a serial killer, it was almost too much fun, said Barnsley.

[Mark Twitchell]

It got kind of scary where I enjoyed it too much.

[Craig Melvin]

Well, you got to be the sadist big time, huh?

[Mark Twitchell]

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it was very fun for me to play, actually. I really rather enjoyed doing it. I was thinking to myself, oh, God, did I just think that I could do this and make it believable?

[Craig Melvin]

Which said Robert Barnsley was exactly what director Mark Twitchell seemed to want.

[Mark Twitchell]

I mean, there was a point where I had to stab the dummy through the chest with a samurai sword. And he'd be sitting behind the chair and he'd be leaning in and say, okay, listen, when you're turning the blade, grit your teeth and really show that you're enjoying it.

[Craig Melvin]

Well, one set of detectives was questioning people who knew or worked with Mark Twitchell. Another group surfed around Twitchell's computers looking for anyone who may have had contact with him online. And that's when they discovered that right about the time Mark Twitchell was filming House of Cards, he had friended a 30 something animal trainer and aspiring filmmaker in rural Ohio, a woman named Renee Waring. So an Edmonton detective flew all the way to Cleveland just to question her, where she, quite upfront about it, told him, and later, usually about clicking on an intriguing Facebook profile. Dexter Morgan, the murderous main character in that Showtime series, Dexter.

[Chris Hayward]

There was a picture of Michael C. Hall, and he is the actor that portrays Dexter Morgan on Showtime.

[Craig Melvin]

What attracted you to Dexter?

[Chris Hayward]

You know, what I love about the show and the books is how he was able to explore that dark side, rationalize that it's okay to kill somebody, because this person deserved it in a way.

[Craig Melvin]

Yeah. Dangerous territory.

[Chris Hayward]

Yeah. But entertaining. It's not real.

[Craig Melvin]

And particularly fascinating.

[Chris Hayward]

Very fascinating. Yeah.

[Craig Melvin]

So when Waring saw that Michael C. Hall Facebook profile, well, she fired off her friend request. Did you think you were friending the actor himself?

[Chris Hayward]

Sure.

[Craig Melvin]

You know, you thought it was the actual guy?

[Chris Hayward]

Sure. Yeah. But I also thought that, you know, an actor in Hollywood has more things and better things to do than to play around with people on Facebook, you know?

[Craig Melvin]

Except she actually got a response.

[Chris Hayward]

I asked him within the second or third email. I said, are you the Michael C. Hall? And he was honest, and he said, no, he was not.

[Craig Melvin]

Still, the whole thing was kind of exciting to find a fellow Dexter devotee. So she continued to exchange messages with this imposter. He had expressed interest in you, this.

[Chris Hayward]

Guy, just as a friend, in a friendly kind of way. Yeah. You know, flirting.

[Craig Melvin]

Yeah.

[Chris Hayward]

Yeah.

[Craig Melvin]

So was this flirtatious tone something that kept going back and forth?

[Chris Hayward]

Yeah. Yeah, it did. I'm a flirt, you know, I don't have a problem admitting that. But, yeah, we did. We flirted back and forth, and I kept asking him, you know, who are you? Who are you, really? Tell me who you are, because I want to see the man behind the mask.

[Craig Melvin]

Finally, Renee's Facebook friend relented. His name, he said, was Mark Twitchell.

[Chris Hayward]

Once he told me who he was, I checked him out and found out that he was an independent filmmaker.

[Craig Melvin]

Now, that is interesting.

[Chris Hayward]

That's very interesting. It was almost like a dream come.

[Craig Melvin]

True, because Renee Waring's lifelong dream was to be a movie maker herself. And now, out of the blue, here was this guy who had the skills and connections to make that happen.

[Chris Hayward]

He expressed interest in. In me and my writing styles and said, I just think that we have, you know, like, chemistry together and how we'd be able to work very well together. And we thought a lot alike.

[Craig Melvin]

This had to be pretty exciting.

[Chris Hayward]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I get to break out from being a dog trainer and go, you know, work on a movie and finally have a movie made that people will see and enjoy. Sure.

[Craig Melvin]

You offered some ideas.

[Chris Hayward]

Yeah.

[Craig Melvin]

What ideas did you have in mind?

[Chris Hayward]

You know, I asked him what he was working on, and then he told me that he was working on and just finished his house of cards, which was about a serial killer. But he wanted to pursue more of that, and he wanted to really, you know, maybe do something. And I said, well, why not a female serial killer? Why has it got to be a guy, you know, and are we a product of our environment or are we born that way? Are we, you know, a psychopath or a serial killer? And what brings us to that point to do that? And I said, you know, let's explore.

[Craig Melvin]

That In a story.

[Chris Hayward]

Sure, in a story. And we had talked about our ideas, our hypotheticals of how would you kill somebody and get away with it?

[Craig Melvin]

Dark. Oh, yes, but all in fun, of course, and entertaining. And so they pass story ideas back and forth almost every day. It was later when Edmonton detectives dug out the content on Mark Twitchell's computer and found that very kind of thing. Here's the opening paragraph as read by a voice actor. This is a story of my progression into becoming a serial killer. There was something about urgently exploring my.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Dark side that greatly appealed to me.

[Craig Melvin]

There's a magic in stories, the alchemy that brings imagination, fantasy to life. The cop's job was to figure out, was this fiction or was it real?

[Detective Bill Clark]

We had huge discussions in the office about this. There were guys that were, after reading it, going on 50, 50, you know, I don't know. You know, I don't get tunnel vision that guys don't get.

[Craig Melvin]

There's another explanation here.

[Detective Bill Clark]

You know, is it false? Is it true?

[Craig Melvin]

Coming up next on the man in the Black Mask.

[Savannah Guthrie]

As soon as all this happened, I thought, you know what? This is a publicity stunt gone bad. I thought he was just trying to hype this new movie that he's going to do. And at the end of the day, he has all this publicity around around him. And what better way to start a movie off than to have your name on the tip of everybody's tongue?

[Craig Melvin]

The man in the Black Mask is a production of Dateline and NBC News. Finn Sterling is the producer. Brian Drew, Deb Brown and Marshall Housefeld are audio editors. Justin Ratchford is future producer. Leslie Grossman is program coordinator. Adam Gorfin is co executive producer, Paul Ryan is executive producer, and Liz Cole is senior executive producer from NBC News. Audio sound mixing by Katie Lau. Bryson Barnes is head of audio production.